Israeli Director Ram Loevy Dies at 85

Ram Loevy, one of the founding figures of Israeli television and winner of the prestigious Israel Prize, passed away at the age of 85, his family announced Sunday. A master storyteller and fearless social commentator, Loevy’s work shaped the conscience of Israeli media and inspired generations of filmmakers.

Born in pre-state Israel to a journalist father who fled Nazi Europe, Loevy’s life was steeped in a deep understanding of history, conflict, and moral responsibility. His career in film began after a transformative viewing of Fellini’s 8½ while studying at Hebrew University. He later studied film in London but rushed home to Israel at the outbreak of the Six-Day War. That urgency to serve and create would define his life’s work.

Loevy helped establish the Israel Broadcasting Authority and Channel One in the late 1960s, becoming a cornerstone of Israeli public broadcasting. He also taught at numerous film schools, nurturing new talent while pushing Israeli television toward complexity and realism.

His 1978 adaptation of S.Y. Yizhar’s Hirbet Hiza, a harrowing exploration of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, remains one of the most controversial and courageous pieces of Israeli TV drama. In Bread (1986), Loevy tackled economic hardship in development towns, a film that resonated deeply across social divides. His body of work also includes Indian in the Sun (1981), the A.B. Yehoshua adaptations Mr. Mani (1996) and A Late Divorce (2016), and the late feature The Dead of Jaffa (2020), which explored themes of coexistence through the lens of an Arab couple caring for West Bank children.

He was also a prolific documentarian. His 1966 film My Name is Ahmad was the first Israeli documentary to center an Arab protagonist. Works like Barricades (1969) and Nebuchadnezzar in Caesarea (1980) captured the tensions and hopes of a young, complex nation grappling with itself.

Loevy’s influence went beyond screens. He envisioned a joint Jewish-Arab film industry in Jaffa and was deeply committed to giving voice to the voiceless, exploring narratives that many avoided. He remained a dreamer even in his final years, saying, “It was my dream that Israeli films would be seen all over the world, that they would be so good” a dream he lived to see realized.

He is survived by his wife, Zipora, their children and grandchildren, and a legacy that stretches far beyond Israel’s borders. Through drama and documentary, Ram Loevy helped Israel understand itself and asked it to be better.

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