Guy Nattiv

Guy Nattiv (born May 24, 1973) is an Israeli-born filmmaker who works as a director, producer, and screenwriter in the United States.

Nattiv studied film at the Camera Obscura School of Art in Tel Aviv before directing award-winning short films in Israel, including Mabul, Strangers, and Offside. After relocating to the US, his debut American short Skin (2018), which depicts the cycle of violence involving a neo-Nazi skinhead and his family, earned the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2019, along with numerous international festival prizes.

Guy Nattiv was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1973, and grew up in the city amid a family background shaped by his grandparents' experiences as Holocaust survivors. His grandmother, a survivor, emigrated from Israel to the United States in the 1980s to join an American cult in Virginia, living in a compound with 35 women until her death at age 70; this choice proved devastating for the family, prompting Nattiv's later documentary Harmony to explore her life and fulfill his grandfather's wish for her burial in Israel.

As of June 2024, Nattiv had lived in the US for nearly 11 years, describing himself as feeling more like a Jewish American than an Israeli, though he expressed worry over rising antisemitism in the US. He retains significant family connections in Israel, including relatives in the country's center who were affected by military drafts during the October 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict. These ties, combined with his focus on Israeli historical and cultural narratives in films like Golda (2023), reflect ongoing personal and professional engagement with his homeland despite his primary base in Los Angeles.