DOCAVIV IS PROUD TO PRESENT THE ISRAELI LINEUP FOR ITS 2022 EDITION


Approximately 120 new local and international documentaries will be screened at the festival, total prizes awarded to this year’s winners will amount to NIS 400,000

This year’s opening film is The Devil Speaks: Eichmann’s Lost Confession

The 24th edition of Docaviv, Israel’s biggest celebration of documentary film and the only Israeli festival dedicated exclusively to documentary cinema, returns to the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, select venues around the city and online format on May 26 through June 5.

The winner of the Best Israeli Documentary award will receive a NIS 70,000 prize, with an additional grant of NIS 100,000 from Docaviv to be used toward promoting the winning film in preparation for the Academy Awards. This is the largest cash prize offered in Israel for documentary filmmaking. Other honors include the Mayor’s Award for Best Debut Film, Honorable Mention, the Yossi Kaufman Best Director Award, as well as the Editing, Cinematography, and Research awards.

A new award will be introduced at this year’s festival: The Kadar Foundation Award, granting a NIS 50,000 prize, for a documentary inspired by the history of Israel and Israeli society. The new award is presented by the Kadar Art, Culture, and Science Foundation, founded by Dr. Avraham Kadar. The winner will be chosen from the Israeli lineup


Israeli Competition Selection Committee

Docaviv artistic director Karin Rywkind Segal; Irit Dolev, a documentary filmmaker (Citizen K, 17 Seconds) and journalist (founder of the magazine The Hottest Place in Hell); Uri Levi, documentary filmmaker, director, and cinematographer (Once Upon a Boy, House of Cards).

Student Competition Selection Committee

Documentarian and web series creator Shachaf Dekel (Artopia #Belfast, Yotsrim); Asaf Mor, independent producer and filmmaker and owner of a Los Angeles-based production company (Cured); and Docaviv Program Manager Yaara Ozery.

NEXT! Curators

Tal Yahas and Rinat Edelstein


ISRAELI LINE-UP – DOCAVIV 2022

Israeli Competition

1341 Frames of Love and War

Israeli Premiere

Director: Ran Tal
Production: Ran Tal, Sarig Peker

Israel 2022, 90 min, Hebrew and German
From an archive of over half a million negatives taken by Israel‘s most celebrated war photographer Micha Bar-Am, 1341 FRAMES OF LOVE AND WAR reveals an epic journey of self-doubt and questioning through the camera.
Yes Docu

Children of Peace

World Premiere

Director: Maayan Schwartz
Production: Ayelet Kait, Amir Harel
Production Company: Lama Films
Israel 2022, 58 min, Hebrew and Arabic
Children who were brought up in a utopic social experiment in the only community in the world where Palestinians and Israelis chose to live together in co-existence.
“Oasis of peace” is a utopic dream that shattered into realty.

KAN – Israeli Public Broadcast Corp

H2: The Occupation Lab

World Premiere

Directors: Idit Avrahami, Noam Sheizaf
Production: Hilla Medalia, Paul Cadieux
Production Company: Medallia Productions

Israel / Canada 2022, 105 min, Hebrew, English
Segregated, highly surveilled, heavily filmed and intensely guarded: H2 uncovers the ways in which a single neighborhood in Hebron fuels the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 54 years of military occupation, told through the story of a one-kilometer long street.
HOT8

In Case You’re Still Around

World Premiere

Director: Talia (Tulik) Galon
Production: Itai Tamir, Ami livne
Production Company: Laila Films

Israel 2022, 67 min, Hebrew, English
Not everyone has the time to die. Yael did. Yael used her time to take a long, clear look at the fear of death. The film moves between then and now, as her daughter and partner continue their life.

Lost Angeles – Docu Musical

World Premiere

Directors: Golan Rise & Sharon Yaish
Production: Haggai Arad & Elad Peleg
Production Company: Daroma Productions

Israel 2022, 73 min, Hebrew, English
In Kiryat Malachi, Los Angeles’ twin city, dreams were left behind. Yosef Huri is 60 years old: with mounting debts and looming local elections, he decides it’s time to fight for the town and his life.

Reshet

Mini DV

World Premiere

Director: Shauly Melamed
Production: Gil Sima
Production Company: Sima films

Israel 2022, 75 min, Hebrew
Four LGBTQ adults re-encounter the home video footage they shot of themselves as youths: Shauly explored his homosexuality; Tom faced his gender identity; Betty filmed her friends and lovers; Rumia discovered her roots in drag.

KAN – Israeli Public Broadcast Corp

Mosinzon

World Premiere

Director: Avi Weissblei
Production: Avi Weissblei
Production Company: Amoraim Films

Israel 2022, 65 min, Hebrew
The documentary MOSINZON sheds light on the unsolved mystery of the writer that truly re-embodied the phrase TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.

HOT8

The Camera of Doctor Morris

World Premiere

Directors: Itamar Alcalay, Meital Zvieli
Production: Itamar Alcalay, Meital Zvieli
Production Company: Rose Water Films

Israel 2022, 74 min, Hebrew and English
Everyone in Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city, knows Dr. Morris and crocodile Clarence who grew up in his garden. It turns out he left his wife and children hours
of personal documentation in 8 mm, which
re-tells the family’s bittersweet story.
Yes Docu

Tantura

Israeli Premiere

Director: Alon Schwarz
Production: Shaul Schwarz, Alon Schwarz, Maiken Baird
Production Company: Alon Schwarz Films, Time Studios, Reel Peak Films

Israel / United States 2022, 94 min, Hebrew, Arabic and English
The story of the 1948 war and the silencing of graduate student Teddy Katz who exposed an alleged massacre that took place in the village of Tantura. A portrait of Israeli society and its inability to confront its founding myths.
HOT8

The 7 Years of Absalon

World Premiere

Created by: David Ofek & Amit Azaz
Director: David Ofek
Production: David Noy, Yoram Ivry
Production Company: Cinemax Productions Ltd.

Israel 2022, 60 min, Hebrew, English and French
The story of Meir Eshel, who reinvented himself as an artist named “Absalon”, quickly rising to art-scene stardom. Years after his tragic death at the age of 28, Absalon’s younger brother Dani is tasked with selling his final work.
Yes Docu

The Artist’s Daughter, Oil on Canvas

International Premiere

Directors: Margarita Linton, Yaniv Linton
Production: Haim Mecklberg, Estee Yacov-Mecklberg, Tomer Mecklberg
Production Company: 2- Team Productions

Israel 2021, 60 min, Hebrew and Russian
She visits the self-portrait exhibition of a famous painter.
She is the artist’s daughter, but only few people know that.
As she stares at her father’s images, she feels a great sense of absence.
How does one film absence?
Yes Docu

The Bankers Trial

World Premiere

Director: Eliav Lilti
Production: Stvav Meron Morag & Eliav Lilti
Production Company: Pardes Films

Israel 2022, 90 min, Hebrew
When his life partner is hit with an illegal repossession order, attorney Barak Cohen launches an unprecedented public campaign against the heads of Israel’s banking industry.

KAN – Israeli Public Broadcast Corp

The Devil Speaks: Eichmann’s Lost Confession

World Premiere

Director: Yariv Mozer
Created by: Kobi Sitt & Yariv Mozer
Production: Kobi Sitt, Steve Stark, Emilio Schenker, Gideon Tadmor, Michael Schmidt, Russ Mccaroll, Sigal Rosh
Production Company: Alice Communications, MGM Television, Tadmor Entertainment (SIPUR), Toluca Pictures and Distribution

Israel / United States 2022, 108 min, Hebrew, English and German,
On the sixtieth anniversary of the Eichmann trial, original recording reels of an interview conducted by Nazi journalist Sassen with Eichmann in Argentina are revealed. The tapes contradict his claims at the trial that he only fulfilled orders.

