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Nurit Jacobs-Yinon
Nurit Jacobs-Yinon (b. September 6, 1973) is a film and television director and producer, owner of 'Aluma Films', a video installation artist, curator and Israeli social activist.

Biography

Nurit Jacobs-Yinon was born into a religious family in the city of Rehovot. She is the daughter of Elhanan and Naomi Jacobs, sister of Yaron, Yehonatan and Yedidia. Nurit is married to Zohar Yinon, son of Micha Yinon, and is mother of four children.

Between 1994-1998, she studied Film Studies at the Maaleh Film School; and Cinema Teachers Studies at Lifshitz College of Education. During this period, a fiction film she directed (1997) was broadcasted on Channel 2. Her final film as part of her studies 'It's Strange to be a Simple Woman' (1999), was dedicated to the well-known Israeli poet Zelda and broadcast on television. After completing her studies at Maaleh, she studied editing at the Jump Cut School in Tel Aviv. During the two subsequent decades, Nurit worked as program coordinator and teacher of cinema and was a national cinema instructor on behalf of the Ministry of Education, while engaging in private cinema and artistic endeavor.

In 2006, she completed a bachelor's degree in education and communications at the Lifshitz College. She is a graduate of the Ruderman Master's Degree Program for American Jewish Studies at Haifa University; the Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Workshop for Film Directors & Producers of Tel-Aviv University (2001); the Pro-Leadership Independent Cinema Workshop of the U.S. State Department (2007); the 'Greenhouse' Program supporting the development of feature-length documentaries run by the New Fund for Cinema and TV in conjunction with the EU (2008); the 'Gevanim' Leadership Program for Tolerance and Diverse Forms of Jewish Religious Expression, founded by the Jewish Federation of San Francisco (2014); and the 'Co.Lab' Program of the UJA-Federation of New York (2022).

Social and Public Activism

Jacobs-Yinon is one of the founders and leaders of 'The Israeli Women in Film and Television Forum' and one of the administrators of its Facebook page; one of the founders and leaders of 'Nachat Ruach', an egalitarian partnership synagogue in Shoham. She is also an administrator of the Facebook pages of 'BeShutaf' – Egalitarian Halakhic Minyanim and of 'HaFadlachushiya' of the religious-feminist community. She is one of the presenters of the 'Holchot BeChatzot' program broadcast on Israel Army Radio; is a member of the editing board of the De'ot Journal, published by Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah; is a member of the public council of 'Beit Hillel – Attentive Spiritual Leadership'; a fellow of the Honey Foundation for Pluralistic Community Leadership; and received a stipend from the Posen Foundation for Jewish Culture.

Nurit is a member of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television; has served as a lector, judge, and artistic director of film projects at various film festivals and community events in Israel, including as artistic director of the student's competition at the EPOS Art Film Festival at the Tel Aviv Museum of the Arts between 2020-2018, and as artistic director and facilitator of 'Israelis from the Movies' – a forum that hosts Israeli artists for pre-premiere discussions and screenings of their films. She also lectures in Cinema, Culture and Art, Judaism, and Gender in a range of diverse frameworks.

Selected Filmography

Jacobs-Yinon oscillates between the documentary and the artistic realms and is highly active at the intersection between women and religion. Among her works in this area are:

Nazareth Cinema Lady (2015; 52 min.) – a documentary that, for a decade, accompanies Safaa Dabour, an observant Muslim woman from Nazareth, who founded the first cinematheque in an Arab city in the State of Israel. The film won the Best Film award in the Israeli Film category at the 2016 EPOS International Art Film Festival and was the "Official Choice" at the Haifa International Film Festival 2015.

A Tale of a Woman and a Robe (2014; 30 min.) – a film that examines the ritual immersion of female converts to Judaism. The film, that was produced following an exhibition of the same name, was screened at the Jewish Film Festival at the Jerusalem Cinematheque in 2014 and was broadcast on Channel 1 of the Israeli Broadcasting Authority in 2016.

Video Art, Curatorship and Selected Exhibitions

Nurit Jacobs-Yinon:  'Inclusion; Exclusion' – a solo exhibition (Biennale Gallery, Old Sha'are Zedek Building, Jerusalem, 2022). Curator: Dr. David Sperber.

A solo exhibition that summarized a decade-long artistic-activistic journey made up of three stages that examined the relations between women, religion, and state. This multidisciplinary project included exhibitions, video art installations, films, books, lectures, media appearances, and social activism to raise awareness of issues of conversion, mamzerut, and the role of women in the public discourse, and to issue a call for tikkun.

 'A Tale of a Woman and a Robe' (2013-2015) – in 2013, Jacobs-Yinon initiated a group exhibition examining the ritual immersion of women converts' before the rabbinic judges of the Beit Din. The exhibition was displayed at the "Zaritsky Artists House" Public Gallery in Tel-Aviv and was curated by Raz Samira. The exhibition included video-art installations created by Jacobs-Yinon, alongside works by other artists and a modern midrash written by rabbinic advocate Rivka Lubitch. As part of the exhibition, Jacobs-Yinon prepared, together with the curator, a catalogue and anthology of articles also called 'A Tale of a Woman and a Robe'. She subsequently directed and produced a documentary film of the same name (2014) and published an anthology of articles and video kit (2015).

 'Mamzerim: Labeled and Erased' (2017) – a multidisciplinary project dedicated to the phenomenon of mamzerim in Judaism which was exhibited as part of the Jerusalem Biennale in 2017 and curated jointly by Jacobs-Yinon and Emily D. Bilski. The project included video-art installations by Jacobs-Yinon, collaborations with additional artists and a bilingual book of essays on the subject.

 'The Hebrew Suffragists: 100 Years' (2019) – a multidisciplinary initiative that addresses the right to vote of women in the Land of Israel and which was exhibited as part of the Jerusalem Biennale in 2019 under the joint curatorship of Jacobs-Yinon and Emily D. Bilski. Here too, Jacobs-Yinon displayed video-art installations and collaborations with other artists.