Affiliated Visiting Israeli Filmmaker
(September 2022 - February 2023)

Acclaimed documentary and narrative filmmaker Michal Aviad was born in Jerusalem, Israel. She completed her bachelor of arts in literature and philosophy at Tel Aviv University and her master’s degree at San Francisco State University. Through the 1980s, she lived in San Francisco, where she began making films. Since returning to Israel, she has continued to write, direct, and produce films. Aviad has directed two narrative films and eight documentaries, which tackle issues of ethnicity, class, gender, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from women’s perspectives. She is a full professor at Tel Aviv University's Steve Tisch School of Cinema and Television.

In 2019, Aviad was awarded the prestigious Landau Award for Arts and Sciences, which cited her as "one of the most important directors in the history of Israeli cinema".

Her films include:

Working Woman (2018) Ophir Prize for Best Actress, Liron Ben Shlush, 2019
Dimona Twist (2016) Best Documentary, Jerusalem Film Festival; Shown at the 2017 Rutgers Jewish Film Festival
The Women Pioneers (2013) Research Prize, DocAviv Film Festival, 2013; Best Documentary, International Women Film Festival, Israel, 2013; Best Experimental Film, Polish Jewish Film Festival, Warsaw, 2014
Invisible (2011) Ecumenical Jury Prize in Panorama, Berlin International Film Festival, 2011; Best Israeli Film and Best Actress, Haifa International Film Festival, 2011; Grand Prize, Créteil International Women's Film Festival, France, 2012