Ilan Ziv

Ilan Ziv

lIan Ziv was born in Israel in 1950 and came to the United States after fighting in the Yom Kippur (October) War in 1973. Ziv is a graduate of New York University film school and in 1978 he co-produced New York's first Middle East Film Festival. That same year he co-founded Icarus Films, a documentary film distribution company, which he left in 1980 in order to devote himself to making documentary films. Since then he has directed dozens of documentaries dealing broadly with issues of human rights and investigations of contemporary history.

His most recent film, ANTISEMITISM, traces the origins of today's anti-Semitism in France from its religious origin in the Middle Ages, to its violent mutation in 19th-century France (the infamous Dreyfus Affair) and recent resurgence. ANTISEMITISM premiered as a prime time special on France's flagship Channel 2 and received rave reviews.

In his previous film, STATE OF TERRORISM, Ziv dissects the "war on terror". Relying on interviews with key eyewitnesses and participants from the United States and Western Europe, the film paints a riveting picture of a war which was launched in the name of defense of democracy, but then possibly became its biggest threat. France's Le Monde wrote, "If you need to see only one film on the War on Terror, STATE OF TERRORISM should be the one."

His six-part series, CAPITALISM, broadcast on ARTE in October 2014 also received positive reviews. The series is now distributed internationally. EXILE, A MYTH UNEARTHED, is an investigation into the political ramifications of the myth of the exile of the Jews, and has been shown on the BBC, as well as a dozen or so television networks worldwide. The Sunday Times Critics' Choice wrote: "Ilan Ziv's documentary is a brilliant historical investigation."

Subscribe Share
Ilan Ziv
  • Antisemitism

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2022 • 120 minutes

    This documentary masterfully traces the history of anti-Semitism and its effects, from cartoon-like medieval church iconography showing Jews with funnels on their heads, to WWII propaganda comparing Jews to rats and neo-Nazis marching in th...

  • Exile, A Myth Unearthed - Part 1

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2013 • 52 minutes

    The exile of the Jewish people from their homeland in the first century AD, following the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, has been depicted in artwork and lamented in poetry and prayer for nearly 2,000 years. But what if it ne...

  • Exile, A Myth Unearthed - Part 2

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2013 • 52 minutes

    The exile of the Jewish people from their homeland in the first century AD, following the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, has been depicted in artwork and lamented in poetry and prayer for nearly 2,000 years. But what if it ne...

  • State of Terrorism - Part 1

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2022 • 52 minutes

    Before September 11, 2001, only some 400 people had pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda. But now there are tens of thousands of jihadist militants on several continents. Terrorist attacks have multiplied around the world, straining relations betw...

  • State of Terrorism - Part 2

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2022 • 52 minutes

    Before September 11, 2001, only some 400 people had pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda. But now there are tens of thousands of jihadist militants on several continents. Terrorist attacks have multiplied around the world, straining relations betw...

  • Adam Smith, The Birth of the Free Market

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2014 • 53 minutes

    'The magical circle of investment and conquest... begins with the discovery of the Americas. This is the engine of two wheels: the wheel of scientific discoveries and the wheel of capitalist economy. Credit, investment, profits. More credit,...

  • The Wealth of Nations: A New Gospel?

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2014 • 53 minutes

    Adam Smith published two books in his life. The Wealth of Nations is a global bestseller that has never been out of print, while The Theory of Moral Sentiments is largely forgotten.

    This episode of CAPITALISM argues that disconnecting Smit...

  • Ricardo and Malthus: Did You Say Freedom?

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2014 • 53 minutes

    'To see weeds grow where we used to build things that were in every General Motors vehicle is just terrible.' - Art Reyes, electrician and former GM employee, Flint, Michigan

    In Flint, Michigan, a weed-strewn lot is all that's left of a fa...

  • What If Marx Was Right?

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2014 • 53 minutes

    'Paradoxically, we can't really learn that much about socialism or communism or the future from Marx. We can learn a great deal about how capital works.' - Marx historian David Harvey

    When the communist systems of the 20th century crumbled...

  • Keynes vs Hayek: A Fake Debate?

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2014 • 53 minutes

    KEYNES VS HAYEK: A FAKE DEBATE? delves deeply into the origins of both schools of thought, and how they were shaped by post-WWI German reparations, the Depression, and the need to rebuild industrial economies after World War II.

    Keynesians...

  • Karl Polanyi, The Human Factor

    Directed by Ilan Ziv • Documentary • 2014 • 53 minutes

    Taking us on a journey from ancient Sumeria to the towers of Frankfurt, this episode of CAPITALISM argues that commercial transactions have always been embedded in social norms, and that a self-regulating market economy is in no way a natura...