The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival has stated that Brunner's mother, Clara, wanted him to study law, but he was 'too smart for his own good', and thought that being a filmmaker would be lucrative and provide him an opportunity to travel. Brunner studied film at Tel Aviv University at the Ramat Aviv campus in the Katz Faculty of the Arts' Department of Film and Television. Brunner served in the Israeli Defense Forces and is a veteran of the Yom Kippur War, during which he began to view the Israeli narrative he had learned in school as "legends of nation building."
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival noted that Brunner's mother, Clara, hoped he would study law but thought he was 'too smart for his own good' and believed filmmaking could be lucrative with travel prospects. Brunner studied film at Tel Aviv University in the Ramat Aviv campus of the Katz Faculty of Arts' Department of Film and Television. Brunner served in the Israeli Defense Forces during the Yom Kippur War, a conflict that made him question the historical narratives he learned.