Ariel Kleiman

Award-winning Australian filmmaker Ariel Kleiman earned international attention with a series of experimental short films, including 2008's "Young Love," before delving into feature films with the dark fantasy "Partisan" in 2015. Born April 22, 1985 in Melbourne, Australia, Kleiman began experimenting with film while attending the Victoria College of the Arts. By the mid-2000s, his short projects began to make the international rounds at film festivals; his 2008 short, an experimental effort called "Young Love," received an honorable mention in the Short Filmmaking Award competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The following year, his short "Deeper Than Yesterday" (2011), about the crew of a submarine whose mental states are challenged by long isolation. The film won numerous accolades, including the Discovery Award and Small Golden Rail at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the Short Filmmaking Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and Best Screenplay in a Short Film from the Australian Film Institute. Kleiman then delved into directing television commercials and music videos before tackling his first feature, "Partisan" (2015). The dystopian fantasy, which starred Vincent Cassel as the leader of a hidden commune that trained its children to carry out assassinations, was funded in part by the Sundance Institute's 2012 Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, which presented each winner with $10,000 cash and support from the Sundance labs. "Partisan" was selected to compete in the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.