Avi Mograbi


Avi Mograbi is an Israeli documentary filmmaker.
Mograbi’s distant relative founded The Mograbi Cinema, an Art Deco movie theatre in downtown Tel Aviv. It was probably Israel’s most famous movie palace, having opened in 1930. It was the site of one of the largest celebrations following the 1948 partition, and remained a vital national landmark until its demolition in the 1990s.

Life and career

Mograbi studied philosophy at Tel Aviv University from 1979 to 1982, and art at HaMidrasha Art School, Ramat HaSharon.
His non-fiction films examine the Israel-Palestinian conflict using provocative and self-reflexive methods. His film Avenge But One of My Two Eyes which was screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival investigates and critiques the paradoxes of Israeli society—which on the one hand celebrates age old myths and tales of destruction and violence while condemning Palestinians for resorting to similar acts of violence.
In June 2014, Avi Mograbi was the first special guest invited by the Open City Docs Fest who organised a retrospective of his work and also a new edition and live performance of The Details, initially presented at the University Rennes 2.
Since 1999, he has taught documentary and experimental film at Tel Aviv University and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.

Filmography