David Bezmozgis ( lv, Dāvids Bezmozgis; born 1973) is a Canadian writer and filmmaker, currently the head of
Humber College's School for Writers.
Life and career
Educational background
Born in
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
, he came to Canada with his family when he was six. He graduated with a
B.A. in
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
from
McGill University. Bezmozgis received an
M.F.A. from the
University of Southern California's
School of Cinema-Television.
Short stories
His short story "Natasha", which originally appeared in ''
Harper's'', was included in the ''
Best American Short Stories 2005
''The Best American Short Stories 2005'', a volume in '' The Best American Short Stories series'', was edited by Katrina Kenison and by guest editor Michael Chabon.Kenison, Katrina and Chabon, Michael (editors), ''The Best American Short Stories ...
'' collection. His short story "The Train of Their Departure", which ''
The New Yorker'' featured in its August 2010 issue, is actually an excerpt from his first novel ''The Free World'', released on April 4, 2011, to wide acclaim. His short stories "Tapka" and "The Russian Riviera" were also published in ''
The New Yorker''. His short stories "The Second Strongest Man" and "A New Gravestone for an Old Grave" have been published in ''
Zoetrope All-Story
''Zoetrope: All-Story'' is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola and Adrienne Brodeur. ''All-Story'' intends to publish new short fiction. ''Zoetrope: All-Story'' has received the National Magazine Awar ...
''. "A New Gravestone for an Old Grave" was also included in the ''
Best American Short Stories 2006
''The Best American Short Stories 2006'', a volume in ''The Best American Short Stories series'', was edited by Katrina Kenison and by guest editor Ann Patchett.Review, Booklist, October 15, 2006 This edition is notable in that it was the last edi ...
'' collection.
His short story "Minyan" was published in the Winter 2002 issue of ''
Prairie Fire'' and won the Silver Medal in the 2003
National Magazine Award for Fiction. His short story "An Animal to the Memory" was also published in Vol. 5, No. 2 (2002) of ''paperplates''. His short story "Rome, 1978" was published in the April 2011 issue of ''
The Walrus''.
His short story collection, ''Immigrant City'', was published in 2019.
Novels
His first published book is ''
Natasha and Other Stories
''Natasha and Other Stories'' () is a collection of short stories by Canadian author David Bezmozgis. His first published book, ''Natasha'' was published in 2004. Stories from the collection first appeared in '' The New Yorker'', '' Harper's'' ...
'' (2004). Stories from that collection first appeared in ''
The New Yorker'', ''
Harper's'' and ''
Zoetrope All-Story
''Zoetrope: All-Story'' is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola and Adrienne Brodeur. ''All-Story'' intends to publish new short fiction. ''Zoetrope: All-Story'' has received the National Magazine Awar ...
''. ''Natasha and Other Stories'' was chosen for inclusion in ''
Canada Reads 2007'', where it was championed by
Steven Page.
Bezmozgis' first novel ''The Free World'' (2011) was published in 2011. Set in Italy in 1978, Bezmozgis' novel chronicles the experience of Jewish refugees from the USSR. Critics in North America and in Europe have suggested that in this novel Berzmozgis presented through a fictional lens what another Jewish-Soviet immigrant
Maxim D. Shrayer had described in his book "Waiting for America" (2007). It was subsequently nominated and shortlisted for the
Giller Prize, the
Governor General's Literary Award for English-language fiction, the
Amazon.ca First Novel Award
The Amazon.ca First Novel Award, formerly the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English language, English published the previous year by a citize ...
, and for the
Governor General's Awards.
Bezmozgis' second novel, ''The Betrayers'' (2014) is about a famous Russian Jewish dissident who, after the fall of the Soviet Union, meets the man who denounced him. He also worked on the novel during a New York Public Library Cullman Center fellowship that he received. The novel was published in 2014 by Little, Brown and Company.
