Evgeny Ruman (יבגני רומן; born January 1,1979) is an Israeli film and television director, film editor, and screenwriter. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he immigrated to Israel with his family in 1990 as part of the 1990s post-Soviet aliyah wave. He later graduated from Tel Aviv University’s Steve Tisch School of Film and Television.
Among his films has been Five Hours from Paris (2009; which won Best Film at the Haifa International Film Festival), for which he was an editor. He was both the director and an editor of The Man in the Wall (2015), the director and a co-writer of Golden Voices (2019; which won Best Script at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, the NETPAC Award for Best Film, and the International Panorama Award for Best Director at the Bari International Film Festival), a co-writer of Esau (2019), the director of East Side (2023), and a co-creator, writer, and the director of Motherland (2025) .
He has received the Israeli Ministry of Culture Excellence Award (2013), and the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Integration Yuri Stern Prize for Immigrant Artists (2014).
Early life Ruman was born in 1979 in Minsk, Belarus (then part of the Soviet Union). In 1990, at the age of 10 he immigrated to Israel with his family, amid the collapse of the Soviet Union. His early biographical and immigration experiences later informed his filmmaking, mirroring the narrative for his 2019 feature film Golden Voices.
He studied cinema and graduated from the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. During his university studies, he wrote and directed award-winning student short films, which participated in international film festival.
Film and television career Early years Following his graduation, Ruman built a portfolio across television development and cinematic editing before expanding into feature-length direction. He served as the creator, head scriptwriter, and director of In Between the Lines (2009), the first Russian-language television drama series produced and broadcast in Israel. Additionally, he edited Leon Prudovsky's romantic comedy Five Hours from Paris (2009), which went on to win the Best Film Award at the Haifa International Film Festival.
Ruman made his feature-length directorial debut with Igor and the Cranes' Journey (2012), a drama centered on childhood migration that premiered internationally at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to receive awards at film festivals across Chicago, Haifa, and Minsk. He followed this with his second feature film, The Man in the Wall (2015), a psychological thriller filmed entirely inside a single apartment over one night that made its global debut at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Later that same year, he directed his third feature film, the English-language musical-fantasy adventure Ruby Strangelove Young Witch (2015), which was also released internationally under the alternative title Ruby the Young Witch."Ruby the Young Witch Review," The Spinning Image, 2015. He followed this in 2018 by directing the Israeli found-footage military horror-thriller film Cursed, originally titled Mekulalim."The Damned / Mekulalim," Jewish Film Festivals, October 30, 2019. The movie used a remote desert military training exercise to touch upon psychological conflicts and tension among young soldiers."Why So Many Israeli Horror Films Take Place in the Army," Haaretz, January 4, 2019. In 2019, he co-wrote the screenplay for the drama film Esau alongside director Pavel Lungin, which adapted a novel by Israeli author Meir Shalev, and starred Harvey Keitel and Shira Haas."Esau" Jewish International Film Festival, 2020.
Golden Voices (2019)
In 2019, Berkovich co-wrote with Ziv Berkovich, who also served as director of photography, the comedy-drama feature film Golden Voices (Hebrew title: Kolot Reka; ). The narrative follows an elderly married couple who were celebrated as the preeminent Soviet film voiceover dubbing artists before they immigrated to Israel in 1990 during the collapse of the Soviet Union, only to find that there was no professional demand for Russian-language voice acting in their new home. The film was praised for its tonal balance of bittersweet comedy and narrative depth. Brad Gullickson of Elements of Madness commended the film's artistic execution.
Their screenplay heavily mirrored the real-life background of both Ruman and Berkovich, who had immigrated to Israel as children from the former Soviet Union in 1990 and used their childhood memories of their parents' struggles to ground the film's script. Ruman and Berkovich recorded a feature-length commentary track for the film's home video release detailing how the story mirrored their own immigration experiences.
The international rollout of Golden Voices earned festival accolades, culminating at the 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, where Ruman and Berkovich won the Best Script award and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Best Film prize.
