Docaviv, the largest film festival in the city of Tel Aviv and the only festival in Israel dedicated exclusively to documentary films, announced March 30 its line-up of locally-produced films.
In 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose Docaviv as one of the festivals whose winners automatically qualify for Oscar consideration. The winners of the Israeli, International and Short competitions are eligible to compete for an Oscar in the Documentary categories.
This year, 13 films will compete for the Best Israeli Documentary award at the 25th Docaviv, running May 11-20. Other competitive components include the Beyond the Screen Award, presented in the memory of the late Ilana Tsur, founder of the festival, and Arts and Culture/Student competitions. Prize money at Docaviv 2023 amounts to NIS 350,000 (approx €89,350).
There will also be a compilation of 3 short docs made by women filmmakers from the Arab society in Israel titles May I Please Film You?. The films offer personal points of view on the lives of young women in present-day Arab society in Israel.
The festival will also honour Israeli presenter Modi Bar-On, who died last year aged 59. Further titles including international films will be announced in April 2023.
ISRAELI COMPETITION
- 1948 – Remember and Forget (Israel, 2023, 143 min, Hebrew and Arabic) Director: Neta Shoshani. Production: Mika Timor, Yotam Guendelman. Production Company: Silvio Films. Letters and diaries which have been written during the 1948 Palestine war, edited upon rare archival footage, breathing life into the people who wrote them – Jews and Arabs, and their time. On their side, in the present, documented people who work in commemorating or breaking that wars’ ethos. World Premiere
- A Minor Crime (Israel, 2023, 54 min, Hebrew) Director: Nur Fibak. Production: Assaf Amir. Production Company: Norma Productions. What happens when a woman chooses to report sexual violence? Filmmaker Nur Fibak lays open the legal proceedings around the sexual abuse she had suffered as a child, revealing her transition from accuser to witness. Israeli Premiere
- A Movie at the Center (Israel/Thailand, 2023, 95 min, Hebrew and English) Director: Kobi Farag, Morris Ben-Mayor. Production: Kobi Farag, Liron Amir. Production Company: Ben-Mayor Farag Studio. A Movie at the Center discovers the story and the history of Dizengoff Center, layer by layer, from the ground it was built on, to the top floor and the secrets this place withholds. World Premiere
- Inbal Perlmutter – If you let me go (Israel, 2023, 85 min, Hebrew) Director: Avigail Sperber, Sharon Luzon. Production: Sharon Luzon, Avigail Sperber, Dana Guti. Production Company: Pardes Production – Avigail Sperber. If it’s Over is a documentary about the life, work and death of Inbal Perlmutter. A local rock legend, different sex symbol, a trailblazing woman who was mysteriously killed at the age of 27. World Premiere
- Innocence (Israel / Denmark, 2022, 101 min, Hebrew) Director: Guy Davidi. Production: Hilla Medalia, Sigrid Dyekjær. Production Company: Medalia Productions, Danish Documentary. Innocence tells the story of young people who enlisted into the Israeli army despite feelings of alienation towards it, and against their values. Their story is told through narration based on writings found after their death during their military service. Israeli Premiere
- Lies I Told Myself (Israel, 2023, 100 min, Russian) Director: Efim Graboy. Production: Yahaly Gat. Production Company: Muse productions. A cinematic family odyssey on love, lies, betrayals and everything in between. World Premiere
- My Project X (Israel, 2023, 90 min, Hebrew and English) Director: Limor Pinhasov. Production: Lilach Shayo. Production Company: Cicero Films. In an attempt to understand the stamp of genius and logical madness of her stepfather, an infamous Mossad agent who hurt her family, Michal embarks on a journey with personal videos that explore America’s most notorious criminals, including Charles Manson and Richard Ramirez. International Premiere
- Nora (Israel, 2023, 59 min, Hebrew) Director: Matan Ben Moreh. Production: Haggai Arad, Aharon Peer, Elad Peleg Production Company: Daroma Productions. Nora lives with 500 bats in a shelter she built for them and for herself, but she discovers that no place is safe from pain, loss and love. World Premiere
- Observation Diary (Israel, 2023, 65 min, Hebrew) Director: Itay Marom. Production: Itay Marom, Idit Kliger. The film follows the observation diaries of Amit Geffen, a young bird-watcher who died at 21. By telling his story, the film explores the way we look at the world and our need to record it. World Premiere
- Once Upon a School (Israel, 2023, 70 min, Hebrew) Director: Tal Becher, Yair Agmon. Production: Omri Uzrad, Yoav Zeevi, Tal Becher, Yair Agmon. Production Company: Zeevi/Uzrad, Yalla Films. This is the astounding story of The Midrashia, the mothership of the religious Zionism. It’s a story about an elitist educational establishment – that in its last years became a school dominated by chaos and violence. International Premiere
- Radio Propaganda (Israel, 2023, 82 min, Hebrew) Director: Ofer Pinchasov. Production: Ofer Pinchasov. Production Company: Ofer Pinchasov Productions. The story of immigrants from Arab countries to the Land of Israel who founded an underground radio station. The radio station operated in intelligence and political warfare against Arab countries. International Premiere
- Silver’s Uprising (Israel 2023, 95 min, Hebrew) Director: Dan Shadur. Production Dan Shadur, Ido Mizrahy. Co-Producer – Phinehas Veuillet. Production Company: Shadurian Films, Restless Pictures. Crime boss or fearless dissident? The biggest cyber trial in the history of Israel will determine the fate of a former ultra-orthodox kid who transformed the drug-dealing business. World Premiere
- Tzipora and Rachel Are Not Dead (Israel, 2023, 104 min, Hebrew and Arabic) A film by Hadar Morag and Tahel Ran. Director: Hadar Morag. Production: Hadar Morag. After 30 years of failed efforts, Tahel finally persuades her younger sister Tzipora to leave Abarbanel Psychiatric Hospital and move in with her. A 16-year documentation of a struggle with the existence of a raw, unspeakable traumatic excess. World Premiere
BEYOND THE SCREEN COMPETITION
- ANGELS (Israel, 2023, 105 min, Hebrew and English. Director: Yaron Zilberman. Production: Yaron Zilberman. Production Company: Opening Night Productions. Eight men and women of different ages and backgrounds embark on an emotionally-fraught journey. All of them were sexually abused as children. Speaking with incredible honesty, they shed a powerful light on the darkness faced by one in five girls and boys in Israel. World Premiere
- Kiki (Israel, 2023, 61 min, Hebrew) Director: Natan Rushansky. Production: Haggai Arad, Aharon Peer, Elad Peleg. Production Company: Daroma Production. 14-year-old Kiki is sentenced to juvenile prison for violence and drug offenses. His sister, Gal convinces the authorities to give him one last chance: a therapeutic trip to the desert. World Premiere
- The First Night (Israel, 2023, 60 min, Hebrew). Director: Rachel Elizur. Production: Avigail Sperber. Production Company: Pardes Production. Wedding Night is an intimate film that takes us on a journey, capturing the time when ultra-Orthodox couples who have lived in complete separation from the opposite sex until marriage connect, marry and become husband and wife. World Premiere
SHORTS COMPETITION
- Two Hours a Day (Israel/Germany, 2023, 12 min, Hebrew and German) Director: Maya Klar. Production: Alon Sahar, Maya Klar A mysterious illness sends Maya to the hospital during pregnancy. Between medical checkups, phone calls from her partner and cellular meditations are intertwined with digital hallucinations. Israeli Premiere
PANORAMA
- End of Love Season (Israel, 2023, 61 min, Hebrew) Director: Shai Gal. Production: Lilach Shayo Kadosh. At 75, Geula broke up with her husband Arik, 77. A contractor built a wall that divided their house in two. This intimate, funny, painful and surprising family journey reveals why it took them 55 years to break up. World Premiere
- Incoming Call (Israel, 2023, 74 min, Hebrew and Arabic) Director: Sharon Yaish, Golan Rise. Production: Amir Ganor, Adi Bar Yossef. Production Company: Endemol Shine Israel. Aref, Marcella, Ziv, and Lydia; answering incoming calls on the anonymous ERAN helplines. They all received extensive training to help people with emotional difficulties and participated in countless conversations. Each one of them has a conversation they will never forget. World Premiere
- Mourning in Lod (Israel, 2023, 75 min, Hebrew and Arabic) Director: Hilla Medalia. Production: Hilla Medalia. Production Company: Medalia Productions. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict retold through three people whose fates become inextricably linked in a vicious cycle of violence. The outpouring of love, anger, and forgiveness that follows is a ray of light that offsets a collective state of seemingly endless mourning. World Premiere
- Secularism – Religion and state (Israel, 2023, 56 min, Hebrew) Director: Anat Zletzer. Production: Yoav Leshem. Production Company: Beyond Creative. Although Zionism was established as a secular movement of rebellion against religion, it never managed to break away. As Israeli identity drifts from its founders’ secularism, the futuristic horror scenario of conflict between religion and state turns into actuality. Israeli Premiere
- Yossi Sarid (Israel, 2023, 70 min, Hebrew) Director: Avida Livny Production: Shula Spiegel, Dana Eden. Production Company: Donna and Shula Studios. For 50 weeks and five days, the Minister of Education, Yossi Sarid, fought to demand that Shas’ education budget be covered, a struggle that concealed the story of the lifelong oppositionist who refused to compromise despite the consequences. Israeli Premiere
MUSIC DOCS
- Days of Pick (Israel, 2023, 105 min, Hebrew) Director: Shai Lahav, Ron Omer, Production: Erez Ben Harosh, Benny Menache. Production Company: no drama studio. Tsvika Pick, Israel’s first pop star, never let his downfalls diminish his place as king – at least in his opinion. Composed of rare archival footage and interviews, including ones with Pick himself shortly before his death. World Premiere
- The Child Within Me (Israel, 2023, 90 min, Hebrew and Greek) Director: Eti Aneta, Yaniv Amoday. Production: Tzipi Baider. Production Company: Kastina Communication. In a series of open, rare and sweepingly intimate documented meetings, Poliker, one of Israel’s musical giants, looks back at his life. His introspective, direct and honest gaze inwards is full of humor and self-acceptance. International Premiere
ART AND CULTURE
- Nurith Aviv – Woman with a Camera (Israel, 2023, 70 min, Hebrew and French). Director: Zohar Behrendt. Production: Zohar Behrendt. For the first time, filmmaker Nurith Aviv sits down in front of the camera. As the defenses are lowered, her unique life story as the first woman cinematographer in Europe turns out to be the key to her own films. World Premiere
- The Activist. Karl Marx (Israel, 2023, 53 min, Hebrew, Arabic and English). Director: Benjamin Freidenberg. Production: Yair Qedar. Production Company: The Hebrews. Only 11 people attended the funeral of Karl Marx in 1883. In the years to come, he changed the world. The film returns to the life story of the greatest activist of all times. The 18th film of the Hebrews-project. World Premiere
STUDENTS COMPETITION
- 118 (Israel 2023, 18 min, Hebrew) Director: Avichai Bloch, Yaara Ruth Maimon, Gilit Bigman, Lysa-Rose Zaoui, Tony Danilchenko, Tal Kuperstein, Berry Akerman, Opal, Shachar Loni, Shany Cnaan, Batya Gur, Kira Pinhusovich, Aviv Kaufman, Li Cohen, Noy Beggagon. Production: Yaara Ruth Maimon. Production Company: Sapir College – School of Audio and Visual Arts. An animated documentary film, showing a new perspective on women who work or live in the shelter for battered women. Based on interviews describing their daily experience in the shelter. World Premiere
- Before Bedtime (Israel 2023, 27 min, Hebrew) Director: Fábio Zilberman Luchno. Production: Lev Orlov. Production Company: The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School. Three years after receiving a terminal ALS diagnosis, 47-year-old Michal lost everything she was, except for being a mother. World Premiere
- Bella’s Daughter (Israel 2023, 27 min, Hebrew) Director: Yasmine Scheft, Amit Gavish. Production: Lev Orlov. Production Company: The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School. 19-year-old Tsehla has an unwanted pregnancy, which brings her to reestablish her dependent relationship with her mother Bella. World Premiere
- Blind Spot (Israel 2023, 22 min, Hebrew, Arabic) Director and producer: Bar Mayer. Production Company: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University. A young couple moves from Jerusalem to Jaffa to get closer to Tel-Aviv. They learn to suppress reality outside their window in favor of a comfortable life until the walls around them collapse. World Premiere
