Yehuda Sharim is a writer, filmmaker, poet, and photographer. His work reflects on the relationship between the quotidian and the poetic to explore new potentialities of the imagination. Oscillating between fiction, improvisation, and real-life events, Sharim’s work offers an intimate portrayal of those who refuse to surrender amidst daily devastation and culminating strife, offering a vision for equality and renewed solidarity in a divisive world. He roots his work firmly within the discourse of imagination, immigration, and displacement, shedding light on the changing constructions of home and belonging. Sharim’s films and images incorporate an ongoing exploration of new forms of storytelling, performative acts, dreams, and the lyrical potential of liberation with a precise aim: social and personal justice. His work also explores site-specificity and engages community members and untrained actors in reimagining new forms of social activism.
Sharim’s latest work, El Ojo Comienza En La Mano (The Eye Begins in The Hand, 2022), is the winner and finalist of more than twelve international awards, including the Best Short Film 2023 at Rockport Film Festival, Oregon Documentary Film Festival (finalist), Royal Anthropological Institute (finalist), and it was featured in more than seventy film festivals worldwide, including, Silver Wave Film Festival, Ethogram (Paris), Rochester International Film Festival, Latino Film Festival in both San Diego and Philadelphia, Ethnofest (Athens), Royal Anthropological Institute (London), to name a few.
Sharim is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including The Henry Luce Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts, The Hellman Award, The Houston Endowment, The Houston Community Foundation, and several awards from the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI). Additionally, Sharim was an artist in residence at the Obama Institute-Mainz, Germany, and The Coalition for Justice - Virginia.
Sharim was born in Petach Tiqwa, Israel, and grew up in Rananna. He holds a bachelor’s in creative arts from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an MA in directing and performance from Goldsmiths College, an MA in Performance from NYU, and a Ph.D. from the UCLA Department of Worlds Arts and Cultures. He first gained national attention with his feature-length documentary WE ARE IN IT (2016), which he completed at Rice University as a postdoctoral fellow. Sharim is currently a faculty member at the Global Arts, Media, and Writing Program at the University of California, Merced.
