David Bezmozgis

Educational background

Born in Riga, Latvia, he came to Canada with his family when he was six. He graduated with a B.A. in English literature from McGill University. Bezmozgis received an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television.

Short stories

His short story Natasha, which originally appeared in Harper's, was included in the Best American Short Stories 2005 collection. His short story The Train of Their Departure, which The New Yorker featured in its August 2010 issue, is actually an excerpt from his first novel The Free World, released on April 4, 2011, to wide acclaim. His short stories Tapka and The Russian Riviera were also published in The New Yorker. His short stories The Second Strongest Man and A New Gravestone for an Old Grave have been published in Zoetrope All-Story. A New Gravestone for an Old Grave was also included in the Best American Short Stories 2006 collection.

His short story Minyan was published in the Winter 2002 issue of Prairie Fire and won the Silver Medal in the 2003 National Magazine Award for Fiction. His short story An Animal to The Memory was also published in Vol. 5, No. 2 (2002) of paperplates. His short story Rome, 1978 was published in the April 2011 issue of The Walrus.

Novels

His first published book is Natasha and Other Stories (2004, ISBN 0-374-28141-6). Stories from that collection first appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's and Zoetrope All-Story. Natasha and Other Stories was chosen for inclusion in Canada Reads 2007, where it was championed by Steven Page.

Bezmozgis's first novel The Free World (2011) was published in 2011. Set in Italy in 1978, Bezmozgis's novel chronicles the experience of Jewish refugees from the USSR. Critics in North America and in Europe have suggested that in this novel Berzmozgis presented through a fictional lens what another Jewish-Soviet immigrant Maxim D. Shrayer had described in his book "Waiting for America" (2007). It was subsequently nominated and shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Governor General's Literary Award for English-language fiction and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. and for the Governor General's Awards.

Bezmozgis' second novel, The Betrayers (2014) is about a famous Russian Jewish dissident who, after the fall of the Soviet Union, meets the man who denounced him. He also worked on the novel during a New York Public Library Cullman Center fellowship that he received. The novel was published in 2014 by Little, Brown and Company.

Short films and documentaries

In 1999, while still a film student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Bezmozgis directed and wrote his first film, a short 25-minute documentary called L.A. Mohel, which won a major award for student filmmakers. In 2001, Bezmozgis wrote and directed a narrative short film entitled The Diamond Nose (2001), which starred Paul Lieber. In 2003, Bezmozgis directed a documentary entitled Genuine Article: The First Trial (2003), about the recruitment system for hiring law student interns used by Canadian law firms.

Feature films

In 2008 he completed his first narrative feature film, Victoria Day (2009), which he wrote and directed. The film stars Mark Rendall. The film also had its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the "World Cinema - Dramatic" category. It was also nominated for a Best Screenplay award at the 2010 Genie Awards. The film has also screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Moscow International Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival, the Athens International Film Festival, the Seoul International Youth Film Festival, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.

In 2015, Bezmozgis wrote and directed his second narrative feature film, Natasha (2015), based on his award-winning short story of the same name. The film stars Alex Ozerov and Sasha Gordon. Natasha was released theatrically in Canada by Mongrel Films in 2016. In 2017 the film received "Best Lead Actress" (Sasha K. Gordon) and "Best Adapted Screenplay" nominations from the Canadian Academy of Film and Television. It will be distributed in the United States theatrically by Menemsha Films, starting with an engagement at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on April 28, 2017.

Television

Bezmozgis was a writer-producer on the fifth and final season of Orphan Black.

Awards

Work (short stories) available online

Work about Bezmozgis available online