Uri Barbash

Uri Barbash was born in 1946 in Tel Aviv

Uri Barbash was born in Tel Aviv in 1946, the eldest son of Ruth and Menachem Barbash, and grew up in Be'er Sheva. His father was a member of the Shai and later a public servant, and his mother was a teacher and school principal. He lived for a time in Argentina because of his father's missions.

In the IDF he served in Nahal and then volunteered for Sayeret Shaked. As a reservist he fought in the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War. He later graduated from the London Film School.

From 1975 to 1982 he directed dozens of documentaries and television dramas. His drama Seal for Life won the Kinor David Prize in 1979. In 1982 he made his first feature film, Ot Cain.

In 1984 he began working with his brother, the writer Benny Barbash, on Beyond the Walls. The film won 6 Israeli Academy awards, was nominated for an Oscar, and won the FIPRESCI Prize at Venice. The brothers went on to make Unsettled Land and One of Us.

He received the Ministry of Culture's film art prize in 2012, the Landau Prize in 2018 and the Ophir lifetime achievement award in 2025.