Elida Geira was a film director and choreographer. US-born Geira studied dance at Juilliard under Martha Graham and appeared on many dance and theatre stages. She then upped sticks to Canda to study film and cinematography where she met artist Zvi Geira (also ‘Geyra’), whom she then married. The pair moved to Israel in 1964. In Israel, Geira began choreographing various stage plays, including the Folk Theatre’s 1965 production of Nasreddin, produced by Avraham Deshe (aka ‘Pashanel’) and directed by (Chaim) Topol. She was also a choreography consultant on Israel Becker’s 1966 comedy feature, 2 Kunileml (aka Two Kuni Lemel). In 1969, Geira directed Before Tomorrow – her only feature-length film, and the first of its kind in Israel to have been directed by a woman. She later went on to direct the documentaries We – The Jewish People (1970), and The Immortal Substance (1972). About the same time, Geira also voice-directed the Hebrew version of Disney’s Nikki: Wild Dog of the North (1970) – the first-ever film to have been fully dubbed into Hebrew, featuring the voice talents of singer Lolik (Levi), Gideon Shemer, and Topol. Geira ran the dance department at the Arts for the People foundation, and was also Artistic Director of the Gvanim (‘hues’) dance company.
