First Year

Research / Moshe Alafi (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 1.5 credits)

The basis of any writing, whether it be feature or documentary, is the knowledge of the facts. Without the facts, the film is not connected to reality and therefore is not credible. Sometimes the facts are not easily found. How can we discover worlds, periods, or professions that are so different from our own world? In this course the students will acquire the necessary skills for collecting and verifying information on different levels – from interviews, archives, databases and of course from the internet.

 Introduction to Screenplay Writing / Chava Divon (3 hr/wk, 1st semester, 2 credits)

Screenplay writing has its own set of rules, different from any other kind of writing. This workshop introduces basic foundations of the feature screenplay's structure, and outlines the rules that create the freedom to write, while focusing on the foundation stones of dramatic writing: the hero, the motivating event, conflict, development of a dialogue etc. The students experiment with writing exercises of varied levels of difficulty while applying the material that was studied in class.

 Documentary Directing / Amalia Margolin (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

The documentary director is the mediator between the outside world and the filmed material. This course deals with the place of the documentary director in reality, using different techniques of documentary work, and provides the students with basic tools such as investigating, choosing a point of view, the ability to conduct an interview, understanding the documentary situation etc.During the year, the students film a number of documentary exercises leading to the final film for year 1, which is about ten minutes in length.

 Feature Directing / Orna Levy (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

Even though there is no dictionary for cinema, it is still has language of its own. Films have a language that is different from any other visual art. How do you portray feeling? How do you build dramatic situations? How can a story be told using only visuals? In this workshop framework, the students will cope with the initial practical steps of talking in the film language. Every student will direct three structured exercises during the first year of study. These exercises will allow the student to attain the foundations of feature film directing. Every student will also direct an end of the year feature film lasting up to eight minutes.

Studio Directing / Yoav Elitzur (6 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 4 credits)

Directing in a television studio requires different skills than directing with a single camera. The course is designed to teach the basis of studio camera work, sound recording, lighting systems design, routing, directing in a studio and producing different studio programs, while refining and honing the basic directing abilities.

 Sound Recording / Avisar Aga (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 1.5 credits)

In this course we will learn the principles of indoor and outdoor recording. We will get acquainted with different microphones and different methods of recording. We will understand the place and role of the sound person as part of the filming crew and the importance of sound to the completed film.

 Cinematic Lighting / Amir Scheinbaum & Moshe Churi (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

This course teaches the basis of filming, acquaintance with natural light and artificial lighting, as well as first steps of combining movement in the filming. The students perform filming exercises of ascending difficulty that are analyzed in the class. The course's goal is to help the students obtain abilities to film their documentary and feature films and to improve their visual ability.

 Still Photography / Oz Dudai (3 hr/wk, 1st semester, 2 credit)

A 120 minute long movie is made up of 172,800 individual frames. Through this course, the student will learn sensitivity to the filming of an isolated frame, and to composition, color and light. Each student will hone his or her ability to build a staged moment and likewise capture a "moment of life".

 Introduction to Editing / Micky Cohen (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

Jean-Luc Godard stated that "If the film was the body, then the editing must be the heartbeat."The course teaches basic editing skills while focusing on different techniques and theories using demonstration clips from movies.During the course, students are assigned tasks and exercises that are analyzed in class. The classes are reinforced by editing documentary and feature exercises produced in other parallel courses. By the end of the course the students will have the ability to edit a documentary or feature short film.

 Concepts of the History of Art / Flavia Levov (2 hr/wk, both semesters, 3 credits)

The seventh art is a link in the chain of all other arts.This course studies plastic art and analyzes selected drawings and sculptures through the observation of works of art from various periods. The focus is on the concepts that build the visual language and the way that the artist strengthens the essence of the creation and its contents using isual language.

 The History of the Cinema / Zohar Altman-Ravid (2 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

The course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of the history of the cinema, studying the origin of the cultural and historical influences on the development of cinema. The course examines the development of the medium in a chronological fashion, starting with the first films of the Lumi?re Brothers and Thomas Alva Edison, through pioneers of the cinematic language, such as Porter and Griffith, as far as the peak of the silent movie era and the arrival of sound in the latter part of the 1930s.

