Dana Blankstein

Dana Blankstein was born in 1981

Dana Blankstein Cohen was born in 1981 in Switzerland, to theater director Dedi Baron and physician Alexander Blankstein. Her family returned to Israel in 1983, and she grew up in Tel Aviv-Yafo. She graduated from the film department of Alon High School in Ramat HaSharon.

She served in the IDF as an education NCO and later as an education officer. She then studied at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School and finished in 2008. Her short film Camping was screened at the 2007 Berlin festival.

From 2014 to 2016 she was the founding director of the film and television department of the Kfar Saba municipality. From 2016 to 2019 she led the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. In 2019 she became CEO and director of the Sam Spiegel school, succeeding Renen Schorr.

At the school she expanded its international labs and launched a series lab and a program for Arabic-speaking students. In 2020 she led an agreement with the Abu Dhabi Film Commission, and in 2022 she oversaw the school's move to the Jerusalem Arts Campus. She is a founding board member of the group Big Sister and a member of the European Film Academy.

She is married to new media director Yoav Cohen. They live in Tel Aviv with their 2 children.