2025 BOSTON ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL – GUESTS
Maya Kenig, Writer/Director, The Milky Way
Maya Kenig is a 5 time Ophir Award winner, with 3 of those awards for her most recent film, The Milky Way (Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Editing).
Lori Lefkovitz, Speaker, The Return from the Other Planet
Lori Hope Lefkovitz is the author of In Scripture: The First Stories of Jewish Sexual Identity (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010), which was named a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in the category of Women’s Studies. Her awards include a Fulbright professorship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an academic fellowship at the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis, a Woodrow Wilson dissertation fellowship in the Women’s Studies Division, and a Golda Meir post-doctoral fellowship at Hebrew University. She was the founding director of Kolot, the Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she held a chair in Gender and Judaism, and is the founding executive editor of the website, ritualwell.org. Professor Lefkovitz holds a BA from Brandeis University and an MA and PhD from Brown University. Her books include: Shaping Losses: Cultural Memory and the Holocaust (with Julia Epstein), Textual Bodies: Changing Boundaries of Literary Representation, and The Character of Beauty in the Victorian Novel. She is widely published in the fields of literature, critical theory, and Jewish feminist studies, serves on editorial, professional, and community boards, and lectures widely in academic and Jewish contexts.
Romy Neumark, Moderator, The Return from the Other Planet
Romy Neumark brings over two decades of experience in Israeli journalism to her advanced Hebrew language courses at Harvard. Her classes focus on media studies, documentary filmmaking, and journalistic writing.
Before joining Harvard as a Nieman Fellow in 2023, Romy was a senior anchor at KAN, the Israeli public broadcasting media outlet. She created and hosted the daily “Night News” on television and a weekly radio interview show. Previously, she reported in-depth magazine stories and anchored news programs for prominent Israeli outlets like Channel 10 News, Galei Tzahal radio station, and the digital version of Ma’ariv newspaper.
Romy is known for her innovative approach to journalism. She leverages the power of the news to promote social change, advocating for gender equality, diversity, and inclusivity through creative uses of the Hebrew language. At KAN, she led a peer mentoring initiative fostering excellence and professional growth among journalists and inclusivity in the newsroom.
Adar Shafran, Director, Running on Sand
Adar Shafran was born in 1982 in a small village in north of Israel called Ein Iron. When he was 18, he became a musician and had a rock band for 8 years, writing and composing songs. After he produced a music video for the band, the director asked to come and produce more projects together with him. After two years producing many music videos, he started his own company called Firma Films together with partner Roni Abramowsky. He started to produce feature films, and series and as a producer he was involved from the first words that were written until the last frame in the post. With one project they developed (Running on Sand) they were looking for a director and he was so connected to it that he decided to direct it himself, and fell in love with it.
Skyler Inman, Moderator, Running on Sand
Skyler Inman is an anthropologist, nonfiction writer, and audio journalist with an interest in the intersections of labor, identity, nationalisms, time, and our relationship with the things and spaces around us. Above all, she is fascinated by the ways in which our internalized narratives define us, and how those co-created narratives become externalized in the form of social policy, public rituals, private sentiments, and individual and collective actions.
In 2017, she received her B.A. in English from Yale University, graduating as a participant in the college’s Creative Writing Concentration with a special focus in creative nonfiction.
While at Yale, she wrote for multiple student publications, reporting abroad from Vietnam and Bosnia, and domestically from New York, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Texas. Her senior capstone project, Women Who Ride, was an extended work of reported nonfiction that explored the world of women’s motorcycle gangs, and their place in the ever-evolving landscape of American gender performance. In 2017, it was awarded the William H. Schubart Prize for a distinguished piece of nonfiction.
From 2017-2018, Skyler embarked on a year-long fellowship in Israel/Palestine, funded by the Cohen Public Service Fellowship and the Charles P. Howland Fellowship. She ended up remaining in the region for an additional four years doing both journalistic work and sociocultural research.
She is currently a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at Brandeis University, where she plans to investigate nationalism, identity, labor, belonging, and political temporalities.
Dan Shadur, Director, Silver’s Uprising
Dan Shadur is an award-winning documentary director and producer known for tackling sensitive political and social issues through an innovative and personal lens. His acclaimed works, including the hit documentary King Bibi about Benjamin Netanyahu, have been featured on PBS, Arte, BBC, Canal+, and screened at prestigious film festivals worldwide. Shadur’s films have garnered critical acclaim from major outlets like The Washington Post, CNN, and Der Spiegel.
