Post 5 - Ronit Elkabetz

For my last post I have chosen to write about Ronit Elkabetz, an award winning Israeli actress, screenwriter, director, and filmmaker, and owner of a women's organization called "Sister," which helps women in Israel to have a chance for financial and social justice and equality through art, workshops, and activism.
Check It Out Here
Ronit has been known to make films that explore femininity and womanhood in different aspects of Jewish and Israeli life. For example her film Or, My Treasure which was 2004 Cannes Film Festival Camera D'or winner, which definitely passes the Bechdel Test, is one of her greatest work and my favorite films. The film explores the relationship between a single mother that works as a prostitute for a living, and her daughter Or, who struggles to keep a 'normal' household and her mom off the streets. I HIGHLY recommend and it is free on YouTube:
Watch It Here
Elkabetz comes from a Maroccoan Jew family, which was very patriarchal and inspired her and her film director brother Shlomi Elkmbetz to write and direct a successful trilogy of films based on their upbringing, which held women emotionally captive, repressive and dominated in a very Jewish traditional home and world. The films are one of Israeli cinema's glorified masterpieces and the last one, Gett- The Trial of Viviane Amsalem was even nominated for a Golden Globe in 2014. (The first two films of the trilogy that also pass the Bechdel test are To Take a Wife from 2004, and Seven Days from 2008.



Elkabetz was nominated for international film awards numerous times throughout her career, and won 2 Ofir prizes of the Israeli Film Academy. She was born in the southern city of Beersheba, Israel in 1964 to a religious Moroccan Jewish family. She grew up in Kiryat Yam.Her mother was a hairdresser and her father was a postal employee. Her mother spoke French and Arabic, but her father insisted on speaking only Hebrew. She never studied acting and started her career as a model. She divides her time between her homes in Paris and Tel Aviv. At the age of 47 Elkabetz had twins, a boy and a girl.
In her films, Elkabetz represent a rare insight to women in society, who are crying for a voice and for equal opportunities. Her acting goes above and beyond and really reflect her extraordinary acting abilities. I highly recommend watching her films and follow her work as she is inspiring not only for Israeli women and society, but also to any woman who feels inferior and repressed in a patriarchal society.