Cinematic Expression / Einat Kapach (2 hr/wk, 1^st semester, 1.5 credits)

How do films "speak"? What is the difference between a close up and a long shot? Are camera movements coincidental or do they have a meaning of their own? With the use of movie scene analysis, the students will obtain theoretical knowledge of the cinematic language.

Introduction to Aesthetics / Rabbi Ronen Ben David (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 1.5 credits)

In the course we will examine the concept of "beauty" and the cultural need for that term. We will explore the Jewish attitude towards the "beautiful" and the relationship between aesthetics and ethics in Western culture as well as in Jewish culture.  How did the concept of "beautiful" evolve in the post modern world?

 Genres in the Cinema / Einat Kapach (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 1.5 credits)

The course looks at the varied genres that exist in cinema, examining the question of what makes a group of movies belong to a certain genre, and focusing on the main genres. During the course we will investigate the cinematic and stylistic constancy that characterizes the main genres: the western, the gangster movies, the romantic comedy, the musical film, science fiction and others. The course examines the different contents and the characteristics that are unique to each of the genres, and if each genre describes reality as is or creates an alternative one.

 Shai Agnon / Ezra Schreiber (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 1.5 credits)

This course exposes the students to the special, creative and magical world of Agnon. We will study the Jewish sources that he used in his writings and the methods used to process them, by learning about the Jewish cultural background as described in his stories and his writings, and the world of imagery that he created.

 Using Editing and Filming Equipment / Pazit Lichtman and Amir Scheinbaum (15

hr/wk, beginning of the 1st seminar, 2 credits) The course will be taught in a concentrated fashion at the beginning of the school year. The students will be acquainted with the editing program "Final Cut Pro", its uses and its technical rules. At the end of the course, the students will be tested regarding their ability to use the editing program – sampling, picture editing, sound editing and downloading.  Students will learn how to use the video camera and the recording and lighting equipment that goes with it, while emphasizing safety, professionalism and efficiency.

Introduction to Screenplay Writing – part 2 / Rabbi Mordechai Vardi (3 hr/wk, 2nd

semester, 2 credits) The initial foundations to screenplay writing were learned in the first semester.  The goal of this course is to improve and enhance the students' cinematic writing ability by focusing on the hero, the conflict and story development. The course guides students through the stages of writing their scripts for the first year final films.

The Israeli Documentary Film / Dorit Tzimblist (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 2 credits)

Israeli documentary cinema is a social cinema and most of it is not screened in theaters. At the beginning of the previous century, cinema was used as the broadcaster of Zionism, but nowadays it has become a most important genre dealing with difficult and urgent topics in the State of Israel: attitudes towards the Holocaust, development towns, relationships between religious and secular citizens, treatment of Palestinians, immigration, emigration etc. This course studies the development of Israeli documentary cinema and its influences by watching and analyzing key films from different periods.

 Talmudic Cinema / Udi Lion (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 1.5 credits, includes second year students)

 This course analyzes important cinematic creations in the eyes of Judaism while referring to different sources. Among the films to be discussed in class are: "Cinema Paradiso", "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and others.

 Human Drama in the Responsa Literature / Ezra Schreiber (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 2 credits)

A concise and inspiring study of the responsa literature as an inexhaustible reservoir of ideas, situations, conflicts, and characters  

Second Year

Music for a Movie / Jonathan Bar Giora (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 1.5 credits)

For thousands of years, music has been changing. Every type of music has its own story. In this course, the students will listen to different styles of musical works in order to broaden their knowledge as listeners and creators and to sharpen their musical understanding and their sensitivity to nuances.

Israeli Cinema / Shalom Hager (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 1.5 credits)

The present does not exist without the past. This course will examine the milestones of cinematic development over the last five decades, by watching films and parts of films. Questions discussed throughout the course: Does Israeli cinema reflect the social, political reality in Israel? Do the films represent society or are they individual and isolated works? What dialogue exists between Israeli cinema and the development of parallel cinemas around the world?

