Zadok "Duki” Dror (; born 1963) is an independent Israeli filmmaker whose films explore issues of migration, identity and displacement.

Biography

Zadok (Duki) Dror was born in Tel Aviv. In the early 1950s, Dror's parents fled from their native

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

for the newly established state of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. When Dror's father was 17 he was arrested on charges of political activism and served five years in prison as a political prisoner. Upon his release, he was not allowed to stay in Iraq. After moving to Israel, the family changed their Arabic name, Darwish (Arabic for "wandering") to Dror (Hebrew for "freedom"). Dror studied in the United States at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and is a graduate of

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

Filmmaking career

Dror's films are character-driven stories and deal with issues of identity, displacement and cross-cultural exchange. His film ''Sentenced to Learn'' (1993), which tells the story of lifetime inmates in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

prisons, was screened in the

Pompidou Center The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

as part of an American Documentary retrospective. The story behind his parents'

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

to Israel and his father's story in particular is the central motif in Dror's personal film diary ''My Fantasia'' (2000) which takes place in the Dror's family-owned Menorah factory between the First and Second Gulf War. The history, culture and identity of Arab Jews has also informed a number of Dror's other work including ''Cafe Noah'' (1996), and '' Shadow in Baghdad'' (2013) about the disappearance of Baghdad's Jewish population and the story of Linda Menuhin's family. In 2010,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

aired a special series of his documentaries.

Awards and recognition

''Raging Dove'' (2002), the story of Arab-Israeli world boxing champion Johar Lashin, which premiered at the

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Film Festival and won multiple awards, including Best Israeli Documentary in

Docaviv Docaviv (), also known as the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival, is the only film festival in Israel dedicated to documentary films, and the largest film festival in Tel Aviv. It is run by a non-profit organisation of the same name ...

. In 2006, Dror's film about the

Vietnamese boat people Vietnamese boat people () were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the earl ...

who immigrated to Israel, ''The Journey of Vaan Nguyen'', was the opening film at EBS Film Festival in Seoul and received the Remi Award at Houston Worldfest. In 2012, Dror's film on German-Jewish architect Erich Mendelsohn '' Mendelsohn's Incessant Visions'' received the Golden Award(FILAF d'Or) at the International Art Book and Film Festival (FILAF) in France. ''Partner with the Enemy'' (2014) the winner of the Golden Panda Award for long documentary at

Sichuan Television Festival The Sichuan Television Festival (), abbreviated SCTVF, also known as the Sichuang International Television Festival is one of the largest television festivals in East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, M ...

. ''Down The Deep, Dark Web'' (2016) – premiered in

DOK Leipzig DOK Leipzig is a documentary film festival that takes place every October in Leipzig, Germany. It is an international film festival for documentary and animated film founded in 1955 under the name "1st All-German Leipzig Festival of Cultural an ...

, nominated for the

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 ...

for Best Documentary under 60 minutes.

Filmography

Director

*1993 Sentenced to Learn *1996 Radio Daze *1997 Warp & Weft *1997 Cafe Noah *1998 Shenkin – A Street of Faith *1998 Stress *1999 Taqasim *1999 Red Vibes *2000 Watchman *2001 My Fantasia *2002 Raging Dove *2004 Mr. Cortisone Happy Days *2005 The Journey of Van Nguyen *2007 SideWalk *2009 Across the River *2011 Mendelsohn's Incessant Visions *2013 Shadow in Baghdad *2014 Partner with the Enemy *2016 Down the Deep, Dark Web *2017 Inside The Mossad (TV series) *2018 Imperfect Spies (Inside The Mossad, feature film version) *2019 There Are No Lions In Tel Aviv *2020 Lebanon: Borders of Blood *2022 The Cassandra Prophecy *2023 Generation Turmoil (directed with Naftaly Gliksberg)

Producer

*2003 Paradise Lost *2004 Collaborators *2005 A General's Story *2012 Seekers *2013 Photonovela *2016 Praise the Lard

References

External links

"You have to be on the move all the time" Interview with Duki Dror at Takriv Magazine

Duki Dror at New York Times Archive
*
Shadow in Baghdad: Israeli filmmaker Duki Dror chronicles extinction of Iraq’s Jewish community.
Baltimore Examiner BY LARRY LUXNER · NOVEMBER 29, 2013
35 Years on, where are Israel’s Vietnamese refugees?

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

, By

Simona Weinglass ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Davi ...

September 20, 2015
Review: 'Down the Deep Dark Web' is a movie every technologist should watch

TechRepublic TechRepublic is an online trade publication and social community for IT professionals, providing advice on best practices and tools for the needs of IT decision-makers. It was founded in 1997 in Louisville, Kentucky, by Tom Cottingham and Kim S ...

By Dan Patterson , July 13, 201
The Dangers of the Deep Web
– The Atlantic 4.8.2016
The Dangers of the Deep Web
The Atlantic 4.8.2016 *
alking With the Past: Architect Erich Mendelsohn on Screen
''GALO Magazine'' by Ross Ufberg February 7, 2012
Incessant Visions: words from the life of Erich Mendelsohn

By Rocco Giansante MAY 3, 2012 * FIFA 2012: Mendelsohn's Incessant Visions is a great film and not just for architecture buffs

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

March 24, 2012
Mendelsohn Building Spurs Monumental Dilemma

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

Keshet Rosenblum Dec 19, 2012
ERICH MENDELSOHN – VISIONEN FÜR DIE EWIGKEIT – KRITIK DER FILMSTARTS-REDAKTION

Shadow In Baghdad Official Film Website

Zygote Films official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dror, Duki Israeli film directors 1963 births Living people Film people from Tel Aviv Columbia College Chicago alumni Israeli documentary film directors University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Santa Cruz faculty Israeli people of Iraqi-Jewish descent