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 the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

'' won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at the

66th Venice International 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 Torn ...

. 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 G ...

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

in the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

.. After the war, he trained as a cameraman at the

Beit Zvi Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts, and a Theater ( he, בית צבי) is an acting school, and a theater located in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel, established in 1950. History Beit Zvi is the country's first theater school ...

theater school, and did

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

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, plus ...

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 largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and the

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

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 The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a tim ...

'' (2017), won the

Grand Jury Prize A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

at the Venice Film Festival.

Filmography

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

'' (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