Films
Short films and documentaries
In 1999, while still a film student at the
USC School of Cinematic Arts, Bezmozgis directed and wrote his first film, a short 25-minute documentary called ''L.A. Mohel'', which won a major award for student filmmakers. In 2001, Bezmozgis wrote and directed a narrative short film entitled ''The Diamond Nose'' (2001), which starred
Paul Lieber
Paul Lieber is an American film, television and theatre actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the role of Det. Sgt. Eric Dorsey on three episodes of the American sitcom television series ''Barney Miller''.
Lieber guest-starred in televisi ...
. In 2003, Bezmozgis directed a documentary entitled ''Genuine Article: The First Trial'' (2003), about the recruitment system for hiring law student interns used by Canadian law firms.
Feature films
In 2008 he completed his first narrative feature film, ''
Victoria Day'' (2009), which he wrote and directed. The film stars
Mark Rendall as a high-school hockey star dealing with emerging adulthood pressures and the expectations of his Russian-speaking parents. The film also had its world premiere at the 2009
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the "World Cinema - Dramatic" category. It was also nominated for a Best Screenplay award at the 2010
Genie Awards. The film has also screened at the
Shanghai International Film Festival, the
Moscow International Film Festival, the
Hamptons International Film Festival, the Athens International Film Festival, the
Seoul International Youth Film Festival, the
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and the
Toronto Jewish Film Festival.
In 2015, Bezmozgis wrote and directed his second narrative feature film, ''
Natasha'' (2015), based on his award-winning short story of the same name. The film stars
Alex Ozerov
Alex Ozerov (born 1992) is a Canadian actor. He is most noted for his performance in the short film '' Pyotr495'', for which he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Performance in a Digital Program or Series at the 7th Canadian Screen Awar ...
and
Sasha K. Gordon. ''Natasha'' was released theatrically in Canada by Mongrel Films in 2016. In 2017 the film received
Canadian Screen Award nominations for
Best Actress (Gordon) and
Best Adapted Screenplay
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
5th Canadian Screen Awards
The 5th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 12, 2017, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2016. Nominations were announced on January 17, 2017.
Awards in many of the technical categor ...
.
Bezmozgis and
Erik Rutherford
Erik Rutherford is a Canadian writer. He wrote the screen story for the 2021 film, ''Charlotte'', and was cowriter with David Bezmozgis of the screenplay, for which they received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay at th ...
cowrote the screenplay for the 2021 film ''
Charlotte'', for which they received a
Canadian Screen Award nomination for
Best Adapted Screenplay
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
10th Canadian Screen Awards
The 10th Canadian Screen Awards were held on April 10, 2022, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television and digital media production in 2021.Etan Vlessing"Maitreyi Ramakrishnan to Receive Canadian Screen Awards Special Honor" ''The Hollyw ...
in 2022, and a
Writers Guild of Canada nomination for Best Feature at the 26th
WGC Screenwriting Awards.
Television
Bezmozgis was a writer-producer on the fifth and final season of ''
Orphan Black'', writing an episode in 2017 titled, ''Manacled Slim Wrists''.
Personal life
Bezmozgis lives with a wife, a daughter and a dog named Moody.
Awards
*
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
Cullman Center Fellowship in 2010
*Named as One of the "Top 20 Fiction Writers Under the Age of 40" by ''
The New Yorker'' in 2010
*Silver Medal in the 2003
National Magazine Awards for Fiction, "Minyan" in ''
Prairie Fire'' (Winter 2002 - Vol. 23, No. 4)
*
Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction,
Koffler Centre of the Arts (2005)
*The Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction (2004)
*Commonwealth First Book Prize for Caribbean/Canada (2004)
*
Danuta Gleed Literary Award for best first collection of short fiction in the English language (2005)
*
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
(
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
)
*
City of Toronto Book Award The Toronto Book Awards are Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the City of Toronto government
The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city ...
