Salvador Litvak
Salvador Litvak | |
---|---|
Born |
1965 Santiago, Chile |
Occupation | Director, screenwriter, producer |
Years active | 1994–present |
Spouse(s) | Nina Davidovich Litvak (2 children) |
Salvador Litvak (born 1965)[1] is an American screenwriter, film director and producer who, with his wife Nina Davidovich Litvak, co-wrote the movies When Do We Eat? and Saving Lincoln. Litvak also directed and produced both films.
Career
Litvak was born in Santiago, Chile in 1965 and came to the United States at the age of five. The rest of his childhood was spent in and around New York City. He majored in English at Harvard, where he lettered on the heavyweight rowing team and graduated with honors. He then moved on to NYU Law School, earned his Juris Doctor degree, and passed the New York State Bar Exam. [2]
While attending law school, Litvak mounted a series of multimedia performance art pieces in Greenwich Village. After finishing law school, he took a job as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Skadden Arps while continuing his writing. After two years, he left the practice of law to enroll in the graduate Directors' Program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree.
While at UCLA, Litvak won an MPAA scholarship, the Carol Sax Production Award, and the Edie & Lew Wasserman Film Production Fellowship. He directed a music video for three-time Grammy nominee Suzanne Ciani and made a short called Dick & Slick Go to the Restaurant, which won a Spotlight Award for Comedy of the Year. His 30-minute 35mm thesis film, Great Harry & Jane (1994), won an award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
After graduating from UCLA, Litvak worked as a script reader at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and as a film professor at Antelope Valley College.
His first feature film, When Do We Eat?, was released theatrically by THINKFilm in 2006.
Litvak followed it up with Saving Lincoln in 2013, based on the true story of Abraham Lincoln and his self-appointed bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon. Saving Lincoln features a visual style invented by Litvak named CineCollage, in which live action elements are inserted into 3D environments composited from vintage photographs.[3]
In 2012, Litvak finished reading the entire Talmud after participating in the 7.5 year Daf Yomi cycle. Wanting to share the wisdom he learned, Litvak started a blog and a Facebook page called Accidental Talmudist. He shares Jewish wisdom, culture, history or music every day, and produces two Facebook Live shows a week. Litvak's Accidental Talmudist Facebook page has over a million followers as of July 2017.[4][5]
References
- ↑ "Silver Mine Entertainment". www.silvermineentertainment.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ↑ Litvak, David J. "An Accidental Journey". Jewish Independent.
- ↑ http://www.indiewire.com/2013/02/in-his-own-words-writer-director-salvador-litvak-shares-a-scene-from-his-micro-budget-cinecollage-film-saving-lincoln-41180/
- ↑ Gocs, Danny (6 June 2014). "Roller Coaster Ride for Jewish Filmmaker". The Australian Jewish News. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ↑ Fishman, Yehudis (5 June 2017). "A Remarkable Man Comes to Boulder". Boulder Jewish News. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
External links
- Salvador Litvak on IMDb
- Official Saving Lincoln Website
- Official When Do We Eat? Website
- The seven-year cycle by Salvador Litvak
- Talking Pictures: Salvador Litvak from When Do We Eat
- About Salvador Litvak, from Jewish Journal
- 'Saving Lincoln' is the Newest Movie in 2012's Crush of Films About the 16th President
- BH Interview: 'Saving Lincoln' Director Savors Sharing Movie Screens with Spielberg's 'Lincoln'