
Directing
Uri Zohar
Born 1935-11-04 · Tel-Aviv, Israel
Uri Zohar was a prominent Israeli film director, actor, and comedian who later became an Orthodox rabbi. Born in Tel Aviv, he began his career in the entertainment industry in the 1950s, gaining fame for his work in Israeli cinema and television. Zohar directed and starred in several influential films, including Hole in the Moon (1964), Three Days and a Child (1967), and Big Eyes (1974). His films often explored social issues and the complexities of Israeli society. In the late 1970s, Zohar experienced a significant personal transformation, embracing Orthodox Judaism and leaving the entertainment industry to become a rabbi. He dedicated the latter part of his life to religious study and community work, becoming a prominent figure in the Orthodox Jewish community. Zohar passed away in Jerusalem at the age of 86.
Acting credits
5.5Aliza mizrahi, the building cleaner, solves a murder where the police fails
999 Aliza: The Policeman
1967
A couple on the beach discuss their relationship. They reminisce about how wonderful things once were and find themselves wondering whether that was indeed the case, whilst at the same time also dreading the future. At the same time, a second couple – two elderly men whom we meet, both live entirely in the past whilst dreading the present.
How Wonderful
1969
8.0Documentary following Uri Zohar on the set of a short film he's directing, years after leaving the cinematic world for the religious world.
Uri Zohar: The Return
2018
NRRenan Schorr documented the wedding of Uri Zohar's son to Arik Einstein's daughter.
Wedding in Jerusalem
1985
6.2Bumbling private detective Schwartz and his equally inept part Simcha are hired by a man to find out if the man's wife is cheating on him with the family doctor. The blundering duo run afoul of mobsters and experience other mishaps during their investigation.
Schwartz: The Brave Detective
1973
4.4Gote and Eli are two aging friends who don't want to age. Gote is a lifeguard who's fighting peepers on the Tel-Aviv beach. Eli is a guitar player who dreams of building a night club in altman's restaurant.
Peeping Toms
1972
7.8The movie, set in the Israeli 1969 War of Attrition, tells the story of a prestigious military band, and the tensions and ego crises new band members cause when joining the band. Will the band survive?
The Troupe
1978
8.0A group of children embrace an eccentric old man, and working together, build a ship on a rooftop.
Dreamboat
—
8.5A musical, semi-documentary motion picture considering the making of "Shablul", a rock album by Arik Einstein and Shalom Hanoch. The film demonstrates fragments of being, a few funny sketches and musical numbers, much affected by The Beatles' flicks. "Shablul" reminds its viewers the taste of 60s, showing them the Israeli pop/rock scene of these jolly years.
The Snail
1970
NRA collection of skits and songs from Israeli television shows from the 1970s.
Lool
1988
6.0A comic and episodic satire, the film uses improvisation to illustrate the clash between fantasy and reality in real life. Although conceived in the style of Mekas’ “Hallelujah the hills” (1962), it’s an authentically Israeli satire, an openly rebellious and individualistic expression that poked fun at the sacred myths of earlier zionist films. The technique of film within the film is used to portray cinema as reflection of the imagination, a miracle based on dreams and fantasies that take on concrete characteristics – parallel to the miracle of Israel, the dream that has become reality. Although not a commercial success, its importance is beyond any measure, though it remains a unique experiment, boldly uncommercial and subversive, out of any context in that patriotic, ideological epoch.
Hole in the Moon
1964
6.8A little group of people in Israel decides to track down a treasure which, according to the legend, is placed in the city of Petra in the kingdom of Jordan. No man ever survived this treasurehunt "to the other side" (of the Jordan River) before and the adventure ends up with fatal consequences.
Burning Sands
1960
7.0A slapstick comedy lampooning bureaucracy and the madness of everyday life in Israel centers on an escaped lunatic who digs up the streets of Tel-Aviv with a drill.
The Big Dig
1969
6.2Comedy about day to day life of a Gordon beach lifeguard and his friends.
Save the Lifeguard
1977
5.7Benny Furman is a basketball headcoach who can't decide what he really wants.
Big Eyes
1974
6.0Professional big-dude Paul Smith in an Israeli-produced action-comedy that looks to take inspiration from the Hill/Spencer comedies.
They Call Me Shmil
1973
7.0Sergeant Gidi Tsur (Topol) serves in the reserve in the Suez Canal. He goes on vacation and is supposed to meet with his wife to get divorced in the Rabbinate. Meanwhile, he spends his time in the company of other women.
The Rooster
1971
8.7A comedy about Moishe, a soldier in the army whose nickname is Moishe Air-Condition.
Moishe Air-Condition
1966
NRAn experimental and absurd avant-garde film about a bunch of unrelated people, all standing on the side of the road waiting for the traffic light to change from red to green, but the traffic light won't change. More and more people gather on the sidewalk, and a kind of class society is formed there. The film was shot during one day in which Ephraim Kishon lent Uri Zohar the set of "Blaumilch Canal" at Herzliya Studios.
The Other Side
1968
NRThree part series where Uri's son, Itamar, inspects the two worlds his father lived in, while they have debates and conversations about faith, values and peace between secular and Haredi jews.
