About Me
Kaitz Brebner (born on March 19, 1988) is an Israeli journalist, television personality, network creator, photographer, speaker, and host of writing workshops.
Brebner was born in the city of Tallinn, Estonia, under the name Ilya Brebner. He immigrated to Israel with his parents in 1992 and grew up in Mevaseret Zion. At the age of 15, he started writing for the school newspaper of “Harel” High School, the local newspaper "Zaman Mevaseret". In 2005, he started working as a youth reporter for the teen magazine "Rosh1" while writing for the news site "Scoop" about entertainment and culture. In 2007, he joined the IDF and served as an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force. During his military service, he wrote for Ynet's "Bona" youth portal.
In 2010, upon his release from the IDF, Brebner began writing in the entertainment, men's, and children's sections of the “MAKO” website, covering the world of Israeli and Hollywood culture. In 2012, he began working as the cultural editor of the youth website "Frogy".
In 2014, he completed degree studies in film and television and literature at Tel Aviv University and wrote his thesis on the gender representations in the reality show “Beauty and the Geek” and the television character of Avivit Bar Zohar as a simulacrum. In 2016, he studied at the television hosting school of “Reshet” – “Habarzel 23”. His practical thesis was a story on the effects of reality TV on Israeli society that was broadcast on Channel 2 and the Knesset channel.
From 2013-2017, he worked in content roles in TV programs including: "Anashim" (people), "Teamim" (tastes), "Boker Ham" (hot morning), "Zman Briut" (health time), "The Magazine for Green Construction" and more.
In 2015, he began working as a technology reporter on “The Gadget Show” - a program on the “Ego” channel and as a reporter on the “Social TV” channel.
In the years 2015-2017, together with the comedian Hadar Stav, he created the web series "Viewed - The Real Stars on The Internet" which follows the ,ost provocative and controversial stars of the Israeli network, among them the singer Eliad Maleki, the singer Yardena, and Prof. Amir Hatzroni.
Since 2017, Brebner has been working as a reporter and culture editor for the "Maariv" website and as a reporter for The Daily Magazine and The Weeknd Special Edition. As part of his role, Brebner interviewed international actors and musicians, including the singer Mariah Carey, the actresses Tori Spelling and Jenny Garth, and Israeli artists and media personalities, including Netta Barzilai, Oshri Cohen, Static (Liraz Russo), Dana International, Noa Kirel, Osherat Kotler, Yuval Shem Tov, Orli Vilnai, Tzipi Shavit, Niro Levy, and others.
Brebner presented segments in the field of television and culture on the program "Boker Or" on Channel 10, “Zoom in” on channel i24news, the culture segments on the Knesset Channel and a weekly opinion column on Iris Kol's program on Radio 103FM.
Brebner gives the Talk "Behind the Headlines", during which he exposes the participants to the fascinating processes that take place behind the camera and the microphone to shape the great stories that in turn shape public opinion and the perception of the world in Israel. In the Talk, he discusses the decisions and considerations that drive the media companies, provides tools for understanding the processes that are less familiar to the public, and explains how through the written words and the methods of photography and editing, the same story can be told in countless ways.
In 2020, an interview he conducted with Prof. Yoram Yuval created a media scandal following Yuval's criticism of the Minister of Health. Yuval stated that "Yaakov Litzman said that 'the Messiah of our righteousness will redeem us before Pesach'. As a psychiatrist, I hospitalized people for less than that". Following these remarks, the “Bezalmo” organization filed a complaint against the professor to the Medical Association's ethics office for "hurting the feelings of millions of believers as well as abusing his position and presenting his personal opinions as if they were medical and harming the medical community in Israel". Later, Yuval apologized and wrote: "these words are not true and are not appropriate. The sentence was said in a storm of emotions, in jest, and out of frustration and pain over mistakes made by the minister (in my opinion) at the beginning of his handling of the crisis - mistakes that could cause heavy damage to many in the ultra-orthodox public".
In a personal journey of spiritual development, he decided to independently produce the documentary series "Between Matter and Spirit", where he tries to combine his fast life as a journalist in Israel with a spiritual path and present the world of personal development, alternative medicine, and treatments at eye level. During the series, he met with alternative therapists and spiritual guides and experienced the most profound, revealing, and extreme treatments and workshops seen on the screen.
In 2021, following the personal process he went through, Brebner went on a journey of about a year in Latin America, where he independently created a series of short documentary films about shamans, alternative therapists, and spiritual guides. In Peru, he created the documentary film "Cactus, Love, Mountains: A Psychedelic Journey with Huachuma", which follows a 3-day shamanic journey in the Anand mountains, where the psychedelic cactus "San Pedro" allows people from different parts of the world to connect with themselves.
During the journey, Brebner participated in dozens of workshops, retreats, and ceremonies, learned shamanism from local guides, and began to deliver workshops that combine these new tools with his first love, writing, in the "Journey to the Subconscious and the Hidden Creative Powers" workshop.
In 2023, he was chosen to present the photography and editing award at the Teens’ Choice Awards as part of the Academy of Film and Television. Later that year Brebner covered the Eurovision events in Liverpool, England.