(2005)
*
JQ Wingate Prize 2005 Fiction, ''Natasha and Other Stories''
*
National Jewish Book Award for ''The Betrayers (2015)''
*
Edward Lewis Wallant Award for ''The Betrayers (2014)''
*National Jewish Book Award for ''The Betrayers (2014)''
Finalist
*
Guardian First Book Award (UK) (2004)
*
Governor General's Awards for Literature (2004)
*Borders Original Voices Award (2004)
*Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction (2004)
*National Magazine Awards for fiction (2005)
*
Scotiabank Giller Prize for ''The Free World (2011)''
*
Scotiabank Giller Prize for ''The Betrayers (2014)''
*
Giller Prize ''Immigrant City (2019)''
[Deborah Dundas]
"Michael Crummey, Ian Williams are in, Margaret Atwood and André Alexis are out on Giller Prize short list"
''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', September 30, 2019.
Work (short stories) available online
''An Animal to The Memory''in ''paperplates'' (2002 - Vol. 5 No. 2)
''Tapka''from ''
The New Yorker'' (May 19, 2003)
''The Second Strongest Man''from ''
Zoetrope All-Story
''Zoetrope: All-Story'' is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola and Adrienne Brodeur. ''All-Story'' intends to publish new short fiction. ''Zoetrope: All-Story'' has received the National Magazine Awar ...
'' (Summer 2003 - Vol. 7 No. 2)
''Natasha''in ''
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' (May 2004)
''The Russian Riviera''from ''
The New Yorker'' (May 30, 2005)
''A New Gravestone for an Old Grave''from ''
Zoetrope All-Story
''Zoetrope: All-Story'' is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola and Adrienne Brodeur. ''All-Story'' intends to publish new short fiction. ''Zoetrope: All-Story'' has received the National Magazine Awar ...
'' (Summer 2005 - Vol. 7 No. 2)
''The Train of Their Departure''from ''
The New Yorker'' (August 9, 2010)
''Rome, 1978''from ''
The Walrus'' (April 2011)
Bibliography
Novels
*''The Free World'' (2011) (
Viking Press)
*''The Betrayers'' (2014) (
Little, Brown and Company)
Short story collections
*''
Natasha: And Other Stories'' (2004) (
Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
*''Immigrant City'' (2019)
Selected short stories
''Minyan''in ''
Prairie Fire'' (Winter 2002 – Vol. 23, No. 4) (silver-medal winner,
National Magazine Awards)
''An Animal to The Memory''in ''paperplates'' (2002 - Vol. 5 No. 2)
''Tapka''from ''
The New Yorker'' (May 19, 2003)
''The Second Strongest Man''from ''
Zoetrope All-Story
''Zoetrope: All-Story'' is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola and Adrienne Brodeur. ''All-Story'' intends to publish new short fiction. ''Zoetrope: All-Story'' has received the National Magazine Awar ...
'' (Summer 2003 - Vol. 7 No. 2)
''Natasha''in ''
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' (May 2004)
''The Russian Riviera''from ''
The New Yorker'' (May 30, 2005)
''A New Gravestone for an Old Grave''from ''
Zoetrope All-Story
''Zoetrope: All-Story'' is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola and Adrienne Brodeur. ''All-Story'' intends to publish new short fiction. ''Zoetrope: All-Story'' has received the National Magazine Awar ...
'' (Summer 2005 - Vol. 7 No. 2)
''The Train of Their Departure''from ''
The New Yorker'' (August 9, 2010)
''Rome, 1978''from ''
The Walrus'' (April 2011)
Filmography
As writer and/or director
References
External links
*
Official websiteOnline interview from CBC Words at Large Interview from INTHEFRAY MagazineInterview with Georgetown University's Program for Jewish Civilization
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bezmozgis, David
1973 births
Living people
Film directors from Toronto
Jewish Canadian writers
Canadian male short story writers
21st-century Canadian novelists
Canadian male novelists
Latvian Jews
Latvian emigrants to Canada
USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
McGill University alumni
21st-century Canadian short story writers
Canadian male screenwriters
21st-century Canadian male writers
Writers from Toronto
21st-century Canadian screenwriters
Jewish Canadian filmmakers
Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners