Pini Tavger, graduate of the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Won the Sixth Edition of Sam Spiegel Film Lab 2017 with ‘Pinhas’ receiving a production grant worth $50,000.

Pini Tavger, graduate of the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Won the Sixth Edition of Sam Spiegel Film Lab 2017 with ‘Pinhas’ receiving a production grant worth $50,000.

The second prize was won by Maya Dreyfus, another graduate of the Steve Tisch Film & Television School with her project “Highway 65".

Pini Tavger’s “Pinhas,” a film project exploring the Jewish identity through the eyes of a 12-year old boy, won the top prize at the sixth edition of Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, a program running alongside Jerusalem Film Festival.

The project centers on a young boy, Pinhas, and his hard-working, heretic mother who are new immigrants from Russia living in Israel. The story revolves around Pinhas’s relationship with a religious man who helps him find a sense of belonging and initiate him to Judaism against his mother’s will.

From the Jury's arguments:  “A fascinating sensitive and conflictual script based on semi-autobiographic hardships beautifully presented through a scene for the upcoming film; and an emotional presentation that touched the audience."

The second prize for $ 10,000 was given to Maya Dreyfus. Maya Dreyfus's psychic thriller “Highway 65" follows the disappearance of a young woman in the midst of a hot summer in Afula. No one from her family is looking for her and only a police investigator does not let the matter go. The script won a development grant on behalf of "Women in the Picture" for 60,000 NIS in 2016.