Shai Goldman is a film and TV cinematographer. Goldman started out professionally in the nineties, and has since become one of the finest, most highly sought after cinematographers in Israeli cinema – thanks to his keen eye for aesthetics, immaculately put-together compositions, and an ability to deliver frames and shots that are as stylised as they are expressive and heartfelt.
Two of Goldman’s longtime collaborators include directors Eran Kolirin and Nadav Lapid. Kolirin and Goldman’s shared oeuvre includes the critically-acclaimed, award-winning The Band’s Visit (2007), The Exchange (‘hahithalfut’) (2011), Beyond the Mountains and Hills (2016), and Let it be Morning (2020). His work behind the camera on Nadav Lapid’s 2011 film, Policeman, earned him a Best Cinematography Award at that year’s Jerusalem’s Film Festival. The pair’s other collaborations include The Kindergarten Teacher (2014), Ahed’s Knee (2021), and Yes (2025). In 2019, Goldman’s work on Lapid’s Synonyms won him an Ophir Award for Best Cinematography in a Feature Film.
Goldman has also won Ophir Awards for his camerawork on Dina Zvi-Riklis’ Three Mothers (2006) and Eti Tsicko’s Nanaduri (2025). In 2015, his DoP duties on Avishai Sivan’s Tikkun not only earned him yet another Ophir Award but also a Special Mention at the Locarno International Film Festival.
Highlights of his other DoP credits include Under Western Eyes (Joseph Pitchhadze, 1996), Bésame Mucho (Joseph Pitchhadze, 2000), The Barbecuers (‘ha-mangalistim’) (Yossi Madmoni and David Ofek, 2002), It Begins at Sea (Eitan Green, 2008), The Wanderer (Avishai Sivan, 2010), The Dove Flyer (Nissim Dayan, 2013), Encirclements (Lee Gilat, 2014), Galis: The Journey to Astra (Oded Raz, 2014), Pink Lady (Nir Bergman, 2024), and The Sea (Shai Carmeli-Pollak, 2025).
