Shmuel Hasfari is a playwright, screenwriter and film, television, and theatre director. Hasfari has been known to tackle a range of socio-political hot topics in his body of work, as well as questions of religion and faith from a critical point of view. As a director, Hasfari’s plays have graced the stages of virtually every repertoire theatre in Israel. Highlights of his stage directorial credits include Angels in America, The Crucible, A Trumpet in the Wadi, and Ubu Roi. Highlights of his playwrighting credits include Kiddush, Chametz, Shiva’a, and Master of the House, all of which were tremendously well-received by audiences and critics alike and went on to win scores of Israeli Theatre Awards over the years. Hasfari’s TV writing credits include cult comedy sketch shows The Cameric Five and Zehu Ze! (‘that’s it!’), and the classic Israeli children’s TV programme, Kshet Ve’Annan (‘rainbow and cloud’.) Hasfari also wrote and directed the first three seasons of political comedy series, Polishuk. In addition, he also wrote the script for Daniel Wachsmann’s 1989 feature film, The Appointed, and directed Sh’chur (‘hex’) (1994) which was written by his wife, actress and screenwriter Hanna Azoulay Hasfari. Sh’chur went on to win six Ophir Awards including Best Film and Best Director, as well as a Special Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival. The following decade, Hasfari teamed up with his nephew, Amir Hasfari and the pair co-wrote and co-directed the film Schwartz Dynasty (2004).
Hasfari also wrote the lyrics to the iconic postwar ballad, Winter 73 (‘choref 73’).