Feature Directing / Omri Levy (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

Based on the initial experience of the first year, this course teaches the foundations of directing while emphasizing interpretation of the screenplay, building the shoot, the acts of the scene, instructing the actors and editing. The students will obtain basic directing skills and will become more professional, while experiencing team work on a set and directing three exercises of escalating difficulty, culminating in the ten minute long end of the year project.

 Actor Instruction / Chuck Brackman (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

The actor is the main vehicle through which the director's work is expressed. The students will learn the principles and the different methods of developing a dialogue with the actor so as to utilize his or her abilities to the fullest and to bring the actor to synthesize with the written character. The workshop is a practical workshop that will help the students practice the theoretical material with their peers and professional actors to instill in students the ability to identify the specific triggers that galvanize an individual actor.

Editing / Tsipi Raz (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

As a follow up to the editing skills that were taught in the first year, this workshop deals with the advanced stages of non-linear editing. The workshop helps students obtain the professional skills needed to edit feature films,  documentaries and television programs by understanding the emotional and manipulative power of editing and the different editing techniques that are used.

The History of Cinema – Part 2 / Zohar Altman-Ravid (2 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

This course, a continuation of the first year course, deals primarily with European and American cinema. The course emphasizes different currents that operate in the central industry and on its sidelines, and which of them have an effect on contemporary cinematic language.

Israeli Culture / Dr. Yael Shenkar (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 1.5 credits, includes the third year students).

Israeli culture started as a rebellion against Jewish tradition. What sources influenced it? Which sources inspired it? Where can Israeli culture be found today? What is the inner discourse of the cultural world and is there canonization of the local culture? Journalist and author Michael Dak will explore these questions and more with the students. Does Israeli culture exist? What are the differences between culture, sub-culture and multicultural? What is the difference between Israeli culture and Jewish culture? Finding answers to these questions will be done by focusing on topics such as: literature, media, women's status, the body in culture, shopping as culture etc.

 The Short Film / Shalom Hager (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 1.5 credits, includes first and second year Screenplay Writing Track students)

Living alongside the feature films is the hidden world of short films. They are mostly a product of cinema schools all over the world. It would seem that filming a 15 minute long movie is easier than filming a full length movie. Is that to? How did creators, over the years, deal with the need to squeeze a full dramatic event into such a short and pressured timeframe? The course will examine the best of the cinematic short film achievements from Israel and abroad and will observe the unique elements in each genre.

 Religious Cinema / Rabbi Mordechai Vardi (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 1.5 credits)

The course examines cinema around the world that was created from a religious way of thinking or as an opposition to a religious outlook. The films will be examined with a thematic and formative view as to their dealing with the issues of religion, faith and ethics. Among the films that will be studied are the works of: Martin Scorsese, Ingmar Bergman. Pier Paolo Pasolini, Woody Allen, Lars von Trier, Kim Ki-Duk, Mel Gibson, Majid Majidi and others.

Soundtrack Design / Noam Shpiegler (3 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 2 credits)

A soundtrack is made up of a number of layers of recorded sound. The most obvious one is dialogue, but  "underneath" it are music channels, effects channels, background sound and sometimes even other human voices. The soundtrack supports the visual story and broadens it. In this workshop the students will learn the elementary basis of soundtrack design by watching films and through practical experience as they design soundtracks for their own movies.

 Cinematography and Lighting / Gabriel Wagon (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

This course is a continuation of the first year studies.  In it we will study the work of the cinematographer in relation to the screenplay and in coordination with the director,. The students will recognize and practice different styles of filming and lighting, shooting writing, preparing pre-productions and tests etc. During the year, students will have a day or two of concentrated workshops in which they will produce a scene while carrying out all the different  disciplines on a set. The students will be guided by the cinematography and directing teachers.

 Screenplay Writing – Specific and Personal Writing / Sigalit Lipschitz (3 hr/wk, 1st semester, 2 credits)

Based on the foundations of screenplay writing acquired in the first year course, this workshop develops and widens the writing ability of each student. It sharpens the dramatic narrative understanding and uses personal subjective experiences as the basis of creating and developing ideas for screenplays.

