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Todd Solondz
Birth at
15 October 1959
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American screenwriter and film director Todd Solondz was born in 1959 in New Jersey in a poor Jewish family. The parents wanted their son to become a rabbi, but Todd chose a very different path. After not completing a full course of study at Yale University, Todd Solondz became a student at the film school at New York University. During these years, he began making short films. In particular, the tape “Shatt’s Last Try”, which tells about the difficult relationship between a teenager and a coach,
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American screenwriter and film director Todd Solondz was born in 1959 in New Jersey in a poor Jewish family. The parents wanted their son to become a rabbi, but Todd chose a very different path. After not completing a full course of study at Yale University, Todd Solondz became a student at the film school at New York University. During these years, he began making short films. In particular, the tape “Shatt’s Last Try”, which tells about the difficult relationship between a teenager and a coach, made his name quite famous.
But really Todd Solondz managed to realize his talent in the film “Fear, anxiety and depression”. To make this debut, his relatives had to mortgage their home. The role of the main character of the comedy – the loser Woody Allen – was performed by Solondz himself. However, the author was disappointed: the film was not appreciated. Solondz is leaving cinema for six years.
He then went on to direct a new film, Welcome to the Doll House. The film was devoted to the problems of teenagers in a provincial city. This time, the author was waiting for a triumph: at the Sundance Film Festival, and then at the Berlin Festival, his film received jury prizes.
The next work of the director, the picture
Happiness The film was based on Chekhov’s play “Three Sisters”, although it was about the American family, its shaky moral foundations. This film had a happy fate, it was repeatedly awarded. At the Cannes Festival he was awarded the prestigious FIPRESCI prize.
Another success of Solondz – the film “Fairytale”, consisting of two novels. The first, Fiction, is about the complex intimate relationships of young people; the second, Non-fiction, is about family degradation.
In 2004, the film “Flippers” was released, which was a kind of continuation of Solondza’s early film “Welcome to the Dollhouse”. The role of the main character was played by eight actors not only of different ages, but also of different nationalities and different genders. The film was mixed and the reaction to it was the same.