Samuel Maoz Samuel Maoz Samuel Maoz (Hebrew: שמואל מעוז; born c. 1962) is an Israeli film director. His 2009 film, "Lebanon" won the Golden Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival. He also won the award for Best Screenplay for Lebanon at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in 2010. Shmuel (Shmuel) Maoz was born in Tel Aviv. At the age of 20, he was a gunner in one of the first Israeli tanks to enter Lebanon in the 1982 Lebanon War. After the war, he trained as a cameraman at the Beit Zvi theater school, and did art direction in film
71st Venice International Film Festival 71st Venice International Film Festival The 71st annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy between 27 August to 6 September 2014. The festival opened with Alejandro G. Iñárritu's film "Birdman", and closed with Ann Hui's drama film "The Golden Era". Italian actress Luisa Ranieri hosted the opening and closing nights of the festival. The Swedish film "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence", directed by Roy Andersson, won the Golden Lion, and Joshua Oppenheimer's "The Look of Silence" won the Grand Jury Prize. American filmmakers Thelma Schoonmaker and Frederick Wiseman were the recipients of the