Renen Schorr (1952-2025) was a screenwriter, director, producer, teacher, film activist, and founder of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. In his teens, Schorr appeared in stage productions of Oliver! (Habima National Theatre) and The King and I (Giora Godik Theatre). In the IDF, he spent around a year with the Central Command Troupe (‘lehakat pikud merkaz) before joining weekly military magazine BaMahane (‘in the camp’), and Israeli army radio station, ‘Galei Zahal’ (102.3fm), as a staff reporter. A series of stories he had published about the 1973 Valley of Tears battle in the Yom Kippur War, and the courageous war efforts of a young Lieutenant named Zvika Greengold and the makeshift armoured corps unit he had assembled at zero notice (aka ‘Zvika Force’) earned Schorr a Sokolov Award [aka the ‘Israeli Pulitzer’ – EE] nomination.
Schorr was also Bamahane’s in-house film critic and published a number of essays and articles in various film magazines, with a special focus on Uri Zohar’s impact as a hugely influential filmmaker. In fact, it was Schorr who had dubbed Peeping Toms (‘metzitzim’) (1972), Big Eyes (1974), and Save the Lifeguard (1977) ‘Zohar’s Tel Avivian trilogy.’
Schorr is a graduate of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Film and Television Studies. At TAU he directed a number of shorts whilst, simultaneously, taking his first steps in the film industry as a 1st AD. He was a member of the ‘Kaitz Group’ (a Hebrew acronym for ‘young Israeli film’) that called to overhaul Israeli filmmaking and champion more personal, noncommercialised films. In 1979, on the heels of his work with the Kaitz Group, Schorr became one of the co-founders of The Fund for the Encouragement of Original Quality Films (that later became the Israel Film Fund). In 1985 he directed the documentary, Wedding in Jerusalem, which followed the nuptials of Uri Zohar’s (who by then, had become ultraorthodox) son with the daughter of Israeli music royalty, the late Arik Einstein.
Schorr returned to Tel Aviv University where he taught at the Department of Film and Television Studies. He also headed the film department at the Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts. In 1989, he founded the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School which he would run for the next 30 years. Under his leadership, the school became one of the most thriving, influential academic institutions in the world of Israeli film.
Behind the camera, Schoor directed two feature-length films in his lifetime: his directorial debut, Late Summer Blues (1987), was a hit both at the box office and with critics, and over time gained cult status. It made the official selection for the Montreal World Film Festival, was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival, opened that year’s Jerusalem’s Film Festival, and won scores of international awards including the Chicago International Film Festival’s Audience Choice Award.
The Loners (2009), Schorr’s second feature film was shown at the Busan International Film Festival. Domestically, it won an Ophir Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and a Special Mention for the whole cast at the Jerusalem Film Festival. In 2024, Schorr directed the documentary Wake up, Grandson – Letters to My Rebellious Rabbi (‘HaMeorer’) – an intimate exploration of Schorr’s deeply special relationship with his granddad, Rabbi Heller of Safed.
Beyond his own film oeuvre, the late Renen Schorr’s invaluable contribution was in educating, championing, and pushing for uncompromisingly exceptional filmmaking, and in having reared generations of Israeli filmmakers – his students at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School – who have gone on to blaze bold, innovative trails for themselves locally, and internationally.
