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Award-winning director, writer, producer, Tamar Simon Hoffs is working on her new film, "Villa Aurora," to star Malcolm McDowell (2019) which focuses on the horrors that artists overcame during War World II. She is ready to complete The WOMAN Collection (2020) in which she is both Director, Producer and she even stars in the film. She is best known for directing independent films including "Red Roses and Petrol" (2003) and "Pound of Flesh" (2010) both starring McDowell. "Red Roses and Petrol" won first prize at the Avignon Film Festival (2005) and was also an Official Selection of AFI, Bangkok, Galway and Deauville Festivals, and Toronto's Film Circuit. "Pound of Flesh," had its European premiere as the closing film of Germany's Oldenburg Inter national Film Festival, 2010. It won best dramatic film at Sacramento International Film Festival and has been licensed by Showtime, and distributed by EONE Entertainment for cable and wide digital release. Hoffs' directing career began in 1980 when she was chosen to participate in the American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women. Her directorial debut, "The Haircut," starring John Cassavetes, was selected to be in "Un Certain Regard" at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. Dan Ehrlich of United Press wrote of it, "Just when scores of frustrated and immeasurably depressed film critics were about to fling themselves from the top of the Cannes Film Festival's new Palais...a breath of sunshine and happiness averted tragedy..." Universal Studios acquired "The Haircut" in 1983 and it went on to be an official selection at both Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, and then at Sundance in 1989. In July, 2013, the British Film Institute honored "The Haircut" with a re-release.
Hoffs became a filmmaker when friend Leonard Nimoy asked her to join the art department of his 1966 indie film, "Deathwatch," by Jean Genet. In 1975 she wrote the feature film, "Lepke," starring Tony Curtis, distributed by Warner Brothers. Two years later she teamed with director Andrew Davis to write and produce "Stony Island," an independent film about young R&B musicians in Chicago. "Stony Island" screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Deauville American Film Festival and at the Chicago Inter national Film Festival where it won the Lincoln Award. It is now in re-release on DVD by Cinema-Libre. In 1987 Hoffs became one of the first women to receive the triple credits of director, writer, producer on a major studio feature film, "The Allnighter," (Universal Studios). In 1989 she wrote, produced and directed the re-released video musical "Rock 'n' Read," starring Pauly Shore (MCA-Universal), and i n 1999, "Smokin': Somebody Stop Me," (Schlessinger Media,) a series for youngsters about the dangers of tobacco use. As producer, writer, and voice director, she developed the acclaimed digital animation series, "Horrible Histories," (Scholastic, 2001) narrated by Stephen Rea. In 2003, she completed her coming of age documentary, "Girls Uncovered." Hoffs has also directed and produced numerous music videos, notably The Bangles' "Going Down to Liverpool" and "If She Knew What She Wants" (Columbia Records, 1984). In the theater, Hoffs directed the play "Ghost Music" with Jennif er Warren, Pam Grier and Nick Cassavetes (LA Theatreworks New Play Series, 1984).
Hoffs was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Chicago. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, followed by graduate studies in Painting with Josef Albers at Yale University at the School of Fine Arts. At the Illinois Institute of Technology, Institute of Design, she studied photography with Harry Callahan. In 1994, she was awarded Doctor of Humane Letters from the International University College, Aix-en- Provence in International Education and European Studies. She is married to Joshua Hoffs, MD, has three children and six grandchildren.
