Hanna Azoulay Hasfari, Vania Heymann, Ron Leshem, Ohad Naharin and Idan Raichel to be Honored at AICF 80th Anniversary Celebration for their Distinguished Work and Impact on Israel
Edited by: JV Staff
Five iconic visionary artists are the inaugural recipients of the Israeli Culture & Arts Awards (“ICA Awards”), honoring the most impactful Israeli artists. Hanna Azoulay Hasfari (Theatre), Vania Heymann (Visual Arts), Ron Leshem (Film/TV), Ohad Naharin (Dance) and Idan Raichel (Music) will be fêted during the America-Israel Cultural Foundation’s (AICF) 80th anniversary celebration on Sunday, November 17 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.
The ICA Award winners were selected out of nearly 20 finalists by an esteemed panel of judges including artists, actors and authors: David Broza, Judy Collins, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, Mindy Lang, Liev Schreiber and Edna Landau, as well as a public vote of over 4,000 people around the world.
“This remarkable list of accomplished talent has not only made an impact on the arts, but on the entire state of Israel and global cultural landscape,” said Josh Tanenbaum, President, Board of Directors, AICF. “We are proud to honor them with the first-ever ICA Awards and continue our mission of supporting Israeli arts for another 80 years and beyond.”
The 2019 ICA Awards Winners:
Hanna Azoulay Hasfari (Theatre): Hanna Azoulay Hasfari is an Israeli actress, screenwriter, playwright, film director and a two-time winner of the Ophir Award, Jerusalem Film Festival Best Actress, Chamber of Critics Best Actress, Festroia International Film Festival Best Screenplay and Berlin Film Festival Special Mention Sh’Chur. She has appeared in numerous stage productions in leading theaters in Israel, including the Cameri Theater, the Haifa Theater, Be’er Sheva Theater and Beit Lessin Theater, Dimona Theater. She has also written numerous plays, such as Match Void (Cameri Theater, Red Lion Theater in London); Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement; Beit Lessin, the Jewish Theatre, NOTTARA theater in Bucharest, Romania and Boston Center for the Arts, Satu Mare theater in Romania); Mimuna (Beit Lessin), and Dina (Boston Center for the Arts’, Dimona theater in Israel). One of Hanna’s first movie scripts was Sh’Chur (1994). It received international awards and recognition. Most recently, she produced, wrote, directed and acted in her film called Orange People which was awarded the Jury Award for Best Film in 2013 at the International Women’s Film Festival, in Rehovot. She has acted in many Israeli films both Israeli and American, including Sh’Chur, Lovesick on Nana Street (1995) and shiva (7 Days 2008).
Vania Heymann (Visual Arts): Vania Heymann is a Grammy-nominated film director and artist. His work includes music videos for artists such as Coldplay, Bob Dylan, DJ Snake, and Tove Lo, videos created during his studies at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem that have received critical acclaim, a TV series composed of two-minute episodes broadcast on Israeli TV and short films. He also directs commercials, including spots for Apple, Google, and Nike. His videos have been viewed over 400 million times on YouTube.
Ron Leshem (Film/TV): Ron Leshem is an Israeli-American television and film writer and producer, best known for the television series Euphoria, and for the film Beaufort, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is the winner of the Sapir Prize, Israel’s top literary award for his debut novel Beaufort which was translated into over 20 languages. The film version of Beaufort, which Ron co-wrote, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and won the Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Director. His second book The Underground Bazaar reached also the bestseller list and was translated into numerous languages, and his third book When We Were Beautiful published last month. He created and co-wrote the drama series The Gordin Cell (2011) which received 11 nominations for the Israeli Academy of Film and Television awards. The TV series was adapted by NBC as an American remake, Allegiance. From 2006 until 2009, Ron served as head of content and programming for Keshet Broadcasting. He was responsible for the development and production of some of the most popular and successful Israeli TV series, receiving outstanding industry awards. Series include: Arab Labor, the A-word, Traffic Light, and Homeland (the original Israeli show Prisoners of War adapted and screened for two seasons after being sold to 20th Century Fox Television for Showtime cable channel). The Israeli film Incitement by Yaron Zilberman, which Ron co-wrote, premiered at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival and won the 2019 Ophir Award for Best Picture.
Ohad Naharin (Dance): Ohad Naharin is the current House Choreographer of Batsheva Dance Company, where he also served as Artistic Director until 2018. Ohad began his dance career with Batsheva and later made his choreographic debut in New York in 1980. In 1990, he was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company and established its junior division, Batsheva – the Young Ensemble. He has since created over thirty works for both companies and set pieces on other companies including Nederlands Dans Theater, the Paris Opera Ballet, and Les Grand Ballets Canadiens de Montréal. In addition to his stage work, Ohad also developed GAGA, an innovative movement language based on research into heightening sensation and imagination, becoming aware of form, finding new movement habits, and going beyond familiar limits. GAGA is the daily training of Batsheva’s dancers and has spread globally among both dancers and non-dancers. He collaborated with the Israeli rock group, The Tractor’s Revenge (Kyr, 1990), Avi Balleli and Dan Makov (Anaphaza, 1993), Ivri Lider (Z/na, 1995), and Grischa Lichtenberger (Last Work, 2015). Under the pseudonym Maxim Waratt, he composed music for MAX (2007) and edited and mixed the soundtracks for Mamootot (2003), Hora (2009), Sadeh21 (2011), The Hole (2013), Last Work (2015) and Venezuela (2017). His work has also been featured in several films.
Idan Raichel (Music): Idan Rachel is a producer, keyboardist, Lyricist, composer and Performer. He is a global music icon who has brought his inspiring example and soul-stirring music to some of the planet’s biggest stages. As the leader of The Idan Raichel Project, Idan acts as a musical ambassador representing a hopeful world in which artistic collaboration breaks down barriers between people of different backgrounds and beliefs. Over the past 13 years, Idan has collaborated with American pop stars such as India Arie, Dave Matthews and Alicia Keys, not to mention a wide range of artists who are household names in their native countries. The Idan Raichel Project’s spectacular live show has audiences worldwide. They have headlined in venues worldwide, including New York’s Central Park Summer Stage, Apollo Theater, Town Hall and Radio City Music Hall, Los Angeles’ Kodak Theater, the Sydney Opera House, Zenith in Paris, London’s Royal Albert Hall and many international festivals. They have also performed across Europe, South & Central America, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana, Japan and dozens of other countries for enraptured audiences of all backgrounds. In November 2017, Raichel announced his new festival – in which he wanted to share with his audience a multi-disciplinary festival including all his passions–music, culinary and art, alongside a series of limited and exclusive performances.
For 80 Years, AICF has identified, catalyzed, and developed the top emerging Israeli artistic talent. Since its founding in 1939, AICF has impacted 18,000 artists – including Anat Cohen, Itzhak Perlman and Yefim Bronfman – and dispersed over $160 million to benefit Israeli culture. AICF has supported Israeli arts and culture around Israel’s periphery, mainland and around the world, and in the process has created ambassadors for Israel and put the country on the global stage. The esteemed ICA Awards were inaugurated in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) and to recognize Israel’s greatest artistic contributors.
For more information about the ICA Awards and to purchase tickets, please visit: aicf.org/event/anniversary-celebration/.
About AICF
The America-Israel Cultural Foundation supports and develops artistic life in Israel by awarding scholarships and grants. By encouraging Israeli artists and supporting institutions and programs, AICF makes a vital contribution to the cultural foundation of Israel and strengthens Israel’s relationship with the United States. For more information visit http://aicf.org.