 Screenplay Writing – Location Films Workshop / Moshe Zonder (3 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 2 credits)

Based on the screenplays and exercises written in the first semester, this workshop focuses on the writing of an end of the year film. The focus is on the work space and the filming site (location) as the main lever of the story in a cinematic screenplay with limited dialogue, not longer than ten minutes. In the course of the workshop the students will read their scripts at different stages of development, and successful locations for the  films will be screened and analyzed.

Documentary Directing / Lina Chaplin (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

The ability to create stylistic uniformity for the duration of a long documentary unit requires developing language and style that have the ability to reflect reality in a narrative way, while making a the personal statement by the creator of the documentary. During the course the students will film a number of exercises, deal with various issues of the making and directing of a documentary and direct an end of the year film of up to ten minutes.

 Production / Moshe Alafi (2 hr/wk 2nd semester, 1.5 credits)

Without the producer and without suitable production, dreams cannot come true. The production workshop teaches elementary tools in the planning of short film production and their implementation, while learning basic concepts such as production disassembly of a screenplay, preparing a budget, applying for funds and budget recruitment. The workshop will guide the students' own directing projects.

 Relationships / Rabbi Yehoshua Engelman (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 1.5 credits)

Relationships in the Bible, in the Talmud, in the stories of our sages and in other Jewish sources. Examining the concept of interpersonal relationships, between man and his Maker, and within the family and society.The goal of the class is to inspire thinking and creativity, leading up to the development of the graduate films. 

Third Year

Contemporary Documentary Cinema / Dorit Zimbalist (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 1.5 credits)

The first cinema film, directed by the Lumi?re Brothers, in 1895, was a documentary film. Since then, the documentary genre has developed its own language. Television, which brought live news to each and every home, changed the role and the language of the documentary film. During the course, the students watch televised and cinematic documentary films and analyze the language of the movies while understanding the dialogue that the films create with reality. They are exposed to the best of the world's documentaries of recent years.

Documentary Directing / Barak Heymann (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

Following the short exercises that were done in the first year and the directing of a movie in the second year, this workshop guides the students in directing their documentary graduate film, starting from the idea stage, through the research, the screenplay and filming stages, and then to the editing and the assembling of the soundtrack. The class is held as a workshop where the students bring their materials to be discussed and get feedback from the teacher and other students.

 Directing Workshop / Amalia Margolin (4 hr/wk, both semesters, 6 credits)

In the second year, every student obtains the basic skills and professional tools to direct a short feature film. This workshop has a group format.  Within its framework the students direct a complex scene of five actors at two filming locations, so as to acquire directing skills for a scene as a whole and of the closed world of the scene which creates an inner dialogue with the viewer. The workshop also helps the students acquire skills for working within a team on complex "sets" as a preparation for the production and directing of the feature graduate film at the end of the third year.

 The Producer and Assistant Director for the Graduate Students / Yoav Roeh and

Aurit Zamir (3 hr/wk, 1st semester, 2 credits)

Leading up to the graduate film productions, the workshop deals with the producer's job, starting with the idea stage all the way through to completion when the movie is screened. Students learn about coping with budget restrictions, keeping to a schedule and deadlines, recruiting sponsors and donations from private companies and foundations, and coping with extremely complex production challenges. The course deals with the producer as a creator and an initiator, who motivates the creative process from beginning to end. In addition, the course teaches about the role of the assistant director, in depth, from the screenplay disassembly to the management of the film set, doing so using a computer program designed for that purpose.

 Cinematography and Lighting for Graduate Students / Jorge Gurvich (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

An elective course for graduate students specializing in the field of cinematography and who are planning to film their classmates' graduate films. The course is held in a relatively small group and gives personal attention to each student with regard to his or her work. This course emphasizes filming to the high professional standards that are required in the film industry, including filming in complex lighting conditions, filming with minimal lighting, difficult camera movements, different filming styles, preparing a shoot together with the director and so on.

