Background
Cedar was born in New York City. When he was 6 his family moved to Israel, and he grew up in the Bayit VeGan neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Cedar was born in New York City. When he was 6 his family moved to Israel, and he grew up in the Bayit VeGan neighborhood in Jerusalem.
He studied in a Yeshiva High School. After graduating in philosophy and history of theatre from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he studied cinema studies at New York University.
In the Israeli army he served as a paratrooper. When he returned to Israel, he started working on the screenplay for his debut film,, for which he moved and lived for two years in the Israeli settlement Dolev. Cedar is an Orthodox Jew.
His films are known to touch delicate issues of Israeli society.
Israeli critic Yair Rave wrote, "One of the reasons I like Cedar"s films so much is.. his ability to merge the Israeli spirit.. with the universal cinematic codes." His film Footnote premiered In Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.