Danae Elon

Danae Elon
Born	Danae Elon (1970-12-23) December 23, 1970 (age 54) Jerusalem, Israel
Occupation(s)	Director, cinematographer, producer
Spouse	Philip Touitou

Danae Elon (Hebrew: דנאי אילון; born December 23, 1970) is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer from Jerusalem. She is based in Montreal, Quebec.

Biography

Danae Elon was born in Jerusalem. She is the daughter of journalist and author Amos Elon, and Beth Elon. Danae Elon graduated from New York University in 1995.

Film career

In 2009 she received the Guggenheim fellowship[1] in the category of film. Her work has often centered around Jerusalem and the Palestinian struggle. Wild Mint, which she directed and produced, and Cut,[2] which she photographed and co-produced, were the first films in which she attempted to reconcile state ideology and reality.

In 2001 Elon produced her first critically acclaimed film, Another Road Home,[3][4] which received a grant from the Sundance Institute Documentary Program in 2003. The film premiered at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival and was showcased in over 20 international film festivals, including IDFA, Los Angeles Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival, Hot Docs, Encounters South Africa and Gothenburg. Another Road Home was theatrically released in 2005 and was shown in 15 US cities. It was broadcast on the Sundance channel, BBC, Finnish, Belgian, New Zealand, Swedish, and on both Al Jazeera and Israeli television. It was cited as one of the most important films about the subject.

Her second feature documentary, Partly Private,[5] was about male circumcision. An Israeli-Canadian co-production, it was screened on ARTE France, TV Ontario, Canal Vie, TV2 Denmark, and Channel 8 Israel.

Three other critically acclaimed and award winning documentary films by Elon are P.S. Jerusalem, The Patriarch's Room and A Sister's Song.

Academic career

Elon was a lecturer at the Sapir Academic College and head of the Israeli documentary program at Cinema South International Film Festival.[6] She is currently an adjunct lecturer at Queens University at Kingston.

Awards and recognition

Her first documentary film, Never Again Forever,[7] was released in 1996. It showcased in over 25 international film festivals and received a Golden Spire award from the San Francisco International Film Festival as well as an achievement award from the Chicago International Film Festival.

Partly Private[8] premiered in the 2009 Tribeca film festival[9] and won the Best New York Documentary award.[10]

Elon won two awards for Another Road Home:[11] a bronze medal from the Warsaw International Film Festival, and best documentary from Tursak Film Festival in Istanbul.

The Patriarch's Room won Best research and Music award at the Docaviv film festival as well as Best documentary at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Beyond Borders Film Festival in Greece. For A Sister's Song she received the AIDC Award for innovation in documentary filmmaking as well as an Iris Award for cinematography.

Filmography

Year	Title	Credited as	Festivals and awards	Ref.
1996	Never Again, Forever	Director, producer	International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam Hamptons International Film Festival New York Jewish Film Festival São Paulo International Film Festival San Francisco International Film Festival – Golden Spire Award Chicago International Film Festival – Achievement Award	[12][13] [14]
1998	Wild Mint	Director, producer	Jerusalem International Film Festival Lisbon International Film Festival	[15]
2000	Cut	Producer, cinematographer	International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam Jerusalem International Film Festival – Special Award for Cinematography Dok Leipzig	[16]
2005	Another Road Home	Director, producer, writer, additional cinematographer	Hot Docs Tribeca Film Festival Los Angeles Film Festival Jerusalem International Film Festival Tursak International Film Festival – 1st Prize and Jury Prize Göteborg Film Festival Encounters South African International Documentary Festival Jewish Motifs International Film Festival – Bronze Medal	[17] [18] [19] [20]
2009	Partly Private	Director, writer	Tribeca Film Festival – Best New York Documentary Jewish Motifs International Film Festival – Best Representation of Israeli and Jewish contemporary Culture	[21] [22] [23] [24]
2015	P.S. Jerusalem	Director, producer, cinematographer	Toronto International Film Festival Berlin International Film Festival Doc NYC Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal – Student Choice Award Haifa International Film Festival The Cinema South International Film Festival London Human Rights Watch Film Festival Geneva Human Rights Watch Film Festival Melbourne International Film Festival Zurich Human Rights Watch Film Festival Visioni Fuori Raccordo Film Festival Biografilm Festival Giffoni Film Festival	[25][26]
2016	The Patriarch's Room	Director, producer, writer	Doc Aviv – Best Research Award & Special Mention of the European Critique Circle New York Jewish Film Festival	[27][28]
2018	A Sister's Song	Director, producer	Doc Aviv – AIDC Award for Innovative Filmmaking	[29]

References

1. Elon, Danae. "Fellow". Guggehneim foundation. Archived from the original on June 4, 2013.
2. Khleifi, George. Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, Trauma and Memory. Edinburgh University Press.
3. "Another Road Home". IMDB.
4. Elon, Danae. "Director". Another Road Home. Desert News. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
5. Partly, Private. "Documentary". Partly Private. Body Pixel.
6. Elon, Danae. "Programmer". Bernard Avishai.
7. "Never Again, Forever". IMDB.
8. Tribecca Film Festival. "Review". Tribecca.
9. MCCRACKEN, KRISTIN (May 1, 2009). "FACES OF THE FESTIVAL: DANAE ELON". Tribeca Film Festival. Tribeca Film Festival. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
10. "Tribeca Winners 2009: 'About Elly' and Ciaran Hinds". TheWrap. April 30, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
11. Jeannette, Catsoulis. "Another Road Home". Review. New York Times. Retrieved April 29, 2005.
12. Rabiger, Michael (2013). Directing Film Techniques and Aesthetics. CRC Press.
13. New York Times. "Never Again, Forever". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013.
14. "Never Again, Forever | San Francisco Film Festival". history.sffs.org. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
15. "Wild Mint | Danae Elon Films". www.danaeelon-films.com. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
16. Hassan, Nizar (January 1, 2000), Cut, retrieved January 31, 2017
17. Hornaday, Ann (May 13, 2005). "An Israeli Woman's Search for Peace". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
18. Catsoulis, Jeannette (April 29, 2005). "Film in Review; 'Another Road Home'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
19. Crust, Kevin (May 6, 2005). "Love bridges gulf of political war". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
20. Scheib, Ronnie (June 2, 2004). "Review: 'Another Road Home'". Variety. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
21. "WATCH IT! "PARTLY PRIVATE": Movie Review". latenightlavender.blogspot.ca. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
22. Simon, Alissa (April 25, 2009). "Review: 'Partly Private'". Variety. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
23. ""Partly Private" is a venturesome documentary questioning the practice of male infant circumcision". www.billsmovienewsandreviews.com. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
24. Green, David B. (July 3, 2017). "Film To Cut or Not to Cut". Haaretz. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
25. "Berlin Hidden Gems: 'P.S. Jerusalem' Doc Offers an Unflinching Family Portrait". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
26. Hatib, Luai Musa; Elon, Amos Touitou; Elon, Andrei Touitou; Elon, Tristan Touitou (June 1, 2015), P.S. Jerusalem, retrieved February 1, 2017
27. "The Patriarch's Room". Film Society of Lincoln Center. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
28. "Docaviv 2016 Winners Announced | Docaviv 2016". Docaviv 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
29. "DOCAVIV 20TH EDITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED". Retrieved March 12, 2019.