Yoav Shamir

Yoav Shamir was born in 1970 in Tel Aviv

Yoav Shamir was born in Tel Aviv on November 6, 1970. He is a ninth-generation Israeli from Tel Aviv, and both of his parents were elementary school teachers.

He served as a soldier in the Israeli-occupied territories. He then earned a BA in history and philosophy at Tel Aviv University and an MFA in cinema with honors.

Most of his documentaries deal with disputed subjects. Checkpoint showed relations between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians at checkpoints, and Five Days followed the Gaza disengagement. Defamation examined how claims of antisemitism and the memory of the Holocaust are used for political gain.

After Checkpoint, some American journalists accused him of antisemitism, which he rejected, and this led him to make Defamation. His films won prizes at festivals in Amsterdam, San Francisco and Toronto's Hot Docs. He later made a film about people who act for what is just regardless of circumstance.

He also directed films about a teenage karting fan and about the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In 2021 and 2022 he directed television series, the second starring Dan Ariely.