Uri Zohar: Peeping In
2004
Behind the camera
4.4Gote and Eli are two aging friends who don't want to age. Gote is a lifeguard who's fighting peepers on the Tel-Aviv beach. Eli is a guitar player who dreams of building a night club in altman's restaurant.
Peeping Toms
1972
4.4Gote and Eli are two aging friends who don't want to age. Gote is a lifeguard who's fighting peepers on the Tel-Aviv beach. Eli is a guitar player who dreams of building a night club in altman's restaurant.
Peeping Toms
1972
4.4Gote and Eli are two aging friends who don't want to age. Gote is a lifeguard who's fighting peepers on the Tel-Aviv beach. Eli is a guitar player who dreams of building a night club in altman's restaurant.
Peeping Toms
1972
Leading up to the 1966 FIFA World Cup in London, Israeli teams practice and play every Saturday. Among the players and in the stands, tempers flare, and Sabbath etiquette is replaced by violence that turns the field into a battlefield.
Shabbat Shalom
1966
Uri Zohar’s first film is a short experimental work based on an idea by Heinrich von Kleist. The film depicts the relationship between a marionette puppet and its operator, and the rebellion of the creature against its creator.
An Exercise in Simple Symbols
1961
NRA collection of skits and songs from Israeli television shows from the 1970s.
Lool
1988
NRA collection of skits and songs from Israeli television shows from the 1970s.
Lool
1988
5.9An aging soccer player has a part-time girlfriend, a young fan, and doubts about throwing a game.
Bloomfield
1970
6.0A comic and episodic satire, the film uses improvisation to illustrate the clash between fantasy and reality in real life. Although conceived in the style of Mekas’ “Hallelujah the hills” (1962), it’s an authentically Israeli satire, an openly rebellious and individualistic expression that poked fun at the sacred myths of earlier zionist films. The technique of film within the film is used to portray cinema as reflection of the imagination, a miracle based on dreams and fantasies that take on concrete characteristics – parallel to the miracle of Israel, the dream that has become reality. Although not a commercial success, its importance is beyond any measure, though it remains a unique experiment, boldly uncommercial and subversive, out of any context in that patriotic, ideological epoch.
Hole in the Moon
1964
6.0An American reporter and his girl-friend are visiting Israel to get a "sense of the people", in the process he meets many Israelis and some Arabs as well, particularly becoming friends with an Israeli Army reserve officer as well as an idealistic young man who is a pacifist.
Every Bastard a King
1968
6.0An American reporter and his girl-friend are visiting Israel to get a "sense of the people", in the process he meets many Israelis and some Arabs as well, particularly becoming friends with an Israeli Army reserve officer as well as an idealistic young man who is a pacifist.
Every Bastard a King
1968
7.0Based on a short story by Abraham B. Jehoshua, the movie follows Eli (Oded Kotler) taking care of an old girlfriend's child for three days. He wants him to get hurt, he worries about him. Will the child survive the three days? Will Eli?
Three Days and a Child
1967
7.0Based on a short story by Abraham B. Jehoshua, the movie follows Eli (Oded Kotler) taking care of an old girlfriend's child for three days. He wants him to get hurt, he worries about him. Will the child survive the three days? Will Eli?
Three Days and a Child
1967
6.2Comedy about day to day life of a Gordon beach lifeguard and his friends.
Save the Lifeguard
1977
6.2Comedy about day to day life of a Gordon beach lifeguard and his friends.
Save the Lifeguard
1977
5.7Benny Furman is a basketball headcoach who can't decide what he really wants.
Big Eyes
1974
5.7Benny Furman is a basketball headcoach who can't decide what he really wants.
Big Eyes
1974
7.0Sergeant Gidi Tsur (Topol) serves in the reserve in the Suez Canal. He goes on vacation and is supposed to meet with his wife to get divorced in the Rabbinate. Meanwhile, he spends his time in the company of other women.
The Rooster
1971
8.7A comedy about Moishe, a soldier in the army whose nickname is Moishe Air-Condition.
Moishe Air-Condition
1966
8.0Hundreds of hours of raw material shot by Nathan Axelrod, a pioneer of Israeli filmmaking before the State of Israel who documented the building of the Jewish Yishuv in Palestine – are the building blocks of the film before us: Meir Dizengoff riding his horse, Hannah Maron as a young girl trying to sell us shoelaces, the inauguration of the new port in Tel Aviv, settlers breaking ground in Hanita, the Habima Theater and Hannah Robina, the stars of the Matateh Theater, two kids tap-dancing, Ben Gurion and Shlonsky`s hair-dos, a Tel Aviv soccer match, the illegal immigration, scenic shots (swamps and desert), and more and more from the never-ending treasures of the “Carmel Films” archive.
The True Story of Palestine
1962
NRAn experimental and absurd avant-garde film about a bunch of unrelated people, all standing on the side of the road waiting for the traffic light to change from red to green, but the traffic light won't change. More and more people gather on the sidewalk, and a kind of class society is formed there. The film was shot during one day in which Ephraim Kishon lent Uri Zohar the set of "Blaumilch Canal" at Herzliya Studios.
The Other Side
1968
6.5The story of a soccer team, respectable families, a corrupt night club owner, and a young lad to guide all to a happy ending.
Fish, Football and Girls
1968
8.03 friend try to have swingers night.
Take Off
1970