The Jerusalem Cinematheque announced on Monday that Elad Samorzik, artistic director of the Jerusalem Film Festival for the past 10 years, will step down and be replaced by Or Sigori.
Samorzyk served as the artistic director of 10 festivals from 2014 to the present. He first worked with the festival’s former executive director, Noah Regev, and then with Roni Mahaduff-Levine, who took over from Regev.
Samorzhik launched several new competitions, developed the festival’s Industry Days program, expanded international partnerships and increased the number of films and screenings. Throughout his tenure, annual viewership increased to his 70,000 and prize money reached his one million naira.
Over the past few years, Helen Mirren, Oliver Stone, Claire Denis, the Dardenne brothers, Ruben Ostlund, Pawel Pawlikowski, Laurie Anderson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Quentin Tarantino, John Turturro, Whit Stillman, and more Hundreds of international filmmakers and film industry professionals attended the festival. , Anthony Bregman, David Mamet, Park Chan-wook.
After a lengthy search process, the Jerusalem Cinematheque has selected Sigori as the new artistic director of the Jerusalem Film Festival. Shigori and Samorzhik will be collaborating on the next edition, which will be held from July 18th to 28th.
Who is Or Shigori?
Shigori is a graduate of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. He previously worked as a movie channel programmer at yes-satellite-TV and as a film critic at City Mouse, Calcalist, and Globes. In 2010 he co-founded the independent film site Srita.net, where he serves as lead writer and deputy editor-in-chief.
In 2019, I started working as the artistic director of Holon Cinematheque five years ago. In 2020 he published his first novel and his second novel is scheduled to be published in 2024.
The Board of Directors of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Mahadav Levin welcomed Sigori and expressed their gratitude for Samorjik’s many years of service. “After 10 years of working with the festival, I have decided to step down and move on to new challenges,” Samoldzik said in a statement. It was an incredible honor to work with the team that has become such a great team. I have known Olu Shigori for many years. I am confident that this will be of great benefit to the festival.”
Director Shigori said: “Becoming artistic director of the Jerusalem Film Festival is a dream come true.As a student in Jerusalem, I fell in love with this festival and this city. I am honored and very excited to be part of this important and wonderful institution that presents the best of world cinema to tens of thousands of audiences every year, as I strongly believe in the role of Israel. and international filmmakers.”