Uri Zohar (1935-2022) was one of Israeli cinema’s greatest filmmakers of the second half of the 20th century. As a soldier, Zohar joined the IDF’s Lehakat Hanachal musical group and later, along with a group of peers, started the Pierrot troupe, Green Onion (Batzal Yarok). Further on, he continued to put on a great many musical and comedy shows, acting in films, and hosting a number of radio programmes. In the film, The True Story of Palestine (1962) which chronicled life in British Mandatory Palestine from the early 1930s until the 1948 founding of the State of Israel, Zohar collaborated with Israeli film pioneer, Nathan Axelrod, and director Joel Silberg. His feature-length directorial debut came in 1964 with Hole in the Moon. He later also directed Moishe Air-Condition (1966) and helmed the big-screen adaptation of A.B. Yehoshua’s Three Days and a Child (1967) which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and was lauded by critics. Zohar also directed Our Neighbourhood (1968), Every Bastard a King (1968), Take Off (1970), and The Rooster (1971).
Following the birth of Israeli television in the late 1960s, Zohar created the legendary sketch show, Lool. The series would then give rise to the Lool Bunch, that also included beloved Israeli singer-songwriter, the late Arik Einstein, as well as a host of other artists. During his stint with the Lool Bunch, Zohar directed his famous film trilogy that included Peeping Toms (1972), Big Eyes (1974), and Save the Lifeguard (1977). In 1976 Zohar was named the recipient of the Israel Film Prize, however he declined to accept the award on account of his disdain for the establishment. By the end of the 1970s, Zohar had completely stepped away from bohemian life, becoming ultra-orthodox and retiring from filmmaking altogether.
