Yair Qedar
Yair Qedar (, born June 13, 1969 in Afula, Israel) is an Israeli filmmaker and a civil-rights activist. His academic training on 20th-century Hebrew literature (Tel Aviv University), propelled him into The Hebrews — a documentary project on the Hebrew and Jewish literary canon, centered on filmic portraits of Hebrew writers from the 17 century to recent days. 16 feature length documentary films were made in the project so far. The documentary films which Qedar produced - and directed with other 10 Israeli film directors - all premiered in film festivals, aired on Israeli TV, circulated far and wide in  hundreds of cinemas, cinematheques, community and cultural centers, in Israel and around the world (United States and Canada, Europe, Australia and Russia) earning 14 awards -Special Mention in Haifa film festival 2018 - Jury comments: "A unique project of artistic and historical value that wonderfully preserves via documentary films, literary and poetic pearls, some of which, unfortunately, are becoming extinct.", and 2016: first prize for filmmaking in the field of Jewish culture by the ministry of Education in Israel, 2015: the "Hebrews" films won the prize for best television project in the Israeli Documentary competition). The project, both digital and print , offers altogether e14 documentary films, a video archive and several books. In 2019, Docaviv festival held a special retrospective for the Hebrews films, alongside Van Leer institute in Jerusalem, the Jewish Museum in Berlin as well as other institutions. In 2015-2017 He co directed and produced, with the actor Ilan Peled, the mockumentary mini series "", about the disappearance of women artists in Israeli culture. The film Lilyan in this project won first prize in the Haifa film festival 2016. Qedar is also the initiator of various media projects in Israel, in the fields of the conservation of culture, specifically  Hebrew literature and language, and in the LGBT community such as the first LGBT newspaper Hazman HaVarod . Activism. He was founding editor of "Pink Time", Israel's first gay, lesbian and transgender newspaper, writes in various publications, such as "Haaretz", "Yedioth Ahronoth", "Masa Acher", and is recipient of various journalistic prizes, including winner of the B'nai B'rith World Center Award for Journalism in 2003, and Euromed Heritage Journalistic Award in 2005 and 2006. In the 2003, He edited the first gay theatre show in Israel in 1994, and edited "Beyond Sexuality", an anthology of gay and lesbian studies. He founded  the Rainbow Families organization in Israel, aimed at promoting the rights, understanding and position of LGBT families in the country.