Michael Zaidan

WRITER/DIRECTOR-

Michael Zaidan was Born in Lebanon and raised in, Montreal Canada, Michael Zaidan pursued writing and directing first at NYU, and later at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

In 1997, Zaidan sold his first screenplay, BOTH HANDS to Palomar Pictures in Canada. BOTH HANDS was also a recipient of the Harold Greenberg Fund (a Canadian screenwriting prize previously awarded to Atom Egoyan for THE SWEET HEREAFTER).

At AFI, Zaidan wrote the short film, A SHORT WAIT BETWEEN TRAINS which premiered on Showtime in February 2000. The film also received the following awards:

RKO ""Best Told Story""Award - at the Hamptons Film Festival,

Bronze Award - Columbus Film Festival,

Best of Fest - Temecula and Rhode Island Film Festivals,

Best Independent Entry - Canadian International Film and Video Festival.

THE LAST TZADDIK, Zaidan’’s AFI thesis film, which he wrote and directed won the Best Actor Award at the Carolina Film Festival and Best Short at the San Diego/Temecula Film Festival. It also received an honorable mention at the Angelus Awards.

Zaidan recently completed THE EXTREMISTS an action adventure screenplay for Christian Duguay (THE ART OF WAR, JOAN OF ARC) to direct.The film stars Rufus Sewell, and is set to commence principal photography in Europe in April 2001.

Zaidan is currently in pre-production on the independent feature film, PLUNGE, which he wrote and will direct. Bruce Weiss )who produced Hal Hartley’’s TRUST and THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH), and Isabelle Bourduas are producing.

Zaidan is currently teaching a screenwriting workshop at the AFI.