Israeli Student’s Film Nominated For Oscar

September 4, 2o16 | Maya Sarfaty, a Tel Aviv University graduate has won a top Student Academy Award and her documentary will be automatically entered in the Academy Awards competition. Sarfaty will also receive a gold medal for her film, “The Most Beautiful Woman,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced. Beneath the appealing title lies the true story of a love affair between an SS guard and a young Jewish woman at the Auschwitz death camp. Among the list of nominees, Sarfaty’s film was the only one to make the cut in the foreign documentary category and is therefore guaranteed a gold medal when the final winners are announced on Sept. 22. A Netanya native, Sarfaty earned an undergraduate and master’s degree at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University and also graduated from the Nissan Nativ Acting School, which conducts classes in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. She now lists herself as an independent filmmaker who has earned credits as director, writer and/or editor for such films as “Still Waters” and “Overtime.”