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Ms. Lavie, one of Israel’s most up and coming screenwriters and directors, was the recipient of two of the most important awards at this year’s festival.
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There could have been very few people in Manhattan more excited than Israeli film director Talya Lavie at the special gala event held to mark the end this year’s Tribeca Film Festival when she stepped up to the stage to pick up not one but two major awards for her film comedy “Zero Motivation.”
Zero Motivation, which describes the interaction between a group of young female Israeli soldiers during their national service, won the award for Best Narrative Feature as well as being the winner of the Nora Ephron Prize, established to recognize the work of female filmmakers.
Ms. Lavie not only got the opportunity to shake hands with acting legend Robert De Niro, one of the organizers of the festival, but also to pick up a prize check of $25, 000 which she was handed by Esther Lee, senior vice president in charge of Brand Marketing and Advertising for AT&T, who sponsored that particular award, with the festival’s co-organizer Jane Rosenthal jointly presenting.
A few moments later Talya back on stage again, this time to pick up another $25, 000 prize, this time as the second winner of Nora Ephron Prize, in honor of the late Nora Ephron, the well known author, playwright and screenwriter who passed away in 2012. The award was presented to Ms. Lavie by Nora Ephron’s sister, Delia, also a well- known screenwriter
Talya, who has participated in the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Laboratory, has enjoyed sponsorship from the Israeli Film Fund.
Talya Lavie studied animation at the Bezalel Art Academy, going on to graduate with merit from the Sam Spiegel Film School, also in Jerusalem.
Talya’s film “The Substitute”, which was the subject of her thesis, picked up a number of international honors, with the most prominent being the Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival “Berlinale”, as well as taking first prize at the Munich International Short Film Festival, picking up the same award at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
Since graduating Ms. Lavie has authored screenplays for various dramas for Israeli television, with her short film “Sliding Flora” which made its screen debut at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art Festival going on to appear at more than forty film festivals worldwide, always to favorable reviews.
