"Once there was a girl", Natalie Kaplan's debut film, has won the Best feature Film award at LifeArt film festival in Athens, Greece.
Kaplan, alumni of the Steve Tisch School of Film & TV, also received the Danny Lerner Award grant of 50,000 Euro, to spend on her next feature film by Nu Boyana film Studios.
This is Kaplan's first feature film, and it was produced at her final graduation project which she has wrote, directed and produced during her studies at the Steve Tisch School of Film & TV.
The film tells the story of Noa (played by actress Liat Glik), her life is moving in a narrow range between the fear of illness, loneliness and the loss of ability to sleep. A lost woman-child who is willing to do anything to get some warm affection.
Kaplan also recived the Danny Lerner Award grant of 50,000 Euro, to spend on her next feature film at Nu Boyana film Studios.
Here are the jury notes:
"Once there was a girl" navigates us through the life of Noa, an unconventional young woman in search for intimacy in the world around her. This cinematically engaging film touches on the subject of loneliness - an issue rarely talked about but relevant to today's false sense of socialization through technology. With a strong female protagonist, Natalie Kaplan offers a thought provoking perspective on the way women are depicted in both film and society, and challenges the spectator to reach out to the unfamiliar.
Ioanna Meli
Actor/ Director, Los Angeles CA
Jury Member
LifeArt 2017
Interview with Natalie Kaplan after winning: