From the beginning of the 1950s to the present day, Israel has developed a quality and prosperous cinema industry.
During these years the industry has created hundreds of movies in a variety of styles and genres, many of which have won worldwide acclaim. The Industry has known many ups and downs, but for many years, especially in the recent past, Israeli cinema has attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers to the cinema and its products have represented Israel in many film festivals around the world.
Pre Israel and the 1950s.
Movies were filmed in Israel starting from the time of the first motion pictures in the 19th century, but they did not really form the basis of the movie industry. The Industry particularly focused on producing propaganda newsreels. In 1955 the most important Israeli film, "Hill 24 does not answer." was made. At the end of the 1950s the Israeli film industry was still waiting for the major creators of the 1960s to show them the way.
The 1960s
During this period three commercial cinema creators. Menahem Golan, Ephraim Kishon and Uri Zohar began operating. .
Following the 1950s there were developed two "main genre", popular and commercial films. “Bourikas films” such as Salah Shabati by Ephraim Kishon in 1964, and, at the same time, Uri Zohar released the movie "Hor balevana" in 1965 which was the pioneer of the "new sensitivity" approach which sought to introduce high quality subjects - the main influence coming from the French "new wave" cinema. Both of these genres were to be fully evolved in the 1970s.
The 1970s
In the seventies, most of the movies were "Bourikas movies" These were financially successful at the box office but were not liked by the critics. .
Three high-quality films that were created during this period, "Hashoter Azulay" by Kishon, "I love you, Rosa" and "House on 3rd street " by Moshe Mizrahi, these were even chosen as candidates for the Oscar in the foreign film category.
The 1980s
The eighties brought a lessening of spectators from the Israeli cinemas. In addition, the government budget to the cinema industry was almost non-existent making it difficult to create new quality films.
Important successful films created in this period were: "Behind Bars" (Uri Barabash), "The Summer of Aviya" (Gila Almagor), "Awnti Fofolo" (Rafi Bukaey), "Blues Lahufesh Hagadol" (Ranan Shor), "Noa Bat 17 "(Yitzhak Yeshurun Tzfl)," Heat Wave "(Danny Waxman),"Two fingers from Sidon "(Eli Cohen) and "Hot Land "(Serge Ankri).
The 1990s.
During this period there was an increase in the size of cinema audiences. Films had moved away from political and "Bourikas" movies and began to deal with the personal life of Israeli society. Also, Israeli films began to deal with anti - heroes in the margins of society. An obvious example is the film "Marvelous Grace" by Amos Guttmann dealing with AIDS patients.
The films that stand out of this period were: "Life According to Agfa" (Asi Dayan), "Beyond the Sea" (Yaacov Goldwasser), "Zohar" (Eran Riklis), "Song of the Siren" (Eytan Fox), "Lovesick from Block ’C' " (Shabi Gabizon), "Lilsda" (Shemi Zarchin), "Afula Express" (Julie Slz), "Yana's Friends" (Eric Kaplon), and "Zarim Balyla" (Serge Ankri).
The first decade of the 21st century
An era of prosperity began blossom for the Israeli cinema, both in the documentary field and the adventure field. Audiences returned to the cinema, critics praised Israeli films which also won awards around the world. This success is a result of the continuing rise in the quality of the films, growing away from political productions, and especially due to funds that began to flow to the film industry from the government and television companies. By law, commercial television channels were required to finance production of cinema films. Even some of the royalties of financial companies are transferred to the cinema industry today.
The most prominent films of the period: "Late Wedding" (Dover Kosaswili), "Broken Wings" (Nir Bergman), "Walking on Water" "Yossi and Jagger "(Eytan Fox), "Nina's Disasters”(Shabi Gabizon), "Medurat Hashevet", "Bufor"(Joseph Cider), "Light" (Keren Yadaya), "End of the World, to the left" (Avi Nesher), "The Band's Visit" (Eran Kolirin) and more.
