- October 3, 2026
- 6:34 am
- World News
There are people whose last names almost never appear prominently on the poster, although without them, half of the famous scenes in movies would simply look different.
Dean Liras is one of those. An American cinematographer, specialist in complex filming, a member of the second director’s group, and a producer. His professional biography includes ‘The Blues Brothers,’ ‘Con Air,’ ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ ‘Masada,’ and other major projects.
Author: Pavel Shveiko
On October 18, 2026, he will be in Tel Aviv.
But the meeting itself is interesting not so much for the opportunity to hear more stories about Hollywood. Here, everything turned out to be noticeably more complex. Liras’s Hollywood career intersects with Israel, the memory of the Holocaust, and a new documentary project about Ukrainian women.
The meeting is organized by Israeli Friends of Ukraine. It will be held at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Tel Aviv.
When Hollywood couldn’t be ‘painted over later’
Dean Liras’s career began in a completely different cinematic era.
Today, a complex scene can be shot with digital cameras, drones, stabilizers, and then assembled and corrected in post-production for a long time. During Liras’s early career, a significant part of what the viewer saw really needed to be physically set in front of the camera.
If a car was needed, it drove.
If a plane was needed, it flew.
If the camera needed to work in the air, it was lifted there.
On ‘Con Air,’ released in 1997, Liras worked as director of photography: aerial unit, meaning he was responsible for the cinematography of the aerial shots.
This is precisely the case when a dry line in the credits explains a lot. In the film with Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, and John Malkovich, aviation is not just a backdrop. It is part of the action.
His filmography also includes ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ early Hollywood films, and work in the second filming unit—the very one that often shoots chases, wide shots, complex stunts, and material without which the main unit would have to spend much more time on set.
And here comes Israel.
‘Masada’ is a name that hardly needs explaining to an Israeli
Liras also participated in the work on the American miniseries Masada, released in the early 1980s.
For a reader in Israel, this name sounds very different than it does to someone somewhere in Europe or the USA. Masada is an ancient fortress by the Dead Sea, associated with the last stage of the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome.
It is one of the most recognizable historical sites in Israel. Schoolchildren and tourists are taken there, historians argue about it, and the image of Masada has been an important part of Israeli historical memory for decades.
The American series told the story of the Roman siege of the fortress. One of the main roles was played by Peter O’Toole.
Therefore, the conversation on October 18 about filming Western projects in Israel is not just a general topic for the evening. Liras really worked within such a production.
And it is interesting here to hear the details: how Israel was seen by the foreign film crew at that time, how the country looked through the Hollywood camera, and how much all this differed from the familiar picture today.
He witnessed several Hollywoods
The organizers formulate one of the themes of the meeting as a conversation about Hollywood then and now.
In the case of Liras, this is not an advertising phrase.
He witnessed several technically different eras of cinema. Film and digital. Large physical sets and computer graphics. Filming where a mistake was sometimes impossible to correct, and modern production where a huge part of the work continues after the set.
At the same time, his career did not end with memories of old films.
Now he participates in independent and international projects. And it is at this point that the meeting in Tel Aviv ceases to be just an evening of Hollywood nostalgia.
NANews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency draws attention to this event primarily because one of Liras’s new works is directly related to Ukraine.
A film about a man who was silent for decades
Among Liras’s latest projects is The Optimist: The Bravest Act Is Truth.
This is a story of a completely different scale. Without planes, stunt scenes, and Hollywood chases.
The film is connected with the story of a Holocaust survivor, Herbert Heller. As a teenager, he went through Auschwitz-Birkenau and then managed to escape during the death march.
After the war, he spoke little about what he had experienced.
For decades.
And only much later did this story begin to come out.
Here, an Israeli reader seemingly does not need a separate explanation, but the context is important. In Israel, the testimonies of Holocaust survivors are not just a history studied from books. For many families, it remains part of their own biography. And with each passing year, there are fewer people who can tell about their experiences firsthand.
From here arises a theme that is much broader than a single film.
What happens to memory when there are almost no witnesses left?
Can cinema preserve not only facts but also the human voice?
And where is the line between genuine testimony and artistic reconstruction?
