Israeli filmmaker won a prize at the prestigious Directors Guild of America Awards held in Los Angeles on Saturday evening.
Alma Har’el, won in the First-Time Feature category for her debut feature film “Honey Boy,” which depict a tumultuous relationship between a teenage boy and his abusive father.
In her acceptance speech, Har’el drew attention to the plight of female directors working in Hollywood. At the moment, female directors could be dropped from their insurance and medical benefits if they take a prolonged leave of absence, including a maternity leave.
“Tomorrow is the national board meeting of the DGA and we’re counting on the DGA to fight for parents so they can birth the next generation of audiences and filmmakers,” said Har’el during the speech.
The 44-year-old director was born in Tel Aviv and rose to prominence in 2011 with her breakthrough documentary feature “Bombay Beach,” which took the top prize at Tribeca Film Festival.
The award-winning Honey Boy is based on a script from a Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf, who is also Jewish. The script is based on the Transformers’ star own experiences, when as a 12-year-old, the child actor had to face his alcoholic father who had suddenly returned into his life after years of absence.
LaBeouf apparently wrote a fan-letter to Har'el after seeing Bombay Beach, where he offered to work together on a project.
The film has been lauded by critics and currently has a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a popular review-aggregation website for film and television.