Filmmaker Pini Tavger’s debut feature Pinchas has won the top $50,000 prize at the final pitching event of the 6th edition of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab.

The jury members - Hengameh Panahi, Celluloid Dreams founding chief, European Film Market president Beki Probst, Locarno Film Festival chief Carlo Chatrian, Canal+ acquisition executive Laurent Hassid, producer Cedomir Kolar, Israel Film Fund chief Katriel Schory and Vincenzo Bugno, the head of the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund – wrote: 

“The presentation of Pinchas provided the jury with a powerful experience: a fascinating, sensitive and conflictual script based on semi-autobiographic hardships beautifully presented through a scene for the upcoming film and an emotional presentation that touched the audience.” 

Maya Dreifuss' 2nd feature Highway 65 shared the 2nd prize with the Georgian filmmaker Dea kulumbegashvili's Naked Sky. The jury wrote about Highway 65: 

"Through a journey of an urban heroine, setup in a faraway small town, the writer-director succeeds in writing an energetic modern script full of humor, suspense and personal insightful moments to be shared with audiences."