A new director for the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem
Dana Blankstein Cohen was named the new director of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School (JSFS), it was announced this week. She will take over for founding director Renen Schorr and assume her responsibilities at the end of October.
The school’s board of directors accepted the recommendation of the search committee and unanimously approved the appointment of Blankstein Cohen as director.
Blankstein Cohen has been the director of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television for nearly four years. She graduated with high honors from JSFS and went on to establish and run the film and television department in Kfar Saba. She also has experience directing, writing and producing films.
JSFS, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is one of the world’s leading film schools. Films by its students have won thousands of prizes, including at some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, such as Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and Venice. Films by its graduates have also won worldwide acclaim, including Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms, which was awarded the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
The school also runs the Jerusalem International Film Lab, a program that pairs young directors from around the world with mentors who work with them to complete a screenplay and plan their films. Participants in the lab have gone on to make extremely successful films, including László Nemes’ Son of Saul, which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.