Samuel Maoz

Samuel Maoz (b. 1962, Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli writer-director known for formally rigorous films confronting war, trauma, and moral responsibility. Drawing on his own experience as a soldier during the Lebanon War, he debuted with Lebanon (2009), which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for its claustrophobic, tank-bound perspective on combat. He followed with Foxtrot (2017, Venice Grand Jury Prize), a darkly satirical and tragic exploration of grief, bureaucracy, and national myth. Maoz’s cinema combines precise visual construction with psychological intensity, probing the personal and collective scars left by conflict.