Rama Burshtein-Shai was born in New York, USA in 1967. She graduated the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, Jerusalem in 1994.
During those years Rama became deeply religious and upon her graduation she dedicated herself to promoting film as a tool for self-expression in the orthodox community. She is married and a mother of four, based in Israel.
Rama wrote, directed and produced films for the orthodox community, some of them for women only. She was also teaching directing and scriptwriting in various film and television institutions within the orthodox community;
At 2011 a novel she wrote was published within the orthodox community, by the name of
“28 gates”.
At 2012 her first feature film, Fill the Void, premiered at the Venice film festival in the major competition and the actress, Hadas Yaron picked the Volpi Cup for Best Actress.
It won 7 Israeli academy awards including best picture.
The film was distributed all over the world and was picked up by “Sony Pictures classics” for the north Americas rights.
At 2016 her second feature film, The Wedding Plan, premiered at the Venice film festival and the Telluride film festival and was picked up by “Roadside attractions” for the north Americas right. It won three Israeli academy awards.
