_about
Born 1973 in Jerusalem, Shai Levy got his education at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance (high school) and the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, Jerusalem (diploma, 1999). Berlin, Locally, his documentary diploma project (camera and directing), was filmed in Berlin 1997/8.
After working in Israel as a professional Cameraman from 1999 until 2001, filming mostly documentaries, Shai went back to Berlin and found it so inspiring he decided to stay, and Since 2001 has been working there as a freelance cinematographer, shooting many short movies, TV, as well as big-screen documentaries and video art.
In August 2004, Shai filmed his first full-length feature as Director of Photography, Fliegende Ratten (dir. David Jazay). He participated in the European Film Academy’s one-week master class with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle in January 2005.
Shai’s cinematographic instincts have been primarily shaped by his extensive experience in documentary environments: conveying a story by pictures while making the most of available resources, have made him a name of a rather “heavy duty” operator in the field. That, while his natural development towards a rather meticulous style becomes present in his most recent works.
Among his most important influences: 1920’s European avant-garde; Cinema Verité; Richard Leacock; Godard, Coutard and French New-Wave, American 1970’s cinema, Terrance Malick, Ingmar Bergman, Sven Nykvist, Robby Müller, Harmony Koraine, Anthony Dod Mantle and Chris Doyle.
In 2010 Shai’s work in still photography will be exhibited in public for the first time.
Shai also enjoys creating music, graphic design and dancing, and is driven by his constant search of new ways of expressions.
