Yaniv Berman is a film director and producer, and an MFA graduate of Tel Aviv University. His short film Even Kids Started Small was selected for the Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival. He spent six years documenting a reserve military company in the Israel Defense Forces, resulting in the award-winning documentary The Alpha Diaries. His debut narrative feature, Land of the Little People (2016), explores the transformation of children within a violent, militarized society and screened at numerous international festivals. His recent works include The Smugglers (2025), a documentary following a bookseller and his nephew who are drawn into the clandestine smuggling of books in an effort to preserve Palestinian culture and identity under ongoing political pressure.

His latest narrative feature, The Big League (2026), tells the story of a rising soccer coach whose career collapses after a moment of public failure, sending him to coach a struggling youth team in a remote northern town—where an unexpected bond with his players leads to personal redemption and a profound choice between reclaiming his former life and embracing a new one. In 2021, he published the thriller novel Spinning Tops.

Berman lives in Israel with his wife and two daughters.