Gal Gadot is one of Hollywood’s most engaging and sought-after talents. She debuted as Diana/Wonder Woman in the blockbuster “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and in 2017, she starred again in the role in the first-ever “Wonder Woman” feature, which was the highest grossing film of the season, taking in more than $820 million worldwide. For her role as Diana/Wonder Woman, she won the Rising Star Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the 2018 #SeeHer Award at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards. She also won the 2018 MTV Movie + TV Award for Best Fight and the 2017 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress: Action. “Wonder Woman” was honored with the spotlight award at the 2017 National Board of Review. In November 2021, Gal’s Netflix’s action thriller “Red Notice” was released and opened to the biggest opening day in Netflix film history. The film also starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. It was recently announced that there will be Red Notice 2 and Red Notice 3 featuring the original cast. In December 2020, Gal starred in and produced the highly anticipated sequel, “Wonder Woman 1984” for Warner Bros. She most recently appeared in the Fox remake of “Death on the Nile” alongside Kenneth Branagh which released in February 2022. Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/gal-gadot

GAL GADOT
2022

Shira Haas is currently in production on the Netflix sci-fi limited series BODIES. She previously starred as Esty in Netflix’s critically acclaimed mini-series UNORTHODOX. For a performance that received flawless reviews across the board, Shira was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Limited Series and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series. The New York Times called Haas “a phenomenon, expressive and captivating” and Vulture says “Haas gives an extraordinary performance here, evoking fear, grief, and a mix of both naïveté and wonder…” Also on Netflix, Haas stars in the standout role of “Ruchami” on the international hit series SHTISEL. Additional television credits include the Israeli series HARMON and THE CONDUCTOR. On the big screen, Haas will soon join the Marvel universe in CAPTAIN AMERICA: NEW WORLD ORDER. Haas co-starred as “Urszula” in Niki Caro’s 2017 film THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE and appeared in Natalie Portman’s A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS. Haas made her feature film debut in the emotionally complex Israeli drama PRINCESS, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film festival. For her performance she was nominated for Best Actress at that year’s Ophir Awards (the Israeli Academy Awards). Haas later received Ophir Award nominations for her roles in BROKEN MIRRORS and the Oscar-nominated Israeli film FOXTROT. She won for her role in NOBLE SAVAGE. Most recently Haas stars in the drama ASIA, for which she won Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/shira-haas

SHIRA HAAS
2022

Ron Leshem is an Israeli-American television and film writer and producer, best known for the television series Euphoria, and for the film Beaufort, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is the winner of the Sapir Prize, Israel’s top literary award for his debut novel Beaufort which was translated into over 20 languages. The film version of Beaufort, which Ron co-wrote, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and won the Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Director. His second book The Underground Bazaar reached also the bestseller list and was translated into numerous languages, and his third book When We Were Beautiful published last month. He created and co-wrote the drama series The Gordin Cell (2011) which received 11 nominations for the Israeli Academy of Film and Television awards. The TV series was adapted by NBC as an American remake, Allegiance. From 2006 until 2009, Ron served as head of content and programming for Keshet Broadcasting. He was responsible for the development and production of some of the most popular and successful Israeli TV series, receiving outstanding industry awards. Series include: Arab Labor, the A-word, Traffic Light, and Homeland (the original Israeli show Prisoners of War adapted and screened for two seasons after being sold to 20th Century Fox Television for Showtime cable channel). The Israeli film Incitement by Yaron Zilberman, which Ron co-wrote, premiered at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival and won the 2019 Ophir Award for Best Picture. Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/ron-leshem

RON LESHEM
2019

Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors and recital series. His commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike. Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, under Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists, in 2010 he was further honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University and in 2015 with an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Bronfman works regularly with an illustrious group of conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Jurowski, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jaap Van Zweden, Franz Welser-Möst, and David Zinman. Summer engagements have regularly taken him to the major festivals of Europe and the US. Always keen to explore chamber music repertoire, his partners have included Pinchas Zukerman, Martha Argerich, Magdalena Kožená, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Emmanuel Pahud and many others. In 1991 he gave a series of joint recitals with Isaac Stern in Russia, marking Mr. Bronfman’s first public performances there since his emigration to Israel at age 15. Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/yefim-bronfman

YEFIM BRONFMAN
2022

Idan Raichel is a producer, keyboardist, lyricist, composer and performer. Idan is a global music icon who has brought his inspiring example and soul-stirring music to some of the planet’s biggest stages. As the leader of The Idan Raichel Project, Idan acts as a musical ambassador representing a hopeful world in which artistic collaboration breaks down barriers between people of different backgrounds and beliefs. Over the past 13 years, Idan has collaborated with American pop stars such as India Arie, Dave Matthews and Alicia Keys, not to mention a wide range of artists who are household names in their native countries: Portugal’s Ana Moura, France’s Patrick Bruel, Italy’s Ornella Vanoni, Germany’s Andreas Scholl, and Mali’s Vieux Farka Touré. The Idan Raichel Project’s spectacular live show has audiences worldwide. They have headlined in venues worldwide, including New York’s Central Park Summer Stage, Apollo Theater, Town Hall and Radio City Music Hall, Los Angeles’ Kodak Theater, the Sydney Opera House, Zenith in Paris, London’s Royal Albert Hall and many international festivals. They have also performed across Europe, South Africa, Central America, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana, Japan and dozens of other countries for enraptured audiences of all backgrounds. In November 2017, Idan announced his new festival – in which he wanted to share with his audience a multi-disciplinary festival including all his passions – music, culinary and art, alongside a series of limited and exclusive performances from his project. Since the success of the first festival it has returned 4 more times due to high demand. An estimated number viewers of 186,000 have participated in total. Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/idan-raichel

