Ron Havilio was born in Jerusalem in 1950 into a family that traces its history in the city back 500 years. As a young boy, he and his family left Jerusalem for Paris, Istanbul and Yaounde, where his father was an Israeli diplomat.

Ron Havilio was born in Jerusalem in 1950. As a young boy, he lived in Paris, Istanbul and Yaounde, where his father was an Israeli diplomat. He first became interested in painting and photography, and studied art history at the Hebrew University. He then moved to cinema, experimenting with the language of the personal film diary. In 1984, he made a two-hour travel diary, never published.

In 1987 Havilio started working on his monumental "Fragments — Jerusalem" (1997), a six-hour documentary, personal diary and family saga interwoven with the history of Jerusalem. The film won the Grand Prize in the YIDFF, Yamagata, 1997.

Following their marriage in 1970, Ron and Jacqueline made a trip to the Andes, visiting the city of Potosi. 29 years later, they return to Potosi, with their three daughters, Noa, Yael and Naomi, and a super-16 camera. The experience gives birth to "Potosi, The Journey" (2007), a road movie, which is both a depiction in real time of the town and a journey of introspection for the filmmaker and his family.

Havilio has been teaching at the Jerusalem Film School and at the Aikido Institute of Jerusalem.