November 19, 2020

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Omer Ben-Shachar

NFFTY has grown into a wonderful community of over 3,000 filmmakers from around the world. Alumni have experienced success in many areas of the media industry. To celebrate these achievements, we are highlighting NFFTY alumni here!

Omer Ben-Shachar (NFFTY ‘19) won a 2019 Student Academy Award® for his film Tree #3. Omer is currently a 2020 Warner Bros. TV Directors’ Workshop participant, a 2019-20 ViacomCBS’s ViewFinder Emerging Directors Program Fellow for the Nickelodeon network, and a BAFTA LA Newcomers Program participant. He was named to Forbes Israel’s 30 Under 30 list in 2020. Spending his childhood between Tel-Aviv and Texas, ballet training and army training, art school and sea scouts, Omer found that cinema was the ideal home for living in all worlds. Omer enjoys telling honest, character-driven stories that find the comedy in our insecurities and fears of being outsiders, and that ultimately celebrate the joy of individuality.


OUR INTERVIEW WITH OMER:

It sounds like you had a lot of different interests and were involved in several different activities growing up. At what point did you know that you wanted to pursue filmmaking? 

Yeah! I jumped between wanting to be an actor, a painter, a dancer, a magician, a poet, and a violinist before I decided to pursue filmmaking, but I always wanted to make art. My grandmother is a poet, my grandfather a lyricist, my aunt a painter, and I always envied their lives. So I turned to art from a young age.

What drew me to filmmaking most was the illusion that film endures. As a young boy, I would put on plays in our living room, but would get so bummed that after the show, it would all be over, and there would be no proof it ever happened. So, I asked my parents to film the plays so I could preserve the memories. And then, once they did, I began directing them - “it looks better if you film from over there,” “let’s take the couch out” “don’t use so much light,” etc. I edited out the bad parts which I didn’t want to remember. And that’s how I fell in love with cinema. By wanting to document reality, and control it.

Another thing that captivated me about filmmaking was that it combines many different fields and skills - from set design, to acting, photography, music, psychology, writing, dancing. I didn’t have to choose between any of them.

What inspires you to tell the stories you do? 

I think it’s a combination of a few things. The first is life, mostly the embarrassing, annoying, weird, strange, unexplained things that happen to me. Sometimes I feel like writing is an opportunity to press pause on life, or add a filter to it, or re-invent parts of it I’d want to be different. It allows me to take an experience that was hard or confusing and look at it from another angle. Telling stories allows me to see things I couldn’t see if it weren’t for the writing.

The second thing that inspires me is the movies I love. Often, I begin a project as a challenge to see if I can write something as good as my favorite movie. It never is as good, so I write another project. And then I try again, and again.

Finally, my desire to communicate with an audience drives me. When I see an audience react and relate to a film of mine, it inspires me to do it again, to dig deeper, be more personal, more honest, and more authentic next time.

Growing up between the two countries, how did your experience with filmmaking differ between the United States and Israel? 

I actually think it’s not so different. Perhaps the films are written in different languages and the characters speak a bit differently about slightly different topics, but the human experience is the same everywhere. And the language of filmmaking is universal. No matter where you are in the world, everyone knows that when there’s a cut from a wide to a close up, you’re emphasizing something. The language of cinema transcends borders.

You were selected as a participant in the Warner Bros. TV Directors’ Workshop this year. What was that experience like? Do you hope to direct television moving forward, in addition to film? 

It was incredible. I learned so much from Bethany Rooney and Mary Lou Belli, who taught the workshop, and from the fellow directors. I am so fortunate to have participated in it. We also learned from showrunners, directors, cinematographers, production designers, and many more guest speakers. We had the opportunity to direct actors remotely through Zoom, which is something I never would have imagined could be so valuable and informative. I’m very interested in television directing and it is something I’m pursuing.

You’ve also been involved in several other fellowship programs throughout your career, any tips for emerging filmmakers starting to apply for these opportunities, or trying to find the most relevant program for the work they want to do?

Mostly to apply! There are so many great fellowships and programs out there for emerging filmmakers and the best thing you can do is apply. And to be yourself. That’s always the best tip. 

Your NFFTY film, Tree #3 features an outstanding performance from your lead child actor. You have also worked with children in some of your other films and music videos - a notoriously difficult task. What is your strategy for working with young children, and how are you able to get the performances you are looking for? 

Thank you! Lior Malka, who plays the lead in Tree #3, was amazing. We were so fortunate to discover him. I believe much of it comes down to casting. We found Lior through our casting directors, Carla Hool and Natalie Ballesteros. Since we were looking for a very specific kid, it took some time before we found him. We were looking for a kid who was very charismatic, energetic and captivating but also shy, sensitive and insecure. And on top of that, he needed to have an accent and speak Hebrew! We needed a miracle and somehow we found it! It was also great working with the other two young actors, Alex Gonzalez and Eva Du. 

I love working with young actors because of how fearless they are. They’re not afraid of failing or making mistakes. On set, if I would ask them to put on a certain accent, for instance, or try to deliver a line in a different way, they’d really have fun doing it. Even if I gave them a note that didn’t make sense immediately, they’d view it as challenge, like a game. That’s where the magic is. The best parts in Tree #3 are those where they’re just having fun, often improvising. No written line can compete with a real smile.  

Tree #3, won a Student Academy Award in 2019, in addition to numerous other accolades. What was it like to receive such a prestigious honor so early in your career, and how has it impacted your career moving forward? 

I was so honored to receive the award and I’m very grateful for it. It definitely opened many doors and exposed the film to a much wider audience. More than anything, the award encouraged me to keep making films. Creating work that is extremely personal and truthful, that forces you to expose your insecurities and imperfections - is terrifying. The scariest thing about it is the possibility that people won’t relate to what you find “truthful”, and you’ll realize that maybe you were wrong all along: You’ll find out that no one really cares about a kid in a tree costume. But the award proved to us that people do care about the background trees, and that people want to hear the stories of those who usually don’t get the spotlight. 

As someone who has found success in this area, what advice do you have for emerging filmmakers who are looking to leverage the success of a short film into future work or opportunities? 

I think my advice is just to keep going to the next thing - keep writing, directing and honing your craft. Rob Spera, a great teacher and mentor at AFI, encouraged us to write a five-year plan, to work towards a big goal and set smaller goals along the way. But also, as you carry out your plan, I think it’s important to be open to different roads that present themselves, to try different things, write different genres. It’s like writing a screenplay - you think you know where you’re headed and what you’re trying to say, but the writing has its own plan for you. So does your future. 

How has NFFTY impacted your life or career? 

I had such a great experience at NFFTY and remember leaving with so much inspiration and an urge to create something new immediately. It was so amazing to watch the festival trailer in the theatre and see how everyone in the audience knew every word of it by day three. I had never experienced anything like that before. It didn’t just feel like a festival, but a large community of young filmmakers who share the same energy and passion for filmmaking. I’m so glad to have been a part of it.

What’s next for you? 

I’m developing several new projects: a feature, a TV pilot, and an adaptation of one of my grandmother’s children book, all of which I can’t wait to share with the world. Like Lin Alluna mentioned last month in her interview here, I also feel I need to work on taking breaks. I keep myself so busy that I forget I’m also supposed to live life. I convince myself that writing is my life, but I think that’s just an excuse. I have a new trick which is to tell myself that I have to live more and experience more to create better work. To treat it like homework. That way, even wasting time is a good thing, for the writing. But why do I feel that living life is a waste of time? I wish I knew.