In 2024, he produced Strange Birds, which earned the Best Director Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival. A graduate of the Tisch School of Film at Tel Aviv University, Shadur is currently developing his first scripted series, expanding his storytelling into new creative realms. He is also a lecturer and the host of Israel’s first documentary podcast – The Echo Chamber.
Noa Blumer, Performer, Movie Music Magic!
Noa Blumer is an Israeli Jazz singer and songwriter who composes and arranges original music blending R&B and Jazz styles. She is currently in her second and final year at Berklee College of Music as a full scholarship recipient.
In 2023, Noa graduated from The Jazz Institute at the Rimon School of Music, where she was awarded the Excellence Scholarship three times. She is also a scholar of the Beracha Foundation, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and the Ronen Foundation of America.
Itay Dayan, Performer, Movie Music Magic!
Based in Boston, Israeli clarinetist and composer Itay Dayan is considered one of today’s most promising voices in klezmer music.
Known for his broad attitude, Itay weaves together various influences, crafting a sound that honors tradition while exploring new musical frontiers.
He has played and toured such ensembles as the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Meitar Ensemble, and the Israel Klezmer Orchestra, and is a scholarship recipient from multiple Israeli and international music foundations.
Nahar Eliaz, Performer, Movie Music Magic!
18 years old cellist Nahar Eliaz has internationally distinguished herself by winning 1st Prize in Boston when she was 11 years old. In 2019 she won the title “ Exceptional Young Artist”, and has won more than 20 First Absolute Prizes in International competitions in Europe, Asia and America.
Her success led to concerts at venues such as the Lincoln Center, Barcelona Arts Center, Carnegie Hall, Beethovenhaus, Germany, Musikverein, Mozarthous, Vienna.
Nahar participated in prestigious festivals in Europe and in the USA, and following a personal invitation by Mr. Yitzhak Perlman was featured at the 2018 Gala event for the Israeli Prime Minister.
She currently studies with Prof. Laurence Lesser in New England conservatory.
Nahar plays on a 1760 Galiano cello.
Ravani Loushy Kay, Performer, Movie Music Magic!
Violinist Ravani Loushy Kay, b. 2005, studies with Prof. Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory on dean’s scholarship, and is a recipient of multiple other grants and scholarships.
1st prize winner of the Israel National Strings Competition in 2022 and the BMSM String competition in 2023.
Ravani was 1st violinist of the Stern Quartet 2018-23, performing in Israel, Europe, and recording for the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, and also made his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ravani plays on a 1799 Nicolas Lupot from the collection of Yehuda Zisapel.
Gilad Paz, Performer, Movie Music Magic!
Gilad Paz is a rock singer, classical tenor, and crossover performer with extensive experience that ranges from the clubs of NYC to Carnegie Hall to America’s Got Talent!
He has created and produced multiple shows, including OPROCK and VOCE NOVA, and is also a co-owner and band leader at TLV – the premier Israeli music cover band in North America – as well as a Jewish and Israeli music specialist for events.
He is also the founder and CEO of The Marketable Musician, where he helps musicians, both professional and avocational, create passion projects, financial stability, and dream lives!
Visit giladpaz.com to learn more.
Tomer Rozen, Performer, Music Movie Magic!
Tomer Rozen (b. 1999) is a composer of concert music and opera, currently studying towards his Masters at the New England Conservatory.
Tomer’s music, including a new dark comic chamber opera about music competitions, can be found on his website: tomerozenmusic.com
Tomer’s works has been commissioned by leading new music ensembles such as the NEC Symphony, Israel Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra, Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, Atlantic Music Festival, Sounds in the Desert Festival, The Young Artist Piano Competition, Meitar Ensemble, Eden-Tamir Music Center and the Deleuze Ensemble.
Noah Silverman, Performer, Music Movie Magic!
A native of New York, Noah is currently finishing his master’s in horn performance at NEC. Outside of school, Noah is also an avid freelancer in the New England area, performing with numerous orchestras including the Plymouth Philharmonic and Portland Symphony Orchestra, among others.
