Yoni Collins is a Canadian who graduated from Yeshivat Or Chaim, one of the Bnei Akiva private Jewish high schools in Toronto, in 2013. He also attended Camp Moshava, a Jewish summer camp in Ontario that states its “vision is to strengthen the religious Zionist community by educating and nurturing the campers and counselors entrusted to our care each summer to become role models both in Israel and the Diaspora.”
A profile for Collins in a 2022 issue of the school’s magazine states: “Yoni Collins (’13) works as a filmmaker and videographer, based in Toronto. When he graduated from Or Chaim, he went to Israel and volunteered as a first responder for MDA, interned at the Jerusalem Post, and served for a year and a half in the IDF. He returned to Toronto and did his undergraduate degree in film and media studies at York University, a post-graduate program in advanced film and television production at Sheridan College, and studied documentary filmmaking in Israel on the Jerusalem Film Workshop, which he returned to work on as staff and Assistant Director. He is currently directing and producing a documentary film about a group of students who created a 360-degree, audio-visual exhibit within a replica cattle car, to educate about the Holocaust and raise awareness of hatred and antisemitism. What he finds most exciting about his job is that every day and every project is truly different.” His LinkedIn profile specifies that he was a corporal in the Israeli military and that his service was from March 2015 to August 2016.
Collins’ professional website for his film and video production services company, Devolution Productions, contains a bio for him that states: “Yoni studied Cinema and Media Studies at York University in Toronto where he focused on screenwriting and film history. He continued his studies at Sheridan College’s Advanced Television and Film program, where he specialized in producing and editing. In 2017, Yoni was selected to participate in the Jerusalem Film Workshop, an intensive documentary film workshop in Israel for international filmmakers. It was at the Jerusalem Film Workshop where he produced the short documentary HaMavdil, which portrays the daily life of Jerusalem’s famous market, Mahane Yehuda, and its transformation from day to night, and a feature, Travellers, which explores unique and diverse stories in the heart of Jerusalem. The films premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2017 and screened in festivals across the United States and Europe, and HaMavdil in China. Yoni later served as the Jerusalem Film Workshop’s assistant director. Yoni’s latest film as producer and director, For A New Generation: An Anti-Hate Documentary, is now in post-production. The film centres on a group of students and Holocaust survivors in Toronto who created an immersive, 360-degree audio-visual exhibit within a replica WWII cattle car to educate about the horrors of hatred, prejudice, antisemitism, and racism. He recently completed, Lanterns Flicker, a short documentary about a Canadian veteran who served in Afghanistan, who turned to music to help in his battle with PTSD and to raise awareness for veteran suicide and mental health. The film will be released in 2023.”
Collins’ LinkedIn notes that he currently works as an editor for Devolution Productions, a company based in Toronto, and previously worked in a wide range of positions, including at the CBC as an assistant editor from October 2022 to August 2023.