 "The Morning After" / Ayelet Ephrati (3 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 2 credits, includes second year Screenplay Writing Track students)

The moment after the filming of a movie is the beginning of a complicated process – editing the picture, editing the sound, marketing and distribution. The moment after graduation is the moment the struggle for survival begins. In this course, the students are exposed to the variety of possibilities that the cinema and television industries have to offer as livelihood in the fields of production: - writing and directing in general, as well as other specialties  in the  field of post-production.

The History of Cinema – Part 3 / Zohar Altman – Ravid (2 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

This year, we will focus on the French new wave and the golden age of the seventies in American cinema, (the merican "new wave"). We will also delve into the development of the national cinema in different countries around the world.

AVID editing for Graduate Students / Mickey Cohen (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 1.5 credits)

In this course the graduate students will get acquainted with AVID, the most popular editing program in the cinema industry, in the past and in the present. The software will be thoroughly studied using explanations in class and eekly assignments, At the end of the course the students will take a certification test.

 Screenplay Writing – the Graduate Film / Amit Lior (3 hr/wk, both semesters, 4 credits)

A practical workshop whose goal is writing the script of the graduate film, from the idea stage through synopsis writing, pitching, character development, plot thickening, finding the theme or "heart", and rewriting until the creenplay is ready for filming the graduate film starting in the summer.

 Video Art / Nira Pereg (3 hr/wk, 1st semester, 2 credits)

The "how" is just as important as the "what". This workshop puts the common question of "what?" on the side, and focuses and emphasizes the less popular question of "how?" using less conventional filming, editing and recording methods. The students will experience varied and diverse techniques that are on the seam between cinema and the  plastic arts.

 Commercial Directing / Rony Gruber (3 hr/wk, 1st semester, 2 credits)

A practical workshop where the students receive a "brief" and following it they write a screenplay for a short commercial film. Some of the chosen scripts will be produced, while the workshop guides all the developing stages, starting from the original idea, through the scriptwriting until the actual filming and editing.

 Music for the Cinama – Part 2 / Jonathan Bar Giora (2 hr/wk, 2nd semester, 2 credits)

Continuing the course from the second year, this course will focus on different composers, different soundtracks for cinema, a computer program for processing soundtracks, and will guide musical writing for the students' various projects.

The Montage / Ziva Postec (3 hr/wk, 1st semester, 2 credits)

An advanced class on the art of montage, while watching examples from famous films, including analyzing the directing and editing of graduate films made by former students. 

 Israeli Culture / Dr. Yael Shenkar (2 hr/wk, 1st semester, 1.5 credits, includes the second year students).

Israeli culture started as a rebellion against Jewish tradition. What sources influenced it? Which sources inspired it? Where can Israeli culture be found today? What is the inner discourse of the cultural world, and is there anonization of the local culture? Journalist and author Michael Dak will explore these questions and more with the students. Does Israeli culture exist? What are the differences between culture, sub-culture and multicultural? What is the difference between Israeli culture and Jewish culture? Finding answers to these questions will be done by focusing literature, media, women's status, the body in culture, shopping as culture, etc.

 General Notes

1. Optional Courses: AVID, Filming for Graduates, the Producer and Assistant Director,

Soundtrack Design, Bet Midrash of Cinema. Every student is required to choose at least one specialization per semester.

2. Directing a documentary or feature graduate film: 1.5 credits per film

Year Four

Students spend their fourth year writing, preparing, shooting and editing their graduate films. Experienced professionals from the film industry and from among the Ma'aleh faculty guide the students through this demanding creative process in groups or in one-on-one format in special tutorials throughout the year.  The following courses are also offered:

Directing of Actors / Esty Zackheim   1^st semester, 3 hr/wk

Documentary film directing / David Fisher   1^st semester, 2 hr/wk

The History of Cinema Part 4 / Zohar Altman-Ravid   1^st semester,  2 hr/wk

Supervision of Production of Graduate Drama Films / Omri Levi   2 hr/wk