Omer Ben-Shachar‘s insightful film Tree #3 focuses on an immigrant child who takes drastic measures to be noticed in a school play. This film won the 2019 Student Academy Award, the Audience Award for Best Student Short Film at Palm Springs International ShortFest 2019 and it was nominated for Best Comedy at the Student Emmys/College Television Awards 2019. Tree #3 won the Jury Award for Best Student Short and The Audience Award for Best Opening Night Film at NFFTY.
Here is the podcast of our interview with Omer Ben-Shachar, Director of Tree #3:
Writer-Director Omer Ben-Shachar was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is an American Film Institute (AFI) directing graduate who is now 1 of 10 directors selected to participate in the 2019 Viacom Viewfinder Directors Program, where he will shadow on a Nickelodeon TV series. His latest film, Tree #3 won him the Best Young Creator Award at Urbanworld Film Festival and the Best Student Short at HollyShorts Film Festival. Ben-Shachar’s honest, character-driven stories celebrate individuality and infuse comedy in our insecurities and fears of being outsiders.
Producer Iris Yang has been producing films and TV shows for 7 years. After graduating from Communication University of China where she majored in scriptwriting, Iris worked as a TV show host and co-producer in China. She moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to study film in USC School of Cinematic and graduated from the AFI Conservatory in 2018 with an MFA in Producing.
Cinematographer Zilong Liu, a graduate from Renmin University of China and the University of Miami Film School, has shot a variety of different productions in China, the US, and Europe including feature film, shorts, music videos, and commercials. He believes that telling a story with camera and light is the most powerful way to reach the emotion and feeling of an audience.
The cast introduces Lior Malka, Rita Zohar whose notable credits include Mrs. Moskowitz and the Cats where she won an Award for Best Ainternactress and Ohad Bitton who starred in Dead and Gone.