Israeli screenwriter Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz to teach at San Diego

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 15 – Renowned Israeli screenwriter and filmmaker Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz will teach at San Diego State University during the spring 2019 semester, thanks to the Visiting Israeli Artists Program.

Weiss-Berkowitz is well-known in Israel for her work in film and TV. She has been the head writer for several TV drama series, including “A Touch Away,” a mini-series that won best Israeli TV drama at the 2007 International Film Festival in Haifa and best drama and best script at the 2007 Israeli Academy Awards. She has directed documentaries on a wide range of subjects and has served as a script editor, most recently for the TV series “Mossad 101.” Additionally, she is a professor in Tel Aviv University’s film department and was a founder and head of the screenwriting program at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem.

Weiss-Berkowitz is also widely recognized in Israeli publishing and journalism. As editor-in-chief of one of Israel’s largest publishers, Ex Libris, she has edited leading authors such as Amos Oz, Yair Lapid, Zvi Yanay, Shemi Zarhin, and Nava Semel. She was also a writer and editor at the Israeli daily newspaper Hadashot.

“San Diego is really lucky to host an industry powerhouse like Ronit. As kind and generous as she is talented, she has worked with and trained a generation of TV and film professionals,” said Flo Low, the head of the Visiting Israeli Artists Program. “Anyone who likes going to the movies, from film students to avid movie-goers, will be lucky to get her expert perspective on developing successful TV shows and documentaries.”

The Visiting Israeli Artists Program, an initiative of the Israel Institute, brings Israeli artists from various disciplines – including film, music, choreography, and the visual arts – to North America for residencies. Originally launched as a standalone initiative in 2008 and integrated into the Israel Institute in 2013, the program fosters high levels of interaction between Israeli artists-in-residence and the local communities in which they are based through classes, lectures, exhibitions, screenings, readings, and performances.