Known as the first lady of Israeli cinema, Lia van Leer's legacy is immense: she helped create a thriving film culture in Israel and established two of Jerusalem's main cultural attractions - the Cinematheque and the Jerusalem Film Festival.

Her childhood promised a very different life: born in Bal?i Bessarabia, then in Romania, Lia Greenberg's family was well to-do and her mother a fervent Zionist, but only Lia and her elder sister were to survive the fate that met her entire family.

Lia had always loved film but it was together with Wim van Leer, her beloved husband, that they feasted on old classics, experimental Japanese films and art-house films wherever they travelled, buying copies of films and starting their own screenings at home in Haifa.

Slowly they started a film club, then established a film archive and later, alone, Lia created the Jerusalem Film Club which developed into the famous Cinematheque. Lia talks about how she learnt along the way and how she accomplished things through skill, luck, networking and sheer chutzpah. Her final achievement was the Jerusalem Film Festival, which immediately brought glamour and prestige to Jerusalem.


Today the Jerusalem Cinematheque is a prominent part of the Israeli cultural scene and is renowned in international film circles. It is a living monument to the extraordinary woman who founded it and gave it a dynamic life of its own.