Oscar-winning producer Richard Trank moves to Israel, launches new film documenting Oct 7 survivors

Jewish American Oscar-winning producer Richard Trank has spent years creating more than a dozen films with Jewish and Israeli themes from his home in Los Angeles. Last month, he took his connection to Israel a step further by officially relocating to the Jewish state. He is now living in Herzliya, a coastal city just north of Tel Aviv.

In early 2025, Trank left the LA-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, where he spent more than 40 years producing movies for the Moriah Films branch. This professional decision facilitated his plans to relocate to Israel.

“I wish I had made this decision earlier,” Trank revealed in an interview with The Times of Israel. “But I can’t change that.”

Trank announced his next film, “The Road Home,” which deals with the recovery of the Oct. 7 attack survivors in Israel.

“I started thinking about really a post-October 7 project, because we all know what happened on October 7. We’ve all heard the stories, and it’s important to tell those stories,” he said.

“But I started thinking about, 'how do you come out of that? How do you rebuild your life?'” he continued.

Trank decided to begin documenting the stories of Oct. 7 survivors and how their lives have unfolded after the Hamas atrocities. He recalled that during an interview with a woman who survived the Nova Festival massacre, he was struck not only by “the trauma that she went through, but at the same time, this determination to go on with life and rebuild and not let this stop her from living the life she wanted to live.”

Trank’s career has already included collaborations with some of Hollywood’s biggest names. George Clooney narrates his latest film, “Never Stop Dreaming: The Life and Legacy of Shimon Peres,” which is available on Netflix.

Michael Douglas, Sandra Bullock, and Christoph Waltz provided voice roles in Trank’s earlier film adaptation of Yehuda Avner’s book "The Prime Ministers," which profiles several Israeli leaders, including Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, and Yitzhak Rabin. He has also worked with Morgan Freeman, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Kingsley, and Nicole Kidman.

Trank expressed both professional and personal satisfaction with his decision to relocate to the Jewish state.

“I’m doing things I’ve never done before, professionally… and the fact that I’m doing it here in Israel, to me, that’s the most amazing thing,” he said. Yet, the movie producer admitted that he feels like “a little bit of an anomaly in the whole aliyah thing – because I’m not religious, and I didn’t come here to retire, and I’m not in high tech or venture capital.”

“But I feel like there’s a lot I can contribute here, where it might have gotten lost in the States. And with everything that’s going on in the States, I need to be here. I don’t have to hide who I am,” he explained, expressing pride in his Jewish identity at a time of growing international antisemitism.

However, he acknowledged that it has become increasingly difficult in today’s international film industry to produce content that does not portray Israel and Zionism in a negative light.

“If you’re doing anything that isn’t critical of Israel, critical of Zionism, it’s very difficult to break through in the mainstream festivals,” he said. “I’m hoping that in my own small way, I can do something to help change that narrative.”

In September, approximately 1,400 Jewish and non-Jewish Hollywood producers and celebrities jointly condemned an attempted anti-Israel boycott as “antisemitic propaganda.” Among the prominent voices affirming support for the Israeli film industry and rejecting antisemitism were actors Debra Messing, Liev Schreiber, and Mayim Bialik, as well as media mogul Haim Saban.

“We recognize the power of cinema. We recognize the power of storytelling. That’s why we cannot remain silent when a story is weaponized, when lies are disguised as justice, and when artists are deceived into becoming tools to amplify antisemitic propaganda,” read the joint letter.