Photo: che (Please credit as "Petr Novák, Wikipedia" in case you use this outside Wikimedia projects.) / CC BY-SA 2.5 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Ari Folman is, to my mind, one of the bravest filmmakers working today. Born in Haifa and trained at Tel Aviv University, he turned his own wartime memory gaps into Waltz with Bashir, an animated documentary that refused to flinch from pain most directors would avoid entirely. That willingness to interrogate himself on screen, rather than just tell a comfortable story, is what earns my deep respect. The awards, from the European Film Award to the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, matter less to me than the artistic nerve behind them. Folman makes art out of discomfort, and that takes real courage.
Overview
Ari Folman (Hebrew: ארי פולמן; born December 17, 1962) is an Israeli film director, screenwriter, and film-score composer. He directed the Oscar-nominated animated documentary film Waltz with Bashir (2008) and the live-action/animated film The Congress. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Ari Folman
- Name (Japanese)
- アリ・フォルマン
- Reading
- あり・ふぉるまん
- Born
- December 17, 1962 (age 63)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Sagittarius / Tiger
- Origin
- Haifa, Israel
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film director / screenwriter / film producer / writer / composer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Tel Aviv University
Awards & achievements
- Writers Guild of America Award
- Directors Guild of America Award
- 1991 Ophir Award
- 1996 Ophir Award (best director)
- 2009 Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres
- 2013 European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film
- 2008 Ophir Award (best director)
- 2008 Ophir Award for best screenplay
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Film director — see all → · Screenwriter — see all → · More people from Israel →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.