Sameh Zoabi (b. 1975, Iksal, Israel) graduated in 1998 from Tel Aviv University with a dual degree in English literature and film studies. Over the next three years he studied on a scholarship at Columbia University in New York. In February 2005 he completed his degree in film direction at Columbia’s School of the Arts. He has made several successful short feature films, in particular Be Quiet (2005), the semi-autobiographical story of a father and his small son living in what was originally a Palestinian town, now Israeli territory; it won 3rd Prize in the Cinéfondation Selection at Cannes. He treats a similar theme in his feature film debut Man Without a Cell Phone.
46. IFF Karlovy Vary
