Summer Nights by Ohad Milstein
The 23rd edition of Docaviv announced its winners during the official award ceremony on Wednesday July 7. The festival started July 1 in a hybrid format, screening films in local cinemas, online on its website and through events all around the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and was initially set to run until July 10th. Due to the high demand for online screenings, the festival has extended its digital programme until July 31.
The full list of films available for streaming until July 31 will be announced Sunday July 11. Screenings are geo-blocked and accessible for audiences in Israel only.
Summer Nights by Ohad Milstein received the festival’s top prize, the Frank Lowy Award for Best Israeli Film, worth 70,000 ILS. The film is a journey into the subconscious of an innocent and ingenuous child, as he falls asleep and drifts into the depths of his own mind. The jury called the film “a masterpiece that sets a new standard in documentary storytelling” and praised the director as he “manages to build an artistic style that is both captivating and aesthetic.” Tomer Heymann received the Best Director Award in the Israeli Competition for I Am Not.
Sabaya, in which director Hogir Hirori follows the rescue operation to save the thousands of Yezidi women and girls taken by ISIS, won the Best International Film Award (20,000 ILS). The jury awarded the film for “its brave and rare documentation of this still burning issue that most news outlets have somewhat abandoned, and for its ability to craft a story so powerful yet full of everyday beautiful simple moments of life”.
In the Short Film Competition, Listen to the Beat of Our Images by Maxime and Audrey Jean-Baptiste won the award for Best Short Film worth 4,000 ILS. Through astonishing archival footage, the film shows the effects of the forced relocations and accelerated modernization in French Guiana, after Charles de Gaulle’s decision to move the French space programme there.
The Beyond the Screen Award in honour of Docaviv founder Ilana Tsur went to A La Calle by Nelson G. Navarette & Maxx Caicedo (Beyond the Screen Award).
By the Throat by Effi & Amir was awarded with the Artistic Vision Award in the Depth of Field Competition, the strand that pushes the envelope of the documentary genre.
Docaviv is one of the Academy Award qualifying documentary film festivals, making the winners of the International Competition, Israeli competition and Short Competition eligible for the Oscars. The Best Israeli Film is also eligible for a 100,000 ILS marketing grant for an Academy Award Campaign.
For a full overview of the winners click here.
