The Organizing Committee of the 13th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) officially announced that Nadav Lapid, a well-known Israeli film director and screenwriter, would sit on the Tiantan Award Jury.

　

Nadav Lapid was born in Israel in 1975. ‎Policeman, Lapid’s first feature film directed at the age of 36, was shortlisted for the Competition Section of the 64th Locarno Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize. In 2015, his short film Why? was shortlisted for the Berlinale Shorts of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. Two years later, his directorial feature film Synonyms was shortlisted for the Competition Section of the 69th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Golden Bear Award and the FIPRESCI Prize in the International Competition. In 2021, Lapid won the Jury Prize at the 74th Festival de Cannes for his directorial film Ahed’s Knee.

Lapid sat on the Jury of the International Critics’ Week Section of the 69th Festival de Cannes, as well as the Jury of the Competition Section of the 71st Berlin International Film Festival, and Jury President of the 53rd Indian International Film Festival. He serves as a jury member of the BJIFF for the first time.

Lapid, now an icon of a new generation of filmmakers, studied philosophy rather than film at Tel Aviv University. Lapid, like his contemporaries, entered the Israel Defense Forces after graduation for three years of military service. He afterwards travelled to Paris, where he became acquainted with films. Thereafter, he returned to Israel to pursue further studies at Sam Spiegel School for Film & Television, one of the “World’s Top 15 Film Schools”. Lapid then embarked on his brilliant film career.

His life experiences are a source of inspiration for his filmmaking. “Films are not necessarily a recreation of my life, but they are inextricably linked to my life experiences. I don’t just write an autobiography in the shape of films. Instead, I want to discuss social concerns by depicting different aspects of life in films. I believe that everyone is a window through which we can see different existences in life,” said Lapid in an interview.

His films are defined by his continued focus on social issues and people. Meanwhile, Lapid’s focus on the spiritual realm is equally noteworthy. He remarked in an interview that while his films have varied themes, they all depict the protagonist’s struggle. “We must dare to confront the world and ourselves. Otherwise, everyone will become their own prisoner,” said Lapid.

Speaking of Lapid’s films, we can’t fail to mention his stylized audiovisual language. His camera is not a cold recording machine, but a living character who participates in the narrative and empathizes with the characters in the films. For example, in the opening scene of The Kindergarten Teacher, Nira’s husband bangs his fist on the camera housing, telegraphing its presence to the audience. In the Synonyms, the camera shakes like a madman to the accompaniment of Elgar’s violin music. In Ahed’s Knee, the camera becomes more free, moving freely through the desert, sometimes like a bird and sometimes like a reptile.

At the same time, Lapid is also an experimental director who dares to depart from convention and break the illusion created by film language, so that the audience realizes they are watching a film and then thinks about the real world.

Therefore, we are honored to have Director Nadav Lapid, a stellar filmmaker, on the Tiantan Award Jury of the 13th BJIFF. Let’s meet in Beijing in April to enjoy the wonders of films.