Nadav Levitan (1943-2010) was an author, lyricist, screenwriter, and director. Levitan studied literature, philosophy, and theatre at Tel Aviv University. He taught at both the Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts and the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio and directed a number of highly successful plays and stage shows, including The Devil and the Farmer’s Wife (aka The Farmer’s Curst Wife) and I’m a Warbler (‘ani pashosh’). Together, Levitan and Muli Shapira founded popular military radio station, Galei Zahal’s Culture Department where he also worked as an editor.
Towards the end of the seventies, Levitan branched out to filmmaking and began directing a string of narrative and documentary films. In 2006, he was named the recipient of an Ophir Lifetime Achievement Award. Highlights of his directorial credits include An Intimate Story (1981), Girls (1985), Stalin’s Disciples (1987) which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Un Certain Regard section, Groupie (1993), No Names on the Doors (1997) that was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival, and The Mevorach Brothers (2000).
Levitan was married to the grande dame of Israeli folk music, singer-songwriter Chava Alberstein of whom he was a frequent collaborator. Alberstein appeared in two of his films (An Intimate Story and No Names on the Doors), whilst Levitan wrote several songs for her albums including The End of the Holiday, Coconut, Human Nature, and Welcome. He has also written and published three books including Aphrodisiac (1996), Family Politics: A Novella and Short Stories (2004), and Letter to a grandson by saba (2008).