IDAN RAICHEL
2019

Legendary Israeli, world-renowned dancer-choreographer, and the current Presidential Fellow professor at Chapman University. He was nominated as one of the ten best contemporary dancers in the world. He was the lead judge on So You Think You Can Dance Israel and a guest Choreographer on Dancing With The Stars Israel. For four decades Ido has represented the State of Israel around the world as the “Ambassador of Dance of Israel”, a title that was given to him by the Israeli government. Ido was an AICF recipient of excellence scholarships from 1982-1985. Tadmor is the 2011 winner of the highly respected “Landau Prize” in Israel for life achievement. He recently celebrated thirty years of his international career. For four years, Ido was the main judge on the Israeli version of “So You Think You Can Dance”. A lead dancer, choreographer, judge in professional dance competitions in Israel and elsewhere, he has been the artistic director of many competitions and festivals. Ido Tadmor began his studies at the Bat Dor Dance School, shortly afterwards joining the Bat Dor Dance Company, and later on joining the Bat Sheva Dance Company as a lead dancer in many works created by famous choreographers from all over the world. Ido was also invited to perform as a lead dancer in Lar Lubovitch’s well known Dance Company in New York. As a teacher, Tadmor has taught in leading dance companies in the world, in Israel and in famous schools in Europe- such as the Dance Academy in Rome and Artemis in Amsterdam. During the past 3 decades, Ido Tadmor has represented the State of Israel around the world as an “Ambassador of Dance”. Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/ido-tadmor

IDO TADMOR
2022

Ohad Naharin is the current House Choreographer of Batsheva Dance Company, where he also served as Artistic Director until 2018. Born in Mizra, Israel, Ohad began his dance career with Batsheva and later made his choreographic debut in New York in 1980. In 1990, he was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company and established its junior division, Batsheva – the Young Ensemble. He has since created over thirty works for both companies and set pieces on other companies including Nederlands Dans Theater, the Paris Opera Ballet, and Les Grand Ballets Canadiens de Montréal. In addition to his stage work, he also developed GAGA, an innovative movement language based on research into heightening sensation and imagination, becoming aware of form, finding new movement habits, and going beyond familiar limits. GAGA is the daily training of Batsheva’s dancers and has spread globally among both dancers and non-dancers. He trained in music throughout his childhood and continues to infuse his work with a unique musicality. He collaborated with the Israeli rock group, The Tractor’s Revenge (Kyr, 1990), Avi Balleli and Dan Makov (Anaphaza, 1993), Ivri Lider (Z/na, 1995), and Grischa Lichtenberger (Last Work, 2015). Under the pseudonym Maxim Waratt, he composed music for MAX (2007) and edited and mixed the soundtracks for Mamootot (2003), Hora (2009), Sadeh21 (2011), The Hole (2013), Last Work (2015) and Venezuela (2017). Ohad’s work has also been featured in several films, including Tomer Heymann’s Out of Focus and the Heymann Brothers’ Mr. Gaga. Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/ohad-naharin

OHAD NAHARIN
2019

Hanna Azoulay Hasfari is an Israeli actress, screenwriter, playwright, film director and a two-time winner of the Ophir Award, Jerusalem Film Festival Best Actress, Chamber of Critics Best Actress. She has won Festroia International Film Festival Best Screenplay, and Special Mention Sh’Chur At Berlin International Film Festival. She has appeared in numerous stage productions in leading theaters in Israel, including the Cameri Theater, the Haifa Theatrer, Be’er Sheva Theater and Beit Lessin Theater, Dimona Theater. She has also written numerous plays, such as Match Void (Cameri Theater, Red Lion Theater in London); Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement; Beit Lessin, the Jewish Theatre, NOTTARA theater in Bucharest, Romania and Boston Center for the Arts, Satu Mare Theater in Romania); Mimuna (Beit Lessin), and Dina (Boston Center for the Arts’, Dimona theater in Israel). One of Hanna’s first movie scripts was Sh’Chur (1994). It received international awards and recognition. She directed and acted in her film called Orange People which was awarded the Jury Award for Best Film in 2013 at the International Women’s Film Festival, in Rehovot. She has acted in many Israeli films both Israeli and American, including Sh’Chur, Lovesick on Nana Street (1995) and shiva (7 Days 2008). Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/hanna-azoulay-hasfari

Hanna Azoulay Hasfari
2019

Vania Heymann is a Grammy-nominated film director and artist. His work includes music videos for artists such as Coldplay, Bob Dylan, DJ Snake, and Tove Lo, videos created during his studies at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem that have received critical acclaim, a TV series composed of two-minute episodes broadcast on Israeli TV and short films. He also directs commercials, including spots for Apple, Google, and Nike. In 2013, Bob Dylan released an official interactive music video that Vania created and directed for the song “Like a Rolling Stone”, this song was first released in 1965 and had not previously had an authorized video. The video allows viewers to flip through 16 television channels, which all feature characters who are lip-syncing the lyrics of the song. In December 2013, Time Magazine named the video Best music video of 2013. The video has since won many prizes including a Webby Award and 4 Gold Lions at the Cannes Lions in the Film Craft, Direct, and Branded Content & Entertainment categories. In 2016 together with Gal Muggia, he directed a music video for Coldplay, for the song “Up&Up”. They were nominated for a Grammy for best music video, nominated for best director at the MTV VMA’s, and won the “best visual effects” category at the 2016 MTV VMA’s. His videos have been viewed over 400 million times on YouTube. Read more: https://aicf.org/artist/vania-heymann

VANIA HEYMANN
2019