Michal Lavi is an independent filmmaker who lives and works in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Her work has screened at many international film festivals including Academy qualifier, Flickers Rhode Island, Sofia International Film Festival, Raindance, Whistler Film Festival and Soho International among others. Her current film, Crowd Pleaser,  produced with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the arts, will premiere at the Mykonos Biennale. Her previous films, Glue (2013), I Liked You Better Before (2011), Arithmetic - Annie’s Life in Numbers (2010) and Tying the Not (2008) screened in over fifty festivals and were nominated to ten Rosie, Alberta Film and Television Awards, of which Glue won Best Cinematography in the Short Film Category.

Michal's Bio

EDUCATION

3 – The number of times she attended university before graduating with a degree she doesn’t like.

RELEVANT JOB EXPERIENCE

27 – The number of restaurants she was fired from as a waitress for making witty comments, acute (albeit unsolicited) opinions, and spilling hot Spaghetti Bolognese on someone’s lap.

1 – The number of jobs she had that have made her mother proud. She no longer works there.

1 – The number of times she went to a fortune teller to ask if she should quit her cushy job and pursue her dreams of becoming a filmmaker. The cards said no.

SKILLS

5 – “excellent communication skills”,  the number of languages she can curse in fluently.

1,687,432 – estimated number of times she has been lost.

0 – Her sense of direction in percentage.

1 – The number of times she had been skateboarding.

67 – The number of days her leg was in cast after breaking her tibia and fibula

9 – The number of pins she has in her left ankle.

7 – The number of tests she took before getting her driving license.

6 – The number of traffic signs she is certain of their meaning

A BIT MORE ABOUT HER

4 – The number of things she procrastinates about: writing, exercising, dieting, flossing.

4 – The number of things she never puts off: thoroughly cleaning her ears after a shower, eating chocolate every day, reading the weekend paper, cleaning the toilet before guests arrive.

8 – The average number of books she takes on a flight in case the plane crashes and she needs to pass the time until she is rescued. She also carries  two newspapers and a minimum of 5 magazines.

76 – The number of her pet peeves. Top 5: book jacket readers, slow talkers, low talkers, people who take the elevator one floor down, gluten-free people and their miserable looking crackers.

1 – The number of times she has asked herself  - “What’s the purpose of it all and what’s my part in this crazy thing called life and the universe?” – before fully understanding that there is no meaning and the belief that she may have a ‘calling’ that she owes to herself to fulfill is not only ludicrous but also too self assured for her style, so she stopped right there and then.