For Liras’s project, this is a completely different type of work than what his name was previously associated with.
And then — Ukraine
During the meeting in Tel Aviv, they promise to separately discuss another documentary project by Liras.
It is dedicated to Ukrainian women.
Currently, there is little public information about it. There is no point in inventing a title that the organizers have not named or retelling a plot that no one has officially published yet.
Another important detail is known: Ukrainian artist Yana Dereza is participating in the project.
And here the dates align almost perfectly.
On October 16 and 17, just before the meeting with Liras, Dereza’s exhibition ‘Threads of Identity’ is held at the same Ukrainian Cultural Center.
For Israelis, it is worth explaining that this is not a typical exhibition of folk souvenirs.
Dereza works with motanka—a traditional Ukrainian doll made from fabric and threads, usually without a painted face. In Ukrainian culture, motanka is associated with family memory, protective symbolism, and the transmission of tradition between generations.
For Dereza, this form has become contemporary art. She combines traditional technique with personal history, war, displacement, and the question of identity.
And already the next day after the exhibition, she appears in a different capacity—as a participant in a documentary project by an American filmmaker.
This well illustrates how the Ukrainian cultural theme is gradually moving beyond the usual format of diaspora events in Israel.
It becomes part of the conversation with international cinema.
Why this Ukrainian story is of interest to Israel
In recent years, the Israeli audience has become accustomed to seeing Ukraine almost exclusively through news about the war.
Missile attacks.
Destroyed cities.
Negotiations.
Military aid.
Diplomatic conflicts.
But behind this, it is easy to lose another layer—people who continue to live, work, create art, and rebuild their lives.
Especially women.
Millions of Ukrainian women found themselves in a situation where their previous normal life disappeared literally in a few days after the Russian invasion. Some went abroad with their children. Some stayed in Ukraine. Some lost their homes, jobs, or loved ones. Some are trying to build a new life while remaining part of the war.
And if Liras’s documentary project is indeed built around these human stories, then it is much more interesting than another film that tries to explain the war only through frontline footage.
What exactly will be included in the project is still unknown.
Therefore, one of the most obvious questions for Liras on October 18 is who exactly he is filming and why he decided to tell the story of Ukraine through women.
Who will be asking the questions
The moderator of the meeting is Max Freeman, author of the Telegram channel ‘CineManiac’ — @cinemaniacmax.
This is an author’s channel about cinema for an audience in Israel.
It features reviews, news, trailers, recommendations, and materials about both international and Israeli cinema.
So the choice of moderator here is quite understandable. The meeting is planned to be structured not as an official lecture by a filmmaker to the public, but as a normal conversation between someone who knows cinema from the inside and someone who constantly writes and talks about it.
After the main part, they promise to give the opportunity to communicate with Liras without a formal interview.
October 18: What you need to know
The meeting will take place on Sunday, October 18, 2026.
Location — Ukrainian Cultural Center, Irmeiyahu Street, 22, Tel Aviv–Yafo.
Doors will open at 19:00.
After the main part of the program, approximately from 20:30 to 21:00, the organizers have planned informal communication with Dean Liras.
And here is one important point.
The meeting will be entirely in English, without translation.
So those who find it difficult to follow a long conversation in English should take this into account in advance.
The number of seats is limited, and entry is paid.
Organizer — Israeli Friends of Ukraine, an Israeli public organization working with Ukrainian-Israeli projects, cultural initiatives, and aid to Ukraine.
Here, Hollywood is less interesting than where the person went after it
Of course, it’s easiest to advertise this meeting with familiar names.
‘The Blues Brothers.’
‘Dumb and Dumber.’
‘Con Air.’
‘Masada.’
These films work well on the poster.
But if you remove them, a much more interesting story remains.
A person who filmed major American cinema for decades is now engaged in the story of a Holocaust survivor and simultaneously making a documentary project about Ukrainian women.
At first glance, there is no connection between these themes.
And then you realize that there is a connection after all.
In both cases, it’s about people who have experienced events much larger than themselves—and then have to somehow continue living and telling what happened to them.
This is what might make the most interesting conversation on October 18 in Tel Aviv.