Reshef Levi

Reshef Levi (born 1972) is an Israeli screenwriter, film director, and playwright. Also he is known as a comedian and satiric artist. He is known for his success with “Lost Islands”, a film that came out in 2008 and was nominated for 14 Ophir Awards^[1][2] given by Israeli Academy of Film and Television for outstanding cinematic work.

His last comedy film, “Hunting Elephants”, was made with the participation of Patrick Stewart.^[3] However, this film got a low rating from IMDb^[4] (6.4/10), from Rotten Tomatoes^[5] (33%), and from Metacritic^[6] (49%). In addition, Reshef Levi is a writer of one of the most popular television crime drama shows in Israel, “The Arbitrator” (Ha Borer).

Early life

Reshef Levi was born at 1972 into a big family. His father was a journalist, and his mother had been an orthodox Jew,^[7] but she left the religion at some point in her life. In the army, Reshef Levi served in the Maglan,^[8] which is an Israeli special force. Even before his release from the army, he began to perform as a comic artist. After the army, he studied at Tel Aviv University in a program for outstanding students. During his life, Reshef Levi lost his brother, Regev Levi, who died of AIDS.^[9] Levi is the brother of Israeli writer Yannets Levi. Today, Reshef Levi is married and has six children.^[10]

Career

In 1994, Reshef Levi began to write scenarios for comedian entertainment programs on television, while he still was in the army. His first works included comic shows like “Zehu Ze”, “Shemesh”, “Zahal 1” which described the army’s radio station, and “Halomot Behakizis”. In 2003, Reshef Levi wrote a scenario for “Hadmaot Shel Amsalem” (Tears of Amsalem),^[11] which described the life of a mobster whose father had to enter to a nursing home, but caused troubles there.

“Hadmaot Shel Amsalem” was taken off the screen soon after it started because of financial problems. However, because the success of “Hadmaot Shel Amsalem”, in 2007 Reshef Levi produced another television show, “Ha Borer” (The Arbitrator)^[12] that was based on the style of “Hadmaot Shel Amsalem”. Reshef Levi produced it with Shay Kanot.^[13] This television show tells a story of a crime family and takes place in the seedy underbelly of society. This show won great favor among Israeli audiences and is considered one of the most successful television shows of all time in Israel. In 2008, Reshef Levi director and wrote “Lost Islands”, which was nominated for 14^[14] Ophir Awards, won four of them,^[15] and considered as a blockbuster in Israel. In 2009, Reshef Levi was appointed as the official playwright of Habima Theatre,^[16] the national theatre of Israel. During these years, he presented a number of plays there. His last film, “Hunting Elephants”, which came out in 2013, could not reproduce the same success that “Lost Islands” achieved. The big number of the critics gave him negative reviews, despite, the film’s high budget relatively to a domestic film, and the participation of known actors like Moshe Ivgy, and world famous actors like Patrick Stewart.

Filmography

Notes