Alma Har'el

Alma Har'el is an Israeli-American director whose work spans documentary, narrative film, music videos, television, and commercial directing. Har'el began her career as a photographer and video jockey in dance clubs before moving into music video direction. She directed Beirut's "Elephant Gun," recognized among the best music videos of the decade, as well as "Fjögur Píanó" for Sigur Rós, featuring Shia LaBeouf. Her music video for Sigur Rós received the Webby Award for Best Music Video. This early work established Har'el as a visual storyteller with a distinctive approach to capturing human emotion.

Har'el's documentary work has contributed to her reputation as an innovative filmmaker. Her debut documentary, "Bombay Beach," won Best Feature Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Truer than Fiction Award. The film has been taught at universities including Duke and Harvard's Sensory Ethnography Lab as a genre-redefining work. Her follow-up documentary, "LoveTrue," won the Grand Prix Best Documentary Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. She is also the co-writer and director of "Wet." Har'el is noted for her ability to blur the lines between documentary and fiction, a quality that has made her films subjects of academic study and critical analysis.

Har'el transitioned into narrative filmmaking with "Honey Boy," a drama written by and starring Shia LaBeouf. The film won the Jury Award for Vision and Craft at the Sundance Film Festival and the DGA Award for First-Time Feature Film, making Har'el the first woman in DGA Awards history to be nominated for both commercial and narrative directing. "Honey Boy" also marked her as the first woman to win the DGA Award for First-Time Feature Film. In television, Har'el produced, wrote, and directed the Apple TV+ miniseries "Lady in the Lake," starring Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram. The series, adapted from the Laura Lippman novel, explores themes of race, class, murder, and journalism in 1960s Baltimore.

In addition to her filmmaking, Har'el has advocated for equity in the entertainment industry. She launched Free The Bid, encouraging agencies to include a female director in every triple-bid for advertising projects. Some agencies reported significant increases in the hiring of women directors, and one major brand increased its percentage of women directors from zero to 59 percent after adopting the initiative. Free The Bid later expanded to film, television, and music, rebranding as FREE THE WORK, a curated talent-discovery service for women and underrepresented creators. FREE THE WORK now advocates for and showcases more than 2,000 underrepresented filmmakers in 21 countries. Har'el's work in promoting equality in entertainment, alongside her directing, has been recognized by Fast Company and Adweek. Her contributions continue to influence contemporary cinema and the ongoing conversation around diversity and inclusion in the film and television industry.