2020s Ruman transitioned into directing high-profile television dramas in the 2020s. In 2023, he directed the 10-episode Kan 11 geopolitical thriller series East Side starring Yehuda Levi, which was acquired for global distribution by Fremantle."‘East Side’: Global Breakouts Israel-Palestine Sopranos" Deadline Hollywood, May 23, 2023. In 2024, he directed the medical thriller series Heart of a Killer for the Israeli network HOT, starring Tehran actress Niv Sultan."‘Tehran’ Star Niv Sultan Leading North Road’s ‘Heart Of A Killer’" Deadline Hollywood, September 17, 2024. The series was broadcast internationally."New medical thriller 'Heart of a Killer' starring Niv Sultan starts production" The Jerusalem Post, September 18, 2024. In 2025, Ruman co-created, co-wrote, and directed the historical period crime-drama series Motherland (Hebrew: Migrash HaRusim) alongside Dmitry Malinsky for Kan 11."Fremantle's Abot Hameiri Preps 'East Side'" Variety, October 24, 2022.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes 2004 Veronica"Veronica (2004)" Mubi, 2004. Director, writer Short film 2006 Miracle"Miracle by Evgeny Ruman" FilmFreeway, 2006. Director, writer Short film 2006 A Piece of News"A Piece of News by Evgeny Ruman" FilmFreeway, 2006. Director, writer Short film 2009 In Between the Lines"Evgeny Ruman Films and Shows" Apple TV, 2009. Creator, head scriptwriter & director TV series; first Russian-language TV drama produced in Israel 2009 Five Hours from Paris"Five Hours From Paris" Variety, September 21, 2009. Editor Feature film 2010 Lenin in October"Back in the U.S.S.R." Haaretz, October 14, 2010. Director Television film 2012 Welcome and... Our Condolences"Welcome and ... Our Condolences" Rotten Tomatoes, 2012. Editor Short film 2015 The Man in the Wall"'The Man in the Wall' ('Ha'adam sheba'kir'): Rotterdam Review" The Hollywood Reporter, February 2, 2015. Director, writer Feature film 2015 Ruby Strangelove Young Witch"Ruby the Young Witch Review" The Spinning Image, 2015. Director Feature film 2015 Brother and Sister"Brother and Sister (2015)"] The Movie Database, 2015. Director Short film 2018 Cursed (Mekulalim)"The Damned / Mekulalim" Jewish Film Festivals, October 30, 2019. Director Feature film 2019 Esau"Shira Haas & Lior Ashkenazi in Trailer for Israeli Bakery Drama 'Esau'" FirstShowing.net, October 16, 2020. Co-writer Feature film 2019 Golden Voices'Golden Voices': Film Review The Hollywood Reporter, December 16, 2019. Director, co-writer Feature film 2019 R.S.V.P."R.S.V.P. (2019)" Mubi, 2019. Director, writer Short film 2021 Menagen VeShar"A direct hit from a musical soul," The Jerusalem Post, November 18, 2021. Director TV series (10 episodes) 2023 East Side"‘East Side’: Global Breakouts Israel-Palestine Sopranos," Deadline Hollywood, May 23, 2023. Director TV series (10 episodes) 2024 Heart of a Killer"‘Tehran’ Star Niv Sultan Leading North Road’s ‘Heart Of A Killer,’" Deadline Hollywood, September 17, 2024. Director TV series 2025 Motherland (Migrash HaRusim)"Fremantle's Abot Hameiri Preps 'East Side'" Variety, October 24, 2022. Co-creator, writer & director TV series 2026 HaMitmaha"Teleformat: los estrenos de ficción más destacados de mayo" TodoTVNews, June 11, 2026. Director TV series (7 episodes)
Awards and nominations In recognition of his creative contributions to Israeli film, Ruman received the Excellence Award from the Israeli Culture and Sport Ministry in 2013, and the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Integration Yuri Stern Prize for Oleh Artists in 2014.
Year Association Category Nominated work Result 2009 Haifa International Film Festival Best Film (as editor) Five Hours from Paris 2012 Chicago International Children's Film Festival Children's Jury Award – Live-Action Feature Film Igor and the Cranes' Journey 2012 Chicago International Children's Film Festival Adult's Jury Award – Live-Action Feature Film Igor and the Cranes' Journey 2012 Haifa International Film Festival Best Israeli Film Igor and the Cranes' Journey 2013 Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport Excellence Award for Contribution to Israeli Film — 2014 Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Integration Yuri Stern Prize for Oleh Artists — 2015 Ophir Awards Best Original Screenplay The Man in the Wall 2015 Jerusalem Film Festival Haggiag Award for Best Feature Film The Man in the Wall 2015 International Film Festival Rotterdam MovieZone Award The Man Man in the Wall 2019 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Best Script (shared) Golden Voices 2019 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival NETPAC Award for Best Film Golden Voices 2019 Haifa International Film Festival Best Israeli Feature Film Golden Voices 2020 Bari International Film Festival International Panorama Award for Best Director Golden Voices
References
External links
Evgeny Ruman at the EDB.co.il Evgeny Ruman profile at the Kneller Artist Agency Evgeny Ruman profile at the Jerusalem Film Festival