KAN – Israeli Public Broadcast Corp

BEYOND THE SCREEN COMPETITION

40 Steps

World Premiere

Directors: Gad Aisen, Manor Birman
Production: Gad Aisen, Manor Birman
Production Company: Gad’s Films
Israel 2022, 78 min, Hebrew, Arabic and English
An orthodox school in southern Tel Aviv is divided in half for a new secular elementary school. In a shared playground, both schools must coexist, while the identity of different communities are put to the test.
KAN- Israeli Public Broadcast Corp

The Prostitution Monologues
World Premiere

Director: Tamar Yarom
Production: David Noy
Production Company: Cinemax Productions Ltd.
Israel 2022, 58 min, Hebrew
Seven women openly share their experiences of life in prostitution – from the initial lure, through trauma and their struggle to survive. They bravely challenge what is expected of them – to be ashamed and conceal themselves.
Yes Docu

DEPTH OF FIELD COMPETITION

Figure-Ground

Israeli Premiere

Director: Tal Elkayam
Production: Tal Elkayam, Lila Bobrowicz
Production Company: +5sec
Israel 2021, 70 min, Hebrew, Arabic and English
A compilation of YouTube material brings together two parallel worlds—the beach of Tel Aviv and the hills of the West Bank—in a raw, associatively edited, unorthodox portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

ARTS AND CULTURE

The Other City

World Premiere

Director: Livi Kessel
Production: Ami livne, Itai Tamir
Co Producer: Livi Kessel
Production Company: Laila Films

Israel 2022, 72 min, Hebrew and English
An intimate maturation film in which Livi, a photography student, documents her four closest friends – young artists in downtown Haifa. Over the years, the instability in their lives raises questions about success, self-destruction, and the price of their dreams.

What’s With Me Lately?

World Premiere

Director: Tamar Tal Anati
Production: Udi Zamberg
Production Company: TH production

Israel 2022, 65 min, Hebrew and English
Israeli cultural icon Rivka Michaeli travels to America.
Between the US where her family put down roots and the homeland she loves and hurts for – Rivka is walking a thin line, trying to find balance and hope within.
Yes Docu

PANORAMA

Closed Circuit

World Premiere

Director: Tal Inbar
Production: Tal Becher, Omri Uzrad, Yoav Zeevi, Nancy Spielberg
Production Company: Yalla Films, Zeevi\Uzrad, Playmount Productions

Israel 2022, 54 min, Hebrew and Arabic
Two men in suits shoot at a frightened crowd in a Tel Aviv café. All caught on security cameras, Closed Circuit deconstructs this event to give insight into the complex Israeli reality and the lasting trauma caused to those involved.
Yes Docu

Savta

World Premiere

Director: Hanan Yehiely
Production: Hanan Yehiely
Israel 2022, 51 min, Hebrew and English
A young boy documents his aging grandmother as she grapples with her transition from independence to a nursing home. Captured through his innocent lens, this deeply relatable journey is full of laughter and loss.
Yes Docu

The Baby Daddy

World Premiere

Directors: Adi Rabinovici, Yair Cymerman
Production: Ben Giladi, Mika Timor
Production Company: Sunnysideup Production

Israel 2022, 78 min, Hebrew and English
Ari Nagel, is a serial sperm donor and a father to more than a 100 children. Ari’s actions turn into a concerning habit, jeopardizing his relationship with his eldest son and his Jewish religious family.
Yes Docu

MASTERS

Words That Remain

International Premiere

Director: Nurith Aviv
Production: Itai Tamir, Serge Lalou, Ami Livne
Production Company: Laila Films, Les Films d’ici

Israel / France 2022, 52 min, Arabic, English, Farsi, French, Greek, Moroccan and Spanish
Six people recall the languages that cradled their childhoods: Judeo-Spanish or Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo-Persian. Today, the languages themselves are dying but they left traces that still affect those who heard them as children.
FRANCE 3

STUDENTS COMPETITION

Dad’s camera

World Premiere

Director: Efrat Lipshitz
Production: Efrat Lipshitz
Production Company: Minshar School of Art

Israel 2022, 37 min, Hebrew
After his brain stroke, more than 20 years ago, a daughter tries to make her father into a filmmaker and a parent again, while unknowingly documenting his last years through his own eyes.

Do You Want to Cross the Sea?

World Premiere

Director: Michal Veig
Production: Michal Veig
Production Company: The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School

Israel / Canada 2022, 34 min, Hebrew, Arabic and English
A Darfurian asylum seeker embarks on a farewell journey from Israel to reunite with his wife and daughter in Canada. It is a journey of a man who is constantly on his way home.

Everybody knows Jack

World Premiere

Director: Orr Weisberg
Production: Orr Weisberg
Production Company: The Film Department, Faculty of Arts- HaMidrasha, Beit Berl College

Israel 2022, 54 min, Hebrew and English
Orr, a film student diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, documents the bond between a father and his stepson, who suffers from a degenerative disease. The film raises questions about love and the right to life.

Man’s Best Friend

International Premiere

Director: Gaya Elstein
Production: Lev Orlov
Production Company: The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School

Israel 2021, 18 min, Hebrew
For a place that is meant for the dead, the animal cemetery seems to be full of life – and full of people with their own unique connection to their pet.

Nothing Is Always

World Premiere

Director: Ayala Berger
Production: Ayala Berger
Production Company: The Photography Department, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
Israel 2022, 20 min, Hebrew
The complex relationship between a single mother and her only daughter is revealed in a small hotel room in Tel Aviv, where they spend a weekend after a crisis.

Purple Bells

World Premiere

Director: Daniel Romanayev
Production: Daniel Romanayev
Production Company: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University

Israel 2022, 50 min, Hebrew, English and Russian
Danni, a son of immigrants from Moscow, was ashamed of his family his whole life. 30 years after their “Aliyah” he interviews them and tries to learn their story. He reimagines their memories through animation.
Yes Docu

Requiem for a Whale

World Premiere

Director: Ido Weisman
Production: Netalie Braun
Production Company: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University
Israel 2022, 14 min, Hebrew
On a stormy night, a whale’s body washed ashore.
While the documentation of this rare event is shown, the voices of a few witnesses are heard, attempting to express the immense encounter with nature.

There Is Something

Israeli Premiere

Director: Lihi Rosenthal
Production: Lihi Rosenthal
Production Company: Tel Hai College

Israel 2022, 43 min, Hebrew
An intimate gaze at the lives of Shiran and Smadar, a cashier and a cleaner, employees of a supermarket located in Kiryat Shmonah, at beginning of COVID-19 in Israel. As simple desires become complex, the film uncovers two strong women and their passion for life.

NEXT!

Barik

Dor Zlekha Levy
Barik, a refugee from Darfur, tells the story of his escape, and recreates his traumatic journey through audiovisual means.

Blueprint

Dan Robert Lahiani
After arriving at the Clal building in Jerusalem for an osteopathic session, the artist’s quest for healing became entangled with the dilapidated and crumbling building.

Bibloscopia

Hadassa Goldvicht
The piece documents the historic building of the National Library as a decaying body with its obsolete machinery portrayed as channels of the subconscious of the Hebrew language.

A Man-Made Tale

Thalia Hoffman
The film documents the ecological systems that construct the Yatir forest and wishes to tell through it a political metaphor of the local Zionist existence.

Between the Negev and the Galilee

Yonatan Nevo
A portrait of the old central bus station area in Tel Aviv, exposing the visceral reality of life in the street and the humanity of the people inhabiting it.

The Envelope Project: Snake Code

Jonathan Omer Mizrahi
A psycho-geographical observation of the Israeli civilian-military-agricultural frontier settlements facing the border with Gaza.

Deep Fake Savta

Neta Moses
The loss of a beloved grandmother sets in motion some unexpected routes for reencounter.

The films’ synopses were written by the filmmakers, and Docaviv festival bears no responsibility for their content.