Boaz Lavie
Boaz Lavie is an Israeli writer, filmmaker and game designer, notable for writing the New York Times best-selling graphic novel and Hugo Award nominee The Divine, a collaboration with the illustrators Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka. Lavie and the Hanuka brothers are the gold-medal winners of the 9th International Manga Award.
Biography
Born in New York, Lavie moved with his Israeli parents back to Israel when he was three years old. During his mandatory army service he was a correspondent for the IDF weekly magazine, Bamahane, and editor in chief of its satirical section. Lavie took part in establishing the first commercial TV broadcaster in Israel, Keshet, working also as a screenplay writer for its local adaptation of Wheel of Fortune, the most viewed TV show in Israel during the 90's. Lavie was film critic and film section editor for Ynet, a major Israeli news website, and worked as a copywriter for yes, the Israeli satellite television provider. Since 2007 Lavie has been working mainly on his own creative projects, writing and directing the critically acclaimed short film The Lake, developing the virtual online board game Shobo, writing the graphic novel The Divine and publishing short fiction.
Filmography
The Lake is a short film written and directed by Lavie in 2009. It is a dark and comic fantasy, exploring the complex relationship between two unemployed brothers, out on a hunt for a mythical sea monster. The Lake was featured at dozens of film festivals, including at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Slamdance Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, and elsewhere. It was chosen by film critic Brian Darr as the "best film no one has heard of" for 2009, and was acquired for distribution by the Hamburg Short Film Agency. The Lake was produced by Ron Propper.
Games
Shobo is a virtual multiplayer board game, invented by Lavie in 2007 and originally developed by Roshumbo Games. In the game, two players place their five pentagonal pieces on a hexagonal board, then try to eliminate their opponent's Daggers through a series of simultaneous moves. Shobo was launched on Facebook in 2010, was played by hundreds of thousands of users, and won the GameIS Award for best social game of the year. In 2015, Shobo was relaunched as a mobile game for iOS and Android, by Leotech Ltd., a Singaporean developer.