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Biography

Yossi Ghinsberg - Motivational Speaker

NEWS UPDATE
Scheduled for International release on 20th October 2017, Daniel Radcliffe in "JUNGLE", the story of Yossi Ghinsberg's incredible survival in the Amazon jungle.
Watch the trailer here.

Daniel Radcliffe joins Wolf Creek director Greg McLean in the Bolivian rainforest for a gloriously tense survival thriller based on the bestselling real-life story of adventurer Yossi Ghinsberg.

In the early 1980s, 22-year-old Israeli backpacker Yossi Ghinsberg and two friends – Swiss teacher Marcus Stamm and American photographer Kevin Gale – set off from the Bolivian city of La Paz on what was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. Leading the way into the uncharted Amazon was Austrian expat Karl Ruprechter, who had met the friends just days before and claimed to be familiar with the region. But their dream trip soon turned into a wilderness nightmare from which not all of the men returned.

Adapting Ghinsberg’s acclaimed memoir, Aussie thriller auteur Greg McLean takes on an altogether different kind of terror in Jungle, all the more potent for being true. Daniel Radcliffe continues pushing his post-Potter career to the extreme, ably supported by Alex Russell (fellow MIFF Premiere Fund title Cut Snake, MIFF 2014), Joel Jackson (Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door) and Thomas Kretschmann (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Dracula).

Scripted by Justin Monjo (INXS: Never Tear Us Apart) and supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund, Jungle is a stunningly shot, edge-of-your seat story of survival and self-discovery.

Yossi Ghinsberg's keynote presentation is based on his harrowing adventure in South America which led to him writing his international bestseller 'Jungle', now also a documentary by the acclaimed producers of 'Touching the Void'. After becoming separated from his friends, Yossi was lost for weeks in the heart of the Amazon with no food or weapons, in the midst of the worst rainy season in decades. Yossi tells his story with passion and through this amazing experience, he penetrates a new level of understanding of life and people. An excellent speaker and motivator for any event.  Visit Yossi's web site - Motivational Speaker

Yossi Ghinsberg was born and raised in Israel and graduated from Tel Aviv University with Philosophy and Business degrees.  He served three years in the Israeli navy on the Red Sea where he befriended the Bedouins of the Sinai Desert who greatly influenced him with their wholesome philosophy and nomadic lifestyle.

When Marcus, Kevin and Yossi agree to accompany Karl, a self-professed guide of the jungle, to Indian villages deep in the South American rainforest (the Amazon), the three backpackers think they are embarking on a dream adventure. Setting out from La Paz, Bolivia, the group flies to the most remote area of the rainforest accessible by plane to begin their off-the-map expedition.

Days into the journey the foursome begins to unravel under the duress of travelling through the dense undergrowth. Yossi soon finds himself lost and alone for three weeks- no weapons and with few survival skills- in the heart of the Amazonian rainforest. What follows is his tale of fortitude and physical endurance in one of the most dangerous and unpredictable landscapes on the planet.   

A master storyteller, Yossi takes his audiences on an emotional experience of inner strength and self-discovery.  Apart from the sheer excitement and thrill of Yossi's presentation, his delivery encourages audiences to review and re-evaluate their own personal and professional circumstances.  Audiences are empowered to adapt to circumstances with a sense of adventure.  Yossi believes we are co-creators of our reality and hence fear and worry are not likely to improve any situation, however, the right action can always be taken. Adversity is part of life; being a victim a matter of choice.

Yossi feels there is an inherent hero in each one of us ready to emerge; there exists a well of wisdom far greater than our own knowledge ready to be made available.  Never, ever give up, for life is never short of a miracle.

In 1992, Yossi returned to the Amazon to initiate 'The Chalalan Project', demonstrating that the best strategy to conserve pristine rainforest is sustainable development in cooperation with indigenous inhabitants rather than mere conservation.  Yossi promoted recognition of intellectual properties for indigenous people and his contribution to the region won him international acclaim.

In 1995 he was appointed Vice President of The Centre for Investigation & Treatment of Addiction (CITA).  In this capacity, Yossi promoted a new humanitarian approach to the treatment of opiate addiction, establishing 12 treatment and research centres around the world from Mexico to China and finally establishing and managing his own clinics in Australia where he also launched the ‘Alma Libre’ initiative to educate society about opiate addiction and promote reintegration of rehabilitated patients.

Yossi has great interest in conflict resolution from personal, through organisational and global levels. In 2001 during the peak of the Palestinian ‘intifada’, Yossi was invited to return to Israel to produce a reconciliation festival.  Despite the escalation of violence in the region, the festival managed to attract spiritual leaders of Judaism and Islam as well as unprecedented audiences.

His latest book 'The Laws of the Jungle' was published in 2006.