2010 Honorary David Camera


Mr. Paul Mazursky

The Honorary David Camera is dedicated to Mr. Mazursky as an appreciation of his unforgettable films and for his continuous and extraordinary contribution to worldwide film art.

Paul Mazursky (born April 25, 1930) is an American film director, screenwriter and actor.


He was born Irwin Mazursky in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jean (née Gerson), a piano player for dance classes, and David Mazursky, a laborer. His grandfather was a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1951. Mazursky is an atheist.

American director, screenwriter, actor and film producer. Comes from a family of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Ukraine. From early years interested in acting, he was Lee Strasberg’s student and from the beginning of the 50’s played in Off-Broadway TV stage productions. He made his screen debut in 1953 in “Fear and Desire” by Stanley Kubrick, soon he played in “The Blackboard Jungle” (1955). In 1959 he began studying direction in Los Angeles, simultaneously he wrote screenplays and acted on stage. A screenplay for the Peter Sellers comedy “I Love You, Alice B. Toklas” (1968) was a turning point in his career. Another racy, full of clever observations comedy of manners “Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice” (1969) was a long-awaited directorial debut of Mazursky. It turned out to be a blockbuster and was nominated for an Oscar for the Best Screenplay. An intelligent comedy “Blume in Love” and “Harry and Tonto” (second nomination for an Oscar for the Best Screenplay) gained recognition as well. After a semiautobiographical movie from the 50s, „Next Stop, Greenwich Village”, Mazursky produced “An Unmarried Woman” – a subtle, in parts satirical drama picture about a woman living in solitude in a big city. It is often claimed to be his best movie (three nominations for an Oscar, including a nomination for the best leading character, J. Clayburgh.

Being friends with Federico Fellini, Mazursky made ambitious and successful references to the European Cinema as well as various travesties (“Tempest” based on Shakespeare’s work bearing the same title). One of other successful projects is also a witty comedy “Moscow on the Hudson” (starring R. Williams, 1984) and especially “Enemies: A Love Story” (1989) based on I.B. Singer’s novel (the fourth nomination for an Oscar for the Best Screenplay). During his directorial career, Mazursky cooperated with such outstanding artists as among others Natalie Wood, John Cassavites, Gina Rowlands, Donald Sutherland, Ellen Burstyn, George Segal, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Robin Williams, Kris Kristofferson, Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss, Little Richard, Raul Julia, Cher, Chazz Palminteri, Robert Deniro, Judy Davis, Nino Rotta, Anjelica Huston, Jill Clayburgh, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska, Alan Bates, Bill Murray or Woody Allen who played in Mazursky’s phenomenal comedy “Scenes From a Mall”.

As an actor, Paul Mazursky played with such stars as among others Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson, Orson Welles, Dennis Hopper, Mel Brooks, Ellen Barkin, Jacqueline Bisset, Viggo Mortensen, Penelope Ann Miller, Sally Field, Tom Hanks, John Goodman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dan Aykroyd, David Cronenberg, Claude Chabrol and Peter Bogdanovich.