Lior Shamriz (born September 13, 1978) is a writer, producer, and film director. They reside in Santa Cruz, California.
Early Life
Shamriz was born to a Jewish-Iraqi mother and a Jewish-Iranian father in
Ashkelon
Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip.
The modern city i ...
, a
working-class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
city in southern Israel. Their mother was born in
Amarah
Amarah (), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between ...
, Iraq, and their father in
Shiraz
Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...
, Iran. Both emigrated with their families as children in the aftermath of the 1948 war. At 19, Shamriz dropped out of the army for personal and political reasons and moved to Tel Aviv, where they began working on collective art publications and computer-generated music. They attended the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School until being expelled in 2004. Critical of Israeli
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
in press interviews and in their film work, Shamriz immigrated to Berlin in 2006, pursuing graduate studies at the ''Institute for Time-Based Media'' of the
Berlin University of the Arts
The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...
, and eventually renounced their Israeli citizenship.
Career
Dimitri Eipides from the
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
The Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) is a film festival held every November in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is organized by the Thessaloniki Film Festival under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture. It features internationa ...
noted that Shamriz "develops his own écriture, experimenting with form, deconstructing narratives and reconstructing their pieces into something unique, which bears his own personal trademark". Working in the intersection of art cinema, performance, and essay films, Shamriz's work draws on various legacies, such as queer cinema,
underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing.
Notable examples include
John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'',
David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'',
Andy Warhol's ''Blue Movie'',
Rosa von Praunheim's ''Tal ...
, and Persian pop. Throughout their oeuvre, they collaborated and worked with artists and performers such as Heinz Emigholz,
Locarno International Film Festival
The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, ) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
History
The festival had its first edition in April 1999 and i ...
and MoMA'sNew Directors/New Films Festival where chief film curator Rajendra Roy had noted it as one of the top ten film of the year. A controversial and polarizing film, it tells a kaleidoscopic story of a young queer pacifist drop-out who is unable to leave Israel, juxtaposing saturated pop music, pixelated virtual travelogues with poetry by Constantine P. Cavafy and
Charles Olson
Charles John Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modernist United States poetry, American poet who was a link between earlier Literary modernism, modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams an ...
, together with dramatic scenes and pornographic imagery.
'' Saturn Returns'' (2009), their next long film, premiered opening Torino Film Festival's ''Onde'', was nominated for the Max Ophüls Preis at the film festival in
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
, Germany and co-won the ''New Berlin Award'' at ''Achtung Berlin'' film festival. ''Return Return'' (2010), a non-narrative video based on clips from ''Saturn Returns'', premiered at the 60th
Berlin Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
’s Forum Expanded, where later ''The Runaway Troupe of the Cartesian Theater'' (2013) and ''Cancelled Faces'' (2015) would have their world premiere as well. In addition to long films they created many short films, winning awards at the
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is one of the oldest short film festivals in the world. Held in Oberhausen, it is one of the major international platforms for the short form. The festival holds an International ...
International Dawn Chorus Day
The dawn chorus is the outbreak of birdsong at the start of a new day. In temperate countries this is most noticeable in spring when the birds are either defending a Territory (animal), breeding territory, trying to attract a mate or calling in t ...
''. In 2022, they premiered their feature-film ''Estuaries'', a drama/comedy about a musician with a past as an activist in Israel/Palestine, who lives in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
during the first Trump administration, and struggles with his immigration status following the death of his U.S. partner.
Filmography
*(2005) ''Return to the Savanna'' (6 Short Movies, approx. 75 minutes)
*(2006) ''Ho! Terrible Exteriors'' (28 minutes)
*(2007) ''The Farewell'' (45 minutes)
*(2007) ''Before the flowers of friendship faded friendship faded'' (7 minutes)
*(2007) '' Japan Japan'' (65 minutes)
*(2007) ''The Whitman Project'' (50 minutes, co-directed with Heinz Emigholz)
*(2008) ''The vacuum cleaner'' (8 minutes)
*(2008) ''The Magic Desk'' (10 minutes)
*(2009) '' Saturn Returns'' (90 minutes)
*(2010) ''Ritenuto'' (63 minutes) – ''Saturn Returns - Satellite Film''
*(2010) ''Titan'' (50 minutes) – ''Saturn Returns - Satellite Film''
*(2010) ''Return Return'' (26 minutes) – ''Saturn Returns - Satellite Film''
*(2011) ''Mirrors For Princes'' (60 minutes)
*(2012) '' A Low Life Mythology'' (80 minutes)
*(2012) ''Beyond Love and Friendship'' (18 minutes)
*(2013) ''The Present of Cinema'' (7 minutes) (commissioned by ''International Short Film Festival Oberhausen'')
*(2013) ''The way of the Shaman'' (multiscreen video installation with Naama Yuria)
*(2013) ''The Runaway Troupe of the Cartesian Theater'' (18 minutes)
*(2014) ''L'amour sauvage'' (25 minutes)
*(2014-2015) 6 music videos for Kreidler (6 videos, approx. 35 minutes)
*(2015) ''The night'' (7 minutes)
*(2015) ''Cancelled Faces'' (80 minutes)
*(2016) ''Fallen Blossoms'' (70 minutes)
*(2017) '' The Cage'' (65 minutes)
*(2022) ''Estuaries'' (101 minutes)
*(2022) ''Port Saïd, Santa Cruz, Sarmad Kashani'' (14 minutes)
*(2023) ''Even a Dog in Babylon is Free'' (17 minutes)