- Girl, Disordered (Israel 2023, 7 min, Hebrew) Director and producer: Shelly Shalev. Production Company: Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem. Girl, Disordered portrays my personal journey, as an associative digital collage that sheds light on life with ADHD. It is an attempt to illustrate a transparent disorder into a documentary detailing the difficulties and symptoms. Israeli Premiere
- Golda’s Prince (Israel 2023, 33 min, Hebrew) Director: Roi Sabo. Production: Roi Sabo, Ido Aviv. Production Company: Camera Obscura. In the early 2000s of the Tel Aviv skateboard scene, Moti was an enigmatic skateboarder who was willing to pay any price it takes to become a “pro skater”. World Premiere
- Gorda (Israel 2023, 18 min, Hebrew, English, Spanish) Director and producer: Hillel Rate Production Company: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University. Lior and Fortuna make an unusual couple. Are they mother and son, friends, or simply two lonely immigrants that chose to live together as their own family? World Premiere
- Labor Pains (Israel 2023, 32 min, Hebrew) Director and producer: Nahar Cohen. Production Company: The Maaleh Film School. After escaping from her abusive partner, Liron (24) discovered she was pregnant with triplets. Today she is raising her three daughters alone, and fighting the temptation to go back to their father. World Premiere
- On Parole (Israel 2023, 53 min, Hebrew, Arabic). Director and producer: Neta Pat Ben-Itzhak. Production Company: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University. The film follows Tysir, a 15-year-old boy released on parole from prison, and Yonatan, a social worker from the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority, on their journey towards rehabilitation. Will they succeed against all odds? World Premiere
- The Gospel According to Alain (Israel 2023, 21 min, Hebrew, French, German) Director: Yarden Malka Bonet. Production: Barak Stern. Production Company: Minshar College for Art. Alain left the family and returned after a decade. By getting closer to the grandpa she never had, the filmmaker asks him to look at the one who was left behind. Israeli Premiere
- The Gun (Israel 2023, 17 min, Hebrew, English) Director and producer: Shaya Chesner. Production Company: The Maaleh Film School. Shaya is married to Moriah and father to Maayan. He carries a handgun everywhere. Shaya embarks on a journey to discover the possible origins of his fears after suffering post-trauma in the IDF. World Premiere
MAY I PLEASE FILM YOU?
A compilation of 3 short documentary films made by 3 women filmmakers from the Arab Society in Israel, produced with the support of the New Fund for Cinema and Television, in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. The films provide different and personal points of view on the lives of young women in current-day Arab society in Israel.
- Something of my Own / إشي لإلي / Rosalin Agbaria. A month before Rosalin and Jalal, two Arab filmmakers, are due to marry, Rosalin decides to embark on a brave and honest journey documenting her questions and struggles about the institution of marriage and starting a family. In everyday situations, sometimes amusing and sometimes sad, Rosalin records daily scenes from her personal life with her family, her friends, Jalal and herself.
- My Rock / عكازي / Arkan Husseny. Filmmaker Arkan shares an intimate conversation with her father, while they reflect on traumatic events from the past. Arkan goes to visit the family’s old house, which burned down almost 20 years ago after a family conflict that led to the death of her uncle – her father’s brother. For the first time, she shares with her father her feelings and memories about what had happened and goes with him on a journey between the past and the present.
- Drop in the Ocean / نُقطة بِبَحر / Malak Orok. The film revolves around the strong relationship formed between a young woman who decides to dedicate her time to helping other women in an emergency call center, and a battered woman, who decides to break the barriers of fear and build a new life for herself and for her children.
