San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Shemi Zarhin

Read the exclusive interview by Donny Inbar! Download here

Born and raised in Tiberias, Shemi Zarhin is a graduate of The Film and Television department at Tel-Aviv University. He teaches filmmaking and scriptwriting courses at the Sam Spiegel School in Jerusalem. He has written scripts for several feature films (among them: Tel-Aviv Stories and Family Secrets) and directed dozens of commercials and episodes of television series. He has also been script editor and consultant for many scripts and written articles and film critiques for Israeli newspapers. In 1996 he was awarded the Ministry of Arts and Culture's Prize for Filmmakers.

Zarhin's first feature film as a director and scriptwriter, Passover Fever ("Leylasede," 1995), won the prize for best script at the Montreal World Film Festival and participated in over 200 festivals all over the world. His film Dangerous Acts ("Mesukenet," 1998) won seven Israeli Academy Awards, among them the Best Director Prize. His film, Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi ("Hakochavim Shel Shlomi," 2003) won 20 prizes and awards in festivals around the world (among them: Audience Award at SEMINCI - Valladolid International Film Festival - Spain; Best Film and Best Directing at the Moscow International Film Festival for Young People; Best Film, Best Script, Fipresci and Signis at Festroia International Film Festival - Portugal; Golden Greyphon for Best Film at the Giffoni International Film Festival - Italy).

His theater play, The Big Bang Returns, was produced in Tel-Aviv during 2006. The feature film Noodle, which he co-writed, is in post-production. Aviva My Love, his fourth feature film as director and writer, was shot in his hometown, Tiberias.

Click here to read an interview with director Shemi Zarhin.

Shemi will be in attendance in San Francisco and Berkeley screenings.