Eran Riklis


Eran Riklis is an Israeli filmmaker. His films include Cup Final, The Syrian Bride, Lemon Tree and Dancing Arabs .

Early life

Riklis was born in Israel in 1954 and lived in Montreal and New York City until he was six, when the family returned to Israel. He served in the Israeli Defense Forces during the Yom Kippur War and went to university in Tel Aviv. He graduated from the National Film and Television School in England in 1984, the first Israeli to do so.

Professional career

His first film was the political thriller On a Clear Day You Can See Damascus. His 1991 film Cup Final was entered into the Venice International Film Festival, Berlin and many others.
In 1993 he made the film "Zohar", the biggest box office success for an Israeli film in the 90's followed by several TV series and by the film Vulcan Junction which won the Best Film award at the Haifa Int. FF. In 2004 his film "The Syrian Bride" achieved wide international success and over awards including four awards at the Montreal Int. FF and the Audience Award at the Locarno Int. FF. In 2008 "Lemon Tree" won the audience Award at the Berlin and San Seabstian International Film Festivals and was released globally to critical and commercial success. He and Suha Arraf received the award for Best Screenplay at the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Lemon Tree.
His 2010 film The Human Resources Manager was selected as the Israeli entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards, but it didn't make the final shortlist. The film also won the Audience Award again for Riklis at the Locarno film festival.
His adventure thriller film Zaytoun premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and in London as well as many other festivals. It was followed by "Dancing Arabs" presented at the Telluride Film Festival, Locarno and many others.
Riklis's 2017 film Shelter, previously titled Refuge, is a spy thriller set mostly in Hamburg. His film Spider in the Web starred Ben Kingsley, Monica Bellucci, Itay Tiran and Itzik Cohen. Riklis is preparing his new film Reading Lolita in Tehran, based on the bestseller by Azar Nafisi, that will be shot in late 2020.

Personal life

He is married to Dina Riklis and they have two children, a daughter, Tammy, and a son, Jonathan. The family lives in Tel Aviv.