Yolande Zauberman

• French director born in 1955 in Paris.

  Yolande Zauberman started out alongside Amos Gitai, before directing her first film, Classified People (1987). This documentary on apartheid shot in South Africa already sketched the broad outlines of her cinema: Zauberman endlessly questions the absurdity of oppressive political situations through the impact that they have on individuals’ private lives. Confronting taboos and unspoken words – particularly in M, the César for Best Documentary Film in 2019, in which she broached sexual abuse within the orthodox Jewish community – she has built up a deeply humane body of work, earning international acclaim and awards. The relationships between communities or individuals inhabiting the same space without sharing the same beliefs or visions, lies at the heart of both her fiction films and documentaries, from Me Ivan, You Abraham (1993) to Would You Have Sex With an Arab? (2011). Her films are all portraits of marginalised people, such as The Belle from Gaza (2024), which follows the path of young trans Palestinians in Tel Aviv.

• Classified People (1988) - Caste criminelle (1990) - Me Ivan, You Abraham (1993) - Clubbed to Death (Lola) (1996) - The War in Paris (2002) - Paradise now (2004) - Would You Have Sex with an Arab? (2011) - M (2018) - The Belle from Gaza (2024)