Rony Gruber ( he, רוני גרובר; born January 15, 1963) is an Israeli film director and screenwriter. He is best known as the director and co-producer of ''Are You This Able?'', nominated for best documentary at the

Ophir Award The Ophir Awards ( he, פרס אופיר), colloquially known as the Israeli Oscars or the Israeli Academy Awards, are film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. The award, named ...

Biography

Rony Gruber was born in Tel Aviv and graduated the prestigious Tichon Hadash High school, majoring in arts. He made his first steps in the film industry as a

lighting technician Electrical lighting technicians (ELT), or simply lighting tech, are involved with rigging stage and location sets and controlling artificial, electric lights for art and entertainment venues (theatre or live music venues) or in video, television, o ...

. As a freshman in

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

's Film & TV department, he joined up forces with a group of young and promising filmmakers, later to be credited for Israeli cinema renaissance. His work as a gaffer in the student films of Arik Kaplon, Yair Lev,

Shemi Zarhin Shimon "Shemi" Zarhin ( he, שמעון "שמי" זרחין, born 1961) is an Israeli novelist and film director. He was born in Tiberias and studied film at Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת ...

and Gur Heller and his work with acclaimed directors Amos Guttman on "Himmo, King of Jerusalem" by

Yoram Kaniuk Yoram ( or ) is a name derived from Jehoram (), meaning "Jehovah is exalted" in Biblical Hebrew, which was the name of several individuals in the Tanakh; the female version of this name is Athaliah. Notable people with the name include: *Yoram A ...

and

Ze'ev Revach Ze'ev Nachum Revach ( he, זאב רווח; born 15 August 1940) is an Israeli comedian, film and theatre actor, and filmmaker. He has been one of the stars of the Israeli film genre known as Bourekas films. Israeli newspaper ''Haaretz'' describe ...

on ''Bouba'', sharpened his aesthetic perception and enriched his cinematic language.

Advertising

Following his studies, Gruber established a directorial career in the advertising business, soon to become an award winning commercials director, with Israeli and international credits. His clients included Volvo, Ocean Spray, P&G, Mazda, Ikea, Pizza Hut, Chevrolet, Whirlpool, Holiday Inn, Mitsubishi and more. In his 20-year career he received a Golden Drum Award, and several Golden Cactus Awards.

Film career

His first film was ''The Room'' (1987), a one-act drama by Harold Pinter. His second film ''Are You This Able?'' (2001) premiered in the

Haifa International Film Festival The Haifa International Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place every autumn (between late September and late October), during the week-long holiday of Sukkot, in Haifa, Israel. History The festival was inaugurated in 1983 and ...

and participated in

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

s around the world. Israeli critic Amir Kaminer wrote about the film: "Rony Gruber's sensitive and human documentary is sheer exhilaration. A sweet moment of victory...." Critic Nir Kipnis wrote in

Globes A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe of ...

, "The biggest achievement of the film in offering us a fresh point of view of the emotional world of the mentally disabled. The world portrayed in ''Are You This Able?'' seems so similar to our own and yet it differs elusively in the way it is manifested...." In 2002 he collaborated with praised writer Yitzhak Ben Ner in the writing of the script for the fictional feature film Nicole's Stations, commemorating 30 years to the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...

and based on Ben Ner's novel ''Rustic Sunset''. The script was commissioned by the Makor Film Fund. In 2003 Gruber directed a five-episode reality television series commissioned by

Israel Broadcasting Authority The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017. History The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station ''Kol Yisrael'', which made its first broadcast as an independent st ...

. The series portrays day-to-day life at the Herods Theme Hotel in Eilat using it as an allegory of Israeli society's hedonistic and extroverted existence. The music was written by composer Avi Benjamin. In 2007 he directed episodes in the critically acclaimed TV drama Room Service featuring

Asi Levi Osnat "Asi" Levi ( he, אסי לוי; born September 28, 1969) is an Israeli Film Academy Award winning actress. Career Levi attended and graduated the Yoram Levinstein School of Acting in southern Tel Aviv. Levi's early appearances include f ...

, Sasha Damidov, Danny Steg,

Yehezkel Lazarov Yehezkel Lazarov ( he, יחזקאל לזרוב Y'ḥezeqel Lazarov; born 8 February 1974) is an Israeli actor, director, and multidisciplinary artist. In 2022 he was elected to serve as the head of the school of Performing Arts at the Kibbutzim Sem ...

and others. Gruber is currently developing two documentaries: ''In Golda's Shoes'', a portrait of

Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and '' kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to ...

, and ''There We Sat and Wept ...'' in collaboration with Prof. Yossi Yona, telling the story for Iraqi Diaspora longing to

Iraqi Jews The history of the Jews in Iraq ( he, יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים, ', ; ar, اليهود العراقيون, ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and mo ...

driven out of Baghdad in the 1940.

Other

Rony Gruber served three terms (2007–2010) as a board member at AIDF (Association of Israeli Documentary Filmmakers) and wrote its articles of association. He has been invited to be a member of the Readers Committee at The Israel Film Fund and the Makor Film Fund. Through the years he has been teaching cinema, among others, in Ma'ale Film School,

Kinneret Academic College The Kinneret Academic College on the Sea of Galilee (Hebrew: המכללה האקדמית כנרת בעמק הירדן), also known as Kinneret College and Academic Kinneret (As part of rebranding in February 2019), is a college located on the south ...

and Habetzefer. In 2001 he was awarded the Akim Excellence Award presented annually by the

president of Israel The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...

References

External links

Are You This Able

Are You This Able at the Israeli Film Academy

Are You This Able in EDB
* * * Mentions ''Are You This Able'' at the Brooklyn Jewish Film Festival.
Are You This Able in The Jewish Pittsburgh Film Forum

"Jealousy" - a scene from the movie on YouTube

"Loving and Losing Yourself" - a scene from the movie on YouTube

The Palace

* * *

Room Service

Watch all episodes of Room Service

Room Service in

Ynet Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

Room Service in Tel Aviv Mouse

Room Service in IMDb

In Golda's Shoes

Excerpt from the footage: an interview with Golda Meir's son

Excerpt from the footage: an interview with Golda Meir's son, part 2

Personal

*
Rony Gruber as lecturer at Ma'ale Film School

Rony Gruber in the Israeli filmmakers database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruber, Rony 1963 births Living people Film people from Tel Aviv Israeli film directors Israeli male screenwriters Tel Aviv University alumni