Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in filmmaking? What inspired you to pursue a career in the film industry?
I’m a writer and director working across film, theatre, and TV. I was born and raised in Tel Aviv, but I’ve moved around quite a lot. I’ve lived in Paris, Berlin, Boston, and Oxford and I’m currently based in London. My plays and short films have been presented at venues like the Harvard Film Archive, the American Repertory Theater, and Modern Art Oxford. I’m currently working on my first feature and my first TV series. My debut novel is forthcoming from Macmillan (Henry Holt).
I can’t quite remember a time when I didn’t want to be a filmmaker. Movies have been at the centre of my life ever since I can recall. The earliest film I remember watching is The Pagemaster which blew me away; I sob pretty much every time I rewatch it.
What does being part of Berlinale Talents mean to you? Is there something about the city that resonates with your creative process?
I applied to Berlinale Talents because at some point I just met too many pairs of collaborators or friends who said they'd met each other through the programme. I told myself I had to see if I could figure out its secret magic; what it is about it that brings people together in this way.
I'm very excited to meet everyone. I don’t think I’ve ever been in one room with so many talented people from so many places.
I’ve been obsessed with Germany and with Berlin in particular for many years now. It’s a city that energises, inspires, and fascinates me. Being queer and Jewish, I’m always amazed to think about the tremendous changes it has undergone in less than a century. It gives me hope.
How do you balance expressing your unique voice and creating something that can be recognised globally?
I try to think as little as possible about how my work will be received, partly because I don’t think that’s something I can really know in advance. This may be naive of me, but I tend to think that if a work of art has a heart – if you make it passionately and honestly – it will resonate with folks regardless of their nationality, geographical location, or mother tongue.
How does this year’s theme, "Common Tongues: Speaking Out in the Language of Cinema", resonate with your work and creative process?
Perhaps because I’ve moved around so much, I’m absolutely fascinated by language. This fascination goes into everything I make. My characters usually speak different languages, translate and mistranslate, look for the right words and often fail to find them. I stopped writing in my mother tongue, Hebrew, many years ago. I love it, but today I struggle to imagine ever going back to it. I’ve fallen in love with English; I admire its elasticity, expansiveness, and relative genderlessness.