Michal Bat-Adam

Michal Bat-Adam (; born March 2, 1945) is an Israeli film director, producer, screenwriter, actress, and musician. Her films deal with complex and conflicted relationships, especially relationships within families. She also explores the line between sanity and mental illness. Many of these movies contain autobiographical elements.

As an actress, she has been noted for her work, especially for strong performances in the films of her husband, Moshé Mizrahi.

Early life Michal Bat-Adam was born in Afula, Israel to parents Yemima and Adam Rubin, who had immigrated from Warsaw in 1939. While she was a young child, the family lived in Haifa. Yemima suffered from mental illness, and had trouble caring for her family. When Michal was six and a half years old, she was sent to join her older sister Netta at Kibbutz Merhavia in the Harod Valley. While living there, both sisters changed their last name to Bat-Adam ("daughter of Adam"). At 17, Michal left the kibbutz and returned to care for her mother.

Originally wanting to be a musician, Bat-Adam studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. After developing an interest in theater, she auditioned and was accepted to the Beit Zvi School of Performing Arts in Ramat Gan and turned her attention to acting. During her early acting career Bat-Adam performed in leading roles at the Habimah National Theater, the Cameri Theater and the Haifa Theater.

Career

In 1972 Bat-Adam was cast in the title role in Moshe Mizrahi's film I Love You Rosa. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and entered into the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. The role launched Bat-Adam's career as a film actress.

After a short-lived first marriage, In addition to writing and directing, Bat-Adam cast herself in the film, which explores an intense, tempestuous friendship between two women. The film received favorable reviews, as well as a great deal of publicity, due to its frank depiction of the complicated relationship, including a scene in which she is in bed with actor Assi Dayan and the French actress Brigitte Catillon.

Work as actress Ha-Pritza Hagdola (1970) I Love You Rosa (1972) - Rosa The House on Chelouche Street (1973) Daughters, Daughters (1973) - Esther Alfandari Ha-Diber Ha-11 (1975) Rachel's Man (1975) - Rachel Madame Rosa (1977) - Nadine La fille de Prague avec un sac très lourd (1978) - Milena Moments (1979) - Yola Real Game (1980) Hanna K. (1983) - Russian woman Silver Platter (1983) The Ambassador (1984) - Tova Atalia (1984) - Atalia The Lover (1985) - Asia The Impossible Spy (1987, TV Movie) - Nadia Cohen Aya: Imagined Autobiography (1994) - Aya Women (1996) - Rebecca Rita Shem Zemani (2007) BeTipul (2008, TV Series) - Tami Savyon (final film role)

As director Moments (1979) The Thin Line (1980) Boy Meets Girl (1982) The Lover (1986) A Thousand and One Wives (1989) The Deserter's Wife (1991) The Flight of Uncle Peretz (1993) Aya: Imagined Autobiography (1994) Love at Second Sight (1999) Life Is Life (2003) Maya (2010) Hila (2023)

Awards Best Actress award of the Israel Film Institute: I Love You Rosa (1972) and Atalia (1984). Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress awards of the Israel Film Institute: Moments (1979) and The Thin Line (1980). Ophir Award for Lifetime Achievement (2019). Israel Prize for film art (2021).