Tel Aviv Cinematheque

Opened in May 1973, the Cinematheque serves as a home for Israeli films and filmmakers and as a meeting place for film professionals and cinephiles. Its work combines art-house exhibition, film education, support for young and experimental filmmakers, festivals, lectures, retrospectives, and other public programs. It presents this work as an alternative to commercial movie theaters.[2]

The Cinematheque was launched as a municipal art-house cinema in 1973 under the founding leadership of Akiva Berkin, while Lia van Leer is credited with helping to establish the institution in the early 1970s.[1][4] Van Leer and her husband Wim had earlier built a grassroots cinema culture in Israel by screening classic films at home and traveling with a 16mm projector; they established film clubs in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in 1956.[5][4] Alon Garbuz joined as deputy director and assumed the directorship in 1975, remaining in the position until his retirement at the end of September 2015.[1]

In its early years, the institution moved among several temporary venues, including an auditorium in a building owned by municipal employees, the Tel Aviv Museum, and a building belonging to the national lottery.[1] In 1989 it established a permanent home on Sprinzak Street, a 2,500-square-meter, light-stone building with five screens; Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell attended the opening night.[1][6] By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the original structure was showing its age, and the municipality assisted with the construction of a new wing designed by architect Salo Hershman.[7][6] The 5,500-square-meter addition, clad in aluminum intended to integrate with and rise above the older stone exterior, opened in 2011 with new halls, a library, and a restaurant.[6]

The addition was named the Marc Rich Israel Cinema Center. Its dedication drew more than 600 guests, including President Shimon Peres, Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat, and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai.[7] The project cost approximately NIS 50 million, divided roughly equally between the Marc Rich Foundation and the Tel Aviv Municipality.[7] The institution celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023 with “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls,” a survey of American cinema from the late 1960s through the late 1970s that opened with Easy Rider and closed with Raging Bull.[8]

Dina Peled later led the Cinematheque for a decade. In June 2026, Tomer Cohen was selected unanimously by its board to succeed her after she was appointed director-general of Tel Aviv-Yafo’s Culture Hall.[9]

The Cinematheque screens more than 1,500 films annually, including new releases and classics, fiction and documentary films, premieres, retrospectives, and international cinema weeks.[2] It presents itself as an alternative to commercial cinema, providing a platform for young filmmakers and experimental work that may not receive mainstream theatrical distribution.[2] Its official page and a 2023 report give a figure of approximately 60,000 visitors per month.[3][2]

Under Garbuz’s direction, the institution became known for foreign films, classics, Israeli filmmaking, filmmaker retrospectives, and enrichment courses.[1] It also initiated festivals including Docaviv and the Children’s Film Festival.[1] Its festival calendar has included Doc Aviv, TLVFest, Animix, the International Children and Youth Film Festival, and events devoted to jazz, science fiction, fantasy, role-playing, music, and spiritual cinema.[2]

Beyond screenings, the Cinematheque offers educational and enrichment programs, lectures, and meetings with filmmakers and artists.[2] A 2005 report described a tension acknowledged by Garbuz: newer and more commercially attractive films helped sustain audiences and finances, while classic and alternative programming remained central to the institution’s cultural and educational mission.[10]

The complex at 5 Haarba Street has five auditoriums equipped with advanced projection and sound systems, as well as a café and restaurant.[3][2] The Jerusalem Post described the new wing as featuring red metal pipes, large mirrors, and fragmented geometric forms, while Hershman identified the integration of the old and new buildings as his principal design challenge.[7][6]

The Cinematheque describes its Film Archives and Information Center as the largest of its kind in Israel.[2] Its holdings include nearly 35,000 video tapes and CDs, 10,000 books, thousands of magazines, and hundreds of newspaper clippings, photographs, and posters. The center serves film professionals and enthusiasts nationwide and collaborates with institutions overseas.[2] The Cinematheque also publishes what it describes as Israel’s only film periodical and distributes it among its members.[2]

The Cinematheque’s screening of films on contested political subjects has repeatedly drawn ministerial scrutiny and proposals to withdraw state funding. Under Garbuz, it provided a venue for events organized by Zochrot around Palestinian “Nakba” and return narratives concerning Israel’s War of Independence. NGO Monitor reported that Zochrot was scheduled to hold its second international festival at the Cinematheque on November 27–29, 2014, and that it held its fifth, titled “From Nakba to Return,” there on December 1–3, 2017.[11][12]

The planned 2014 festival prompted Culture Minister Limor Livnat to ask the Finance Ministry to examine withdrawing support from the Cinematheque.[13] Garbuz denied that the institution had acted illegally or spent public money on the event, saying it was funded by Zochrot and did not represent the Cinematheque’s political position. He said the ministry provided 230,000 shekels for regular activities.[13] In 2015, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev said she would consider withdrawing funding over a similar festival. Producer Liat Rosenberg characterized the intervention as an attempt to suppress public discussion and invited ministers to attend the screenings.[14]

The Solidarity Festival, hosted at the Cinematheque since 2011 and supported by the Culture Ministry since 2021, presents films addressing human rights, peace, democracy, equality, and social justice.[15] Its December 2024 program included Israeli and international documentaries on conscientious objection, Bedouin life, violence in Arab society, and peace-building.[16] Culture Minister Miki Zohar asked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to examine whether state support should be withheld under the Budget Foundations Law.[15] Films cited in reporting included Lyd, which presents events in Lod during the War of Independence from an Arab perspective and includes allegations of Israeli war crimes, and 1948, Remember, Remember Not, which recounts the war through Jewish and Arab voices.[16][15] The Culture Ministry’s legal adviser said the ministry was not authorized to withdraw support on the basis of artistic content, citing freedom-of-expression concerns.[15] The reports did not give a final funding decision.[16][15]