Avi Nesher’s many award-winning films have been integral to Israeli cinema, placing him as one of Israel’s all-time greatest filmmakers. With 20 feature films to his credit as director, his work has received prestigious awards and nominations at major international festivals and has won several Ophir Awards (the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards) over the last 30 years.
After spending much of his teens in New York and studying international relations at Columbia University, Nesher returned to Israel to serve in the Army Special Forces and a military intelligence unit. Following four years of service and two wars, he returned to his love of cinema to make his first feature film, The Troupe, which became the highest-grossing Israeli film at the time and was recently voted one of the “Ten Best Israeli Feature Films of All Time” by the Israeli Film Critics Association.
After the success of Rage and Glory (1984), producer Dino De Laurentis convinced Nesher to come to Hollywood, setting the stage for a vibrant career between Israel, Hollywood, and back to Israel, working in a wide range of genres. Nesher's latest film, The Other Story (2018), is based on a true story and was the most viewed Israeli film of 2018. It earned Nesher the Best Director Award from The Israeli Film Critics Association.
Recently, Indiana University Cinema hosted Avi Nesher on the IU campus, where he screened some of his best-known works. While he was here, he joined IU Cinema director Jon Vickers for a conversation in the WFIU studios.
