Samuel Maoz (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: שמואל מעוז; born c. 1962) is an Israeli film director. His 2009 film, ''

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

'' won the Golden Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival. He also won the award for Best Screenplay for

at the

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

in 2010.

Biography

Shmuel (Shmuel) Maoz was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

. At the age of 20, he was a gunner in one of the first Israeli tanks to enter

in the 1982 Lebanon War.. After the war, he trained as a cameraman at the Beit Zvi theater school, and did art direction in film and television productions.

Film career

As a director, Maoz was associated with the production of documentary films, directing the

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

production ''Total Eclipse'' (2000) with Evgenia Dodina. In 2007, Maoz began working on ''Lebanon'', his first feature film. The script, based on Maoz's personal experiences, describes the traumatic experiences of a four-man Israeli tank crew in a Lebanese village early in the war. At the end of July 2009, Maoz received an invitation to the competition of the

66th Venice Film Festival The 66th annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was held from 2 to 12 September 2009, with Maria Grazia Cucinotta serving as the festival's hostess. The opening film of the festival was '' Baarìa'' by Giuseppe Tornat ...

, where he won the Golden Lion after having had been rejected at the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and the

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

film festivals. Lebanon was praised as one of the most compelling competition entries. That same year the film was nominated for the ''Ophir'', Israel's national film awards, in ten categories. His next film, '' Foxtrot'' (2017), won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Filmography

*''Total Eclipse'' (2000) * ''Lebanon'' (2009) *'' Foxtrot'' (2017)

References

External links

*
IONCINEMA.com interview with Samuel Maoz for Lebanon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maoz, Samuel 1960s births Date of birth missing (living people) Israeli film directors Israeli Jews Israeli people of Turkish-Jewish descent Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent European Film Awards winners (people) Directors of Golden Lion winners Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts alumni Living people