November 5—9, Ma’alot-Tarshiha
The northern festival will feature over 25 documentaries from Israel and around the world, including the World Premiere of Divorce Denied by David Ofek and Mia Webb, and Israeli premieres of highly acclaimed international films The Cave, Untouchable, Citizen K, and Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am; as well as a live performance by Rona Kenan with a special tribute to Leonard Cohen. The festival will close with Spotting Yossi, a film about Yossi Banai. Other festival highlights include special Q&A sessions with filmmakers, a local art exhibition and art film screenings, workshops and seminars, a professional seminar on sports documentaries, guided tours of the area, and more.
This will be the 11th annual Docaviv Galilee Film Festival in Ma’alot-Tarshiha. The festival will run for five days (November 5—9) at various venues around town: the Performing Arts Center, Apter Barrer Art Center gallery, Tarshiha Pedestrian Mall, and Ma’arag Center at Kfar Vradim.
Docaviv Galilee presents the very best in Israeli and international documentary cinema, raising pertinent social and cultural issues and driving public debate. Throughout the festival, our ever-growing audience will get many opportunities to meet documentary filmmakers. The festival, now an integral part of cultural life in the Galilee, is only one of the Docaviv’s numerous initiatives. Apart from Docaviv Galilee, Docaviv holds the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival; Docaviv Negev, held in Yeruham; Docaviv Cinema at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque; and many documentary film screenings held regularly all year round at various venues around Israel.
Festival highlights include:
- Gala opening and screening of Uri Levi’s film, Once Upon a Boy, winner of the Special Jury Award and the Audience award at Docaviv 2019
- The premiere of Divorce Denied by David Ofek and Mia Webb, a film about Jewish women whose husbands refuse to grant them a divorce, and their struggle to break free of their marriages. The film shines a spotlight on volatile issues in Jewish divorce law through personal stories, as it follows Batya Kahana Dror, a lawyer engaged in a persistent struggle against the Rabbinical courts’ conservative views
- A screening of Honeyland, winner of the International Competition at Docaviv and Best International Documentary at Sundance, followed by a visit to the town of Peki’in with guide Ayelet Bar Me’ir— a tour that’s all about honey
- A premiere screening of Alex Gibney’s Citizen K, a film about the complicated persona of Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky
- A premiere screening of Untouchable, the true story behind the Harvey Weinstein scandal
- A premiere screening of Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, a film about the Nobel Prize-winning author who passed away in August this year
- A premiere screening of The Cave, a film by Oscar-nominated Syrian director Feras Fayyad (Last Men in Aleppo)
- A screening of Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, followed by a special acoustic concert by Rona Kenan, paying tribute to Leonard Cohen
- An open-air screening of award-winning film Midnight Traveler, in Tarshiha
- Two art exhibition openings and film screenings at the Apter Barrer Art Center: Iche (Yitzhak) Schwartz: Desert, and Hadar Gad: Paintings. The opening will include a screening of Walking on Water. Other art docs will be screened at the gallery during the festival
- A premiere gala screening of films by local talent from Ma’alot Tarshiha and the surrounding area: the eighth year of Wings, a filmmaking workshop by Apter Barrer Art Center and the Gesher Foundation, led by filmmakers Yael Kipper and Ronen Zaretzky
- Born to be Free, a selection of documentaries by people with disabilities
- A professional seminar on sports documentaries
- Joint film screenings will be held for local Jewish and Arab students
- Closing event: an evening screening and sing-along of Spotting Yossi, celebrating the songs of Yossi Banai
Galia Bador, Festival Director: “For more than a decade now, Docaviv has been active in the Galilee, working hand in hand with Ma’alot Tarshiha. This year’s program will introduce the Galilee to notable local and international films, all of them diving into stories and cultures near and far. We are proud to present Israeli and international premieres, opportunities to meet the filmmakers first-hand, concerts and guided tours, joint screenings for Jewish and Arab youth, screenings of films by people with disabilities, and a whole lot of excellent content for your enjoyment.
I am happy and proud that this festival has become such a meaningful part of the Galilee’s cultural landscape. It is my wish and hope that we get to see many more years of this fruitful collaboration.”
Arkadi Pomerantz, Mayor of Ma’alot Tarshiha: “We are glad to be hosting Docaviv Festival in our city, now for the 11th year in a row. I invite all culture-lovers and documentary film buffs to enjoy superb docs and take pleasure in the festival’s unique atmosphere, here in Ma’alot Tarshiha.”