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Presenter Bios

Ronit Avni (Budrus)

Ronit Avni is an award-winning social entrepreneur, media strategist, human rights advocate and filmmaker. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Just Vision, an organization that supports Palestinian and Israeli efforts to end the occupation and the conflict without arms. Recently, under her leadership, Just Vision won the highly competitive 2012 PUMA Creative Impact Award. Ronit’s work is featured regularly in major international news outlets, from The Washington Post, the BBC, NPR and The Economist to Al Jazeera and Ha’aretz. At Just Vision, Ronit produced the documentary film Budrus, which was hailed in The New York Times as “this year’s must-see documentary.” Budrus screened in 185 cities, premièred in 53 film festivals and won more than 15 awards. Ronit also directed and produced the documentary film Encounter Point, which premièred at the Tribeca Film Festival and received numerous awards including two Audience Awards for Best Documentary in San Francisco and Montreal. Encounter Point has screened in 200 cities worldwide and continues to be used in classrooms and community centres in America and the Middle East. Previously, Ronit trained human rights defenders worldwide to incorporate film and digital media into their advocacy campaigns while working for Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization, WITNESS. She co-edited the book Video for Change with WITNESS and now sits on the WITNESS Board. Ronit has been recognized with a variety of honours, including the King Hussein Leadership Prize, Search for Common Ground’s Common Ground Award, Auburn Seminary’s Lives of Commitment Award, the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship and the Joshua Venture Fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs. She is currently a Global Expert through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, a Young Global Leader through the World Economic Forum and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Simcha Jacobovici (Hollywoodism )

Simcha Jacobovici is a multi-award-winning documentary director and producer, as well as a New York Times best-selling author and a lecturer. His filmmaking awards include three Emmys for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, a certificate of Special Merit from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a Gold Medal from the International Documentary Festival of Nyon, three U.S. Cable Ace Awards, two Gemini Awards, an Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Award and from the Overseas Press Club of America the Carl Spielvogel Award and Edward R. Murrow Award. For the past 10 years, Mr. Jacobovici has applied his journalistic skills to historical and archaeological investigations. He calls this technique “investigative archaeology.” In this genre, he has hosted three seasons of the internationally acclaimed series The Naked Archaeologist. His most recent feature documentaries, The Lost Tomb of Jesus (with James Cameron) and The Resurrection Tomb Mystery, continue to make headlines around the world. Mr. Jacobovici’s articles have appeared in numerous newspapers around the world, including The Globe and Mail and The New York Times. His first book, The Jesus Family Tomb, co-written with Charles Pellegrino, was published in 2007 by Harper Collins. It has been translated into more than 16 languages and is an international best-seller. His new book, The Jesus Discovery, was published in 2012 by Simon & Schuster. A follow-up to the earlier book, it is co-written with Professor James Tabor. Upcoming is The Bride of God, co-written with Professor Barrie Wilson. Harper Collins is the publisher; Discovery Science and Vision Canada will air the companion film. Mr. Jacobovici received a BA from McGill University, where he majored with honours in philosophy and political science. He also has an MA in international relations from the University of Toronto. He is presently an adjunct professor of religious studies at Huntington University, an affiliate of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. An Israeli-Canadian, he is fluent in four languages: English, French, Hebrew and Romanian. He is married and is the father of five children, ranging in age from seven to 18.

Irene Lilienheim Angelico (Dark Lullabies)

Irene Angelico is an acclaimed film director, producer and writer. Her work was included in The Fifty Greatest Documentaries of all Times at the international Salute to the Documentary, and selected to represent the best of the NFB’s Studio D at retrospectives in London and France. She was the first woman from Quebec selected for Women in the Director’s Chair in Banff and is the founding chair of CIFC-Montreal (now DOC Quebec). She is presently Chair of Magnus Opus, a monthly program presenting the world’s best documentaries. In 1980, Angelico and her husband and partner, Abbey Neidik, formed DLI Productions. Together they produced and directed Dark Lullabies, about the effects of the Holocaust on the next generation of Germans and Jews. This highly regarded film continues to be shown worldwide and has garnered many prestigious international prizes. Angelico went on to direct, write and produce other acclaimed award-winning films, including The Cola Conquest, about Coca-Cola as a metaphor for America; Black Coffee, about the history and social impact of coffee; and Inside the Great Magazines, about the first international media. She also produced and wrote many successful documentaries, including Entre Solitudes; The Love Prophet and the Children of God; She Got Game; Vendetta Song; Canadaville, U.S.A.; and Unbreakable Minds, a poignant film that aims to humanize mental illness. Currently, she is co-producing SpaceRace 2, about the next great turning point in human history; Shekinah: The Intimate Lives of Hasidic Women; and An Ill Wind. She is also in development with Mirror Mirror, a visual poem about reflections. Along with her work in film, Angelico has been involved in the publication of two books. With Abbey Neidik and Mark Pendegrast, she edited The Aftermath: A Survivor’s Odyssey Through War-Torn Europe, the manuscript written by her father, which was the inspiration for Dark Lullabies. The Aftermath was endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize laureates Elie Wiesel and the Dalai Lama. This year, Angelico and Yehudi Lindeman launched The Third Seder: A Haggadah for Yom HaShoah. Twenty-five years in the making, The Third Seder includes new rituals they created uniquely for the commemoration of Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Morten Parker (The Stratford Adventure)

Morten Parker is an internationally recognized film producer, with some 50 documentary and narrative films – which he wrote and directed – to his credit. He began his career at the National Film Board of Canada, where he was responsible for several of the distinguished films to be produced during his time there. Leaving the NFB to form his own production company, together with his noted wife, Gudrun Bjerring Parker, who has been made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her film work, he started Parker Film Associates, Inc. Under PFA, Inc., he wrote and directed a wide range of narrative and documentary films, not only in Canada but in the United States, the Caribbean and South America. Among his many prominent sponsors were the U.S. Information Agency in Washington, for which he produced 10 films, the National Endowment for the Arts, Rutgers University and several major U.S. trade unions. Morten Parker’s numerous distinguished national and international awards include two Academy Award nominations; First Prize, Venice Film Festival; Four CINE Golden Eagle Awards; First Prizes and Film of the Year Awards, Canadian Film Awards. He won First Prize, Associated Film Writers Competition; two Special Awards, Stockholm Film Festival; two Golden Sheaf Awards – Best Drama, Best Direction – Yorkton International Film Festival; Film of the Year, American Scholastic Teacher; City College – Robert Flaherty Film Award. Many of his films have been accepted for showings at international film festivals, including those at Berlin, Cannes, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Moscow and Melbourne. Mr. Parker served as a United Nations Expert in Film Production and for three years was the Film Advisor (UNESCO) to the State of Israel. He further served as Special Advisor on Communications to the Prime Minister of Jamaica. He has written two novels and is presently completing a documentary film on gospel music, How Sweet the Sound. In 2011 Mr. Parker wrote and directed a short narrative titled Quintet: Reflections on a Life. Mr. Parker is a Professor of Film at New York University.

Support for the inaugural season of
The Forum is generously provided by
Kelly and Michael Meighen

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