Michal Bat-Adam

Michal Bat-Adam was born in 1945 in Afula

Michal Bat-Adam was born Michal Rubin in Afula in 1945. Her parents, Yemima and Adam Rubin, had come from Poland. As a young child she was sent to join her older sister Netta at Kibbutz Merhavia, and the two sisters took the last name Bat-Adam.

She first wanted to be a musician and studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. She then turned to acting at the Beit Zvi School of Performing Arts. She went on to act at Habima, the Cameri and other theaters.

In 1972 she played the title role of Rosa in a film by director Moshe Mizrahi, whom she later married. She acted in more of his films, including Madame Rosa in 1977. Her film roles also included Atalia in 1984.

She began writing and directing in Paris with Moments in 1979, a French-Israeli film in which she also acted. Several of her films draw on her own life, including The Thin Line in 1980, about a mother with mental illness. She later directed The Lover in 1986, Life Is Life in 2003 and Maya in 2010.

She teaches at Tel Aviv University and Camera Obscura and has recorded poetry readings. She was married to Mizrahi until his death in 2018. She received the Ophir Award for lifetime achievement in 2019.