Savi Gabizon is a screenwriter, director, and film teacher. Gabizon is renowned for being a director with a most unique, individual voice who is able to marry comedy and tragedy in his work, thereby creating narratives that are simultaneously local and universal. Gabizon is of the directors’ generation who, in the 1990s, turned their backs on nationalist storytelling, panned their cameras away from all things political and militaristic – and instead, aimed them inwards at all that is private and individual.
In the military, Gabizon served in the IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit and later, enrolled in Tel Aviv University’s Department of Film and Television Studies. In 1990, he directed his debut feature, Shoroo. The film enjoyed both critical and commercial success, taking home the Wolgin Prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival and clinching six Ophir Awards, including Best Script, Best Director, and Best Film. Gabizon’s 1995 film, Lovesick on Nana Street won awards both at the São Paolo and Manheim-Heidelberg film festivals whilst in Israel, it took home that year’s Wolgin Prize and a total of eight Ophir Awards, including Best Film, Best Script, and Best Director. In 2003, Gabizon’s latest release, Nina’s Tragedies was featured at the Sundance Film Festival, whilst earning Gabizon his third Wolgin Prize and an additional 11 Ophir Awards, including Best Film, Best Script, and Best Director.
In 2007, Gabizon made Lost and Found; a film that would subsequently be adapted into a television series which premiered the following year. His film, Longing (2017) won the BNL People’s Choice Award at the Venice Film Festival where it was featured in the Venice Days (Giornate degli Autori) section. It was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and won two awards at that year’s Jerusalem Film Festival.
