David Fisher

David Fisher (Hebrew: דוד פישר ; born October 14, 1956) is an Israeli documentary film director, producer and lecturer. In 1999–2008, he was Director General of The New Fund for Cinema and Television (NFCT).

David Fisher was born to Joseph Fischer (born in Vișeu de Sus, Romania) and Mali (born in Vashkivtsi, Ukraine), both Holocaust survivors. His four siblings Estee, Gideon, Ronel and Amnon are featured prominently in his films Love Inventory and Six Million and One. Amnon contributed the soundtrack for his films Love Inventory, Six Million and One and Street Shadows. Fisher received his BFA degree in Cinema Studies from Tel Aviv University in 1983 and worked at the Israeli Educational Television (IETV) until 1989.

Fisher is married to Lili, with whom he has three children: Yael, Daniele and Yuval. In Fisher's film Mostar Round-Trip (2011), he follows Yuval during his studies at the United World College in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

He was among the team that established the Tel Aviv Museum of Art's video workshops in 1989. In 1990 he started creating documentary films noted by Yedioth Ahronoth critic Amir Kaminer for being "Socially and humanly sensitive, politically aware, and displaying a keen eye for fascinating individuals and turbulent affairs".

Upon his tenure at The New Israeli Foundation for Cinema and Television (NFCT) in 2008, he re-founded Fisher Features Ltd, a film and television production company that will produce his films as a director. The company also works for international productions such as the four-hour miniseries The Promise produced by Daybreak Pictures for Channel 4 in the UK and Canal Plus, with the support of ARTE. Fisher often mentors first time film makers. From 2000 to 2001 he served as a visiting lecturer on research and docs scriptwriting for M.F.A. students at Tel Aviv University. From 2003 to 2004 he served as a Visiting Teacher at Beit Berl College and from 2005 to 2008 he served as a lecturer at Ma’aleh Film School in Jerusalem.

Fisher was a 2014 Schusterman Foundation Artist in Residence and visiting professor at Charlie Musser's documentary film workshop at the Film studies Department in Yale. On January 31, 2014, he gave a guest lecture in Brandeis University, after which he was invited to lecture a full course on Israeli Documentary Films for the 2015 spring semester. He was simultaneously invited as a Scholar in Residence to teach a course on Israeli documentary films at Wesleyan University CT at the 2015 spring semester.[10]

Fisher has been recognized by Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth among the 100 most influential figures in Israeli cultural life in 2003 and 2004.[11] In 2012 he became the first Israeli artist to receive the USA National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) script grant for the film To Be Or Not To Be In Yiddish.

From 1999 to 2008 Fisher served as the Director General of The New Fund for Cinema and Television (NFCT), a fund supporting the production of documentary films in Israel, most notably Waltz with Bashir, Checkpoint, Aviv, The Cemetery Club, Arna's Children and full-length feature films such as My Father My Lord.[12] Fisher is considered instrumental in expanding the fund both economically and culturally, engaging peripheral and filmmakers from diverse backgrounds Jews and Arabs alike, including controversial films such as a film made by a West Bank Settler.[13][14][15]

Fisher initiated film projects at the NFCT that were mainly in the documentary genre but also geared to narrative and experimental filmmakers:

Fisher promoted Israeli documentary films in the international circuit:

Fisher is an active contributor to Israeli press and internet sites on social and cultural issues 2002–2009.[26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33]

Fisher served as a juror in the following international film festivals: Dokufest International Documentary Film in Kosovo,[34] International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, Dok Leipzig in Germany,[35] ZagrebDox in Croatia, European Film Academy (EFA) in Berlin, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in The Czech Republic[36][37] and Kraków Film Festival In Poland. He was a member of the 2007 Independent Television Service (ITVS) international panel.

“Love Inventory” won the Wolgin award for best documentary at the Jerusalem International Film Festival (2000),[38] the Ophir Award by the Israeli Film Academy for best documentary (2000), the DocuNoga award for best documentary (2000)[39] and the Merit award at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival (2002).[40]

“Six Million and One” won the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport award for works in the field of Zionism,[41] the DOKfest Munich Best Documentary Award (2012), the Silver Horn to the Best Director award in Krakow Film Festival (2012),[42] an Honorable Mention at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival in Vancouver (2012)[43] and Best German film with Jewish content award in the Berlin Jewish Film Festival (2012).