It's easy to see why director Nadav Schirman plans to adapt his first film, the documentary "The Champagne Spy
," into an English-language narrative feature. The story of Ze'ev Gur Arie, aka Wolfgang Lotz, is the stuff of Cold War glamor and international intrigue, with a dark personal twist. Lotz was a German-born Israeli spy who so fully adopted his undercover identity that he left
behind a wife and child. Focusing on the testimony of Lotz's fellow Mossad agents and especially his son, all speaking on camera for the first time, "Spy" is a compelling if sometimes frustratingly limited film. It screened in the Palm Springs festival's New Israeli Cinema section and was awarded the John Schlesinger Award for outstanding first feature. (more) (Lotz's "Would You Make A Good Spy" Test)
