Sameh Zoabi

Film writer and director

Sameh Zoabi
Born	Iksal, Israel
Education	Tel Aviv University (BA) Columbia University (MFA)
Occupation(s)	Director, screenwriter
Employer	New York University
Notable work	Tel Aviv on Fire

Sameh Zoabi is a Palestinian Israeli film writer and director best known for his 2019 film Tel Aviv on Fire.

Childhood and education

Zoabi grew up in Iksal, a village near Nazareth, Israel.^[1]^[2] His father is a farmer.^[1] He studied at Tel Aviv University, graduating with a dual degree in film studies and literature, and then attended Columbia University on a Fulbright scholarship, receiving his MFA in 2005.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Zoabi lives in Brooklyn and teaches at New York University.^[4]^[5]

Career

Zoabi made Be Quiet, a short film, in 2005. His feature length debut was Man Without a Cell Phone (2010).^[2] He won Best Screenplay Award at 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Tel Aviv on Fire (2019). The movie was also nominated for a 2019 European Film Award for Best Comedy and was Luxembourg's submission to the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "'Tel Aviv on Fire' representing Luxembourg, not Israel, at the Oscars". Jerusalem Post. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Soap-Opera Comedy Ignites 'Tel Aviv On Fire'". Baltimore Jewish Times. 21 August 2019.
^ "On A Global Scale: Sameh Zoabi '05 in Between Comedy and Arthouse". Columbia - School of the Arts. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
^ "'Tel Aviv on Fire' Director Sameh Zoabi Talks About His Venice Fest Film". Variety. 4 September 2018.
^ "A comedy about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? An NYU professor and filmmaker's 'Tel Aviv on Fire' goes there". amNewYork.