On Sunday night, Israeli director Guy Nattiv became the fourth Israeli to win an Oscar. Nattiv won the golden statuette for Best Live Action Short Film for his first English-language project, "Skin."
"Skin" is a narrative film based on a documentary from 2011 titled "Erasing Hate," which tells the story of Bryon Widner, a neo-Nazi who is trying to leave the skinhead culture he joined as a young man and make changes to his life. As part of his recovery, he decides to remove all his racist tattoos, a process that takes several years.
"This is surreal – this can't be real!" Nattiv said behind the scenes after his win.
"I'm sure I'll take it all in a few months after the Oscars. It's just a matter of taking things step by step. I moved here four years ago. Making a short film with my amazing wife as producer and creative partner is just a dream. And winning is far beyond that … we are so thankful and inspired," Nattiv bubbled.
"First of all, this is a half-Israeli film because of the people who made it," Nattiv told Israel Hayom immediately after leaving the stage.
"Half the team was Israeli, including me, Sharon Maimon, Yuval Mor – who edited it, and all the team behind it are Israelis. It's a wonderful combination of Israel and the U.S. I definitely see the film as Israeli, especially since I talk about racism and dealing with racism. That's a very hot-button topic in Israel, too.
"Israel is a huge part of me and a big inspiration for what I'm doing here in the U.S.," Nattiv said.
In Nattiv's film, Widner is played by Jamie Bell ("Billy Elliot"), who underwent a physical transformation for the role that required him to put a huge amount of weight and spend hours in the makeup chair to have his character's tattoos applied.
Critics have likened his performance to that of Edward Norton in "American History X," in which Norton plays a white supremacist who reforms after a stint in prison.
Distributor A24 purchased the distribution rights in conjunction with DirecTV after the film's successful debut at this year's Toronto Film Festival.
Nattiv started to gain fame for his previous films: "Strangers" – which was short-listed for an Academy Award – and "Magic Men," as well as "The Flood," a prize-winning family drama starring the late Ronit Elkabetz. For the past few years, Nattiv has lived and worked in the U.S. with his wife, Jaime Ray Newman.
In September 2018, "Skin" was acquired for distribution in the U.S.
