Arad Sawat (born January 23, 1975), is an Israeli set and production designer for television and in the film industry. He has designed and created sets for many television drama series and feature films, as well as designing conceptual spaces for industrial complexes. Sawat received international acclaim for his artistic design in Oscar-nominated ''Footnote'' (2011), winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the

2011 Cannes Film Festival The 64th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition. American filmmaker Terrence Malick won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for t ...

. He is a three time

Ophir Award The Ophir Awards (), full name: the Israel Film Academy Award, sometimes also known as the Israeli Oscars or the Israeli Academy Awards, are film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Tele ...

winner for Best Artistic Direction.

Biography

Early life

He was born in

Tzfat Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortified town in the Upper Galil ...

, Israel, to Jewish parents. In 1993 he enlisted in the IDF and served in the Intelligence Corps. On completion of his military service in 1996 he moved to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Career

In 1996 Sawat began work as a props man and stylist for television. In the late 90s he began working as a

set designer Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including plays and musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, where it may be referred to as prod ...

in television productions, as well as designing sets for commercial advertising. In particular, he designed and created sets which were built outside the television studios. Over the years he broadened the scope of his portfolio, and applied his professional expertise to include architectural and spatial design in commercial and industrial complexes. In 2011, based on his experience in set, product and interior design, Sawat began working in feature film production design. On the same year, his first feature film credit as a production designer, ''Footnote'', was released. For his work on the film, he was awarded the Israeli Film Academy Award for best production design. Following the film's great success, Sawat continued to work with leading directors. In 2014, Sawat designed Natalie Portman's debut film as a director, ''A Tale of Love and Darkness'', based on the autobiographical

best seller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, coo ...

Amos Oz Amos Oz (; born Amos Klausner (); 4 May 1939 – 28 December 2018) was an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual. He was also a professor of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. From 1967 onwards, Oz was a pro ...

. The film premiered at the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2015. Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel Coen were the Co-Presidents of the Jury for the main competition, marking the first time that two people co-chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers ...

. Following his second visit to Cannes, Sawat drew the attention of international film industry professionals. In 2016 he was signed by the Dattner Dispoto and Associates talent agency, and has since begun to focus on international projects. Today Sawat lives in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and works in the US,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He is in a relationship with film director and writer Maysaloun Hamoud and they have a daughter named Layla.

Design Projects

Cinema

* ''Beirut'' (2018) * ''

Foxtrot The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a time ...

'' (2017) * ''

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

'' (2016) * ''A Tale of Love and Darkness'' (2015) * '' The Farewell Party'' (2014) * ''Self Made'' (2014) * ''Up the Wrong Tree'' (2013) * '' Big Bad Wolves'' (2013) * ''70 Years Venezia – the Venice International Festival'' (2013) * ''

Hunting Elephants ''Hunting Elephants'' (, ''Latzud Pilim'', ''lit.'' To Hunt Elephants) is a 2013 Israeli Crime film, crime comedy film directed by Reshef Levi and written by Reshef and Regev Levi. It stars, among others, Sasson Gabai, Moni Moshonov and Patrick Ste ...

'' (2013) * ''The Dealers'' (2012) * ''Bananas'' (2012) * ''Footnote'' (2011)

Television series

*''

Our Boys ''Our Boys'' is a comedy in three acts written by Henry James Byron, first performed in London on 16 January 1875 at the Vaudeville Theatre. Until it was surpassed by the run of '' Charley's Aunt'' in the 1890s, it was the world's longest- ...

'' (2019) * ''Absentia'' (2017+2019) * ''Breaking Waves'' (2014) * ''

North Star Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude t ...

'' (2014) * '' Sabri Maranan'' (2013) * ''Tanuchi!'' (2012) * '' Alifim'' (2011) * ''Fifteen Minutes'' (2011) * ''A Wonderful Divorce'' (2010) (Season 1) * ''

Asfur ''Asfur'' () is an Israeli television series, which is broadcast on the channel HOT3. Its title, which literally means "bird" in Arabic, is the main protagonist's "good luck bird" – his late grandfather believed that its arrival symbolized a ...

'' (2010) (Seasons 1, 2) * ''Hatzarot Sheli Im Nashim'' (2010) * ''Tichon HaShir Shelanu'' (2009) * ''

HaShir Shelanu ''HaShir Shelanu'' (, lit. ''Our Song'') was an Israeli daily comedy, comical musical telenovela starring Ninet Tayeb that took place for four seasons on the Yes (Israel), yes-5 Israeli Movie Channel (Arutz Ha'kolnoa Hayisraeli) and repeating on C ...

'' (2009) * ''Hasufim'' (2008) (Seasons 1, 2) * ''

HaShminiya ''HaShminiya'' (; ''The Eight'') is a television series that was broadcast on the Israeli channel Arutz HaYeladim in HOT. Although the show was designated for children and teenagers, it was also popular with adults. The TV series was split into tw ...

'' (2007) (Seasons 1, 2, 3) * ''

HaPijamot ''HaPijamot'' ( ; lit. ''The Pajamas'') is a sitcom on Israeli television about a struggling band determined to make it in the real world. The show ran on Arutz HaYeladim (The Children's Channel) and Channel 2 ( Keshet). Background The show fo ...

'' (2004)

Commercial Spaces

* Studio for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

, Singapore. (2014) * Gallery Studio, Israel (2014) * STAR TV Studio, India (2013) * Israel Sports News Studio (2013) * Gindi Soferim Retail Arcade (2012)

Awards

* Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Artistic Design in ''Foxtrot.'' * Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Artistic Design in ''Big Bad Wolves'' (the film won the

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

for the best foreign film and best soundtrack 2013). * Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Artistic Design in ''Footnote'' (the film won the best screenplay award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival – Prix du Scenario, and was nominated for an Oscar award).

External links

Official website
* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawat, Arad 1975 births Living people Production designers Ophir Award winners Israeli film people