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DOCAVIV - THE TEL AVIV INTERNATIONAL
DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

May 26 to June 5

Director: Tal Alkalay

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DOCAVIV - THE TEL AVIV INTERNATIONAL
DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

May 26 to June 5

Director: Tal Alkalay

Docaviv Winners

For The winners list and jury's justification

Do You Want to Cross the Sea?

For the first time, Noureldin Musa can start the life he has always imagined, yet something is missing.

Purple Bells

A journey of the film's director to learn about his family immigration story from the collapsing USSR

The Camera of Doctor Morris

Dr. Morris left his wife and children hours of documentation in 8 mm which re-tells their bittersweet story.

Requiem for a Whale

From the fabric of responses, a collective experience shines, regarding the dialogue between life and death

What Remains on the Way

Lilian and her four children are walking from Guatemala to the US, joined by thousands of fellow dreamers

Lost Angeles — Documentary Musical

A musical tale of a town left behind and one watchmaker fighting against time.

Everybody Knows Jack

Orr, a student diagnosed with Autism, documents the gentle bond between a father and his ill stepson

Children of the Mist

Di, a 12-year-old Hmong girl from North Vietnam, must face the possibility of her childhood coming to an end

Tantura

A portrait of Israeli society and its inability to come to terms with its founding myths and dark history.

Fragile Memory

As the memory of an elderly cinematographer slowly fades, his grandson pores over his crumbling old film rolls

Gods of Mexico

The sound of the Mexican laborers’ slow, painstaking toil produces a near-religious immersive experience

Geamăna

The last resident of a mud-flooded Romanian village recalls her life there before she has to leave forever

The Artist’s Daughter, Oil on Canvas

A visit to her father's self-portrait exhibition, renews their relationship. But not in the way she expected.

In Flow of Words

At an international war crime tribunal, the interpreters express other people’s emotions, but hide their own

Ultraviolette and the Blood—Spitters Gang

Letters that lay hidden for decades reveal the passionate secret love affair between Emma and Marcelle

Last Chance to Watch

Unseen Skies

Trevor Paglen’s art persistently exposes invisible means of mass surveillance

Songs for Drella (1990)

A masterful digital restoration of Lou Reed and John Cale’s one-off intimate performance

Trenches

A French military journalist spent months in the trenches with Ukrainian soldiers, as war loomed over them

What’s Happening to Me Lately?

Israeli cultural icon Rivka Michaeli seeks a bridge between her family in America and her beloved homeland.

Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel

Manhattan may have replaced bohemia with real estate, but the residents of the Chelsea Hotel refuse to give in

Eat Your Catfish

An intimate, sober, painful, yet loving and humorous portrait of one family and its heart, a mother with ALS

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

The extraordinary life story of Kurt Vonnegut, told by the filmmaker who slowly became his close friend

We Met in Virtual Reality

When the real world went into lockdown, it was the virtual world where a rare kind of intimacy could be found

The Camera of Doctor Morris

Dr. Morris left his wife and children hours of documentation in 8 mm which re-tells their bittersweet story.

The Velvet Queen

A journey through the beautiful-yet-inhospitable Tibetan plateau, in search of the rare snow leopard

Mini DV

Four LGBTQ adults confront their pasts and sexual identities through watching home videos they shot as youths.

Midwives

Two midwives, a Buddhist and a Muslim, run an obstetrics clinic in strife-ridden Myanmar

We Feed People

At the height of his career, Chef José Andrés goes out into the world to feed humanitarian disaster survivors

Nothing Lasts Forever

The dazzling diamond industry clings desperately to its throne, threatened by a younger, lab-grown contender

Tantura

A portrait of Israeli society and its inability to come to terms with its founding myths and dark history.

TOP 10 ONLINE

Three Minutes — A Lengthening

A rare short film roll showing a Jewish town before the Holocaust raises questions about memory and oblivion

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

The extraordinary life story of Kurt Vonnegut, told by the filmmaker who slowly became his close friend

The Balcony Movie

Passersby in Warsaw tell a stranger with a microphone their secrets and personal stories

Cesária Évora

The rocky life story of Cesária Évora, the Barefoot Diva, who touched millions of hearts around the world

The Velvet Queen

A journey through the beautiful-yet-inhospitable Tibetan plateau, in search of the rare snow leopard

All That Breathes

Two brothers rescue the exhausted birds of prey that fall from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies

Children of the Mist

Di, a 12-year-old Hmong girl from North Vietnam, must face the possibility of her childhood coming to an end

My Old School

The incredible story of a Glasgow high school student who hid his true identity from all for two whole years

Geographies of Solitude

Wild horses, seals, and one woman. The beautiful intimate portrait of a naturalist on a remote island

Young Plato

Who can shape school boys in Belfast into moral philosophers? A highly unconventional Headmaster

Film critics recommend

Three Minutes — A Lengthening

A rare short film roll showing a Jewish town before the Holocaust raises questions about memory and oblivion

Cesária Évora

The rocky life story of Cesária Évora, the Barefoot Diva, who touched millions of hearts around the world

The Velvet Queen

A journey through the beautiful-yet-inhospitable Tibetan plateau, in search of the rare snow leopard

We Feed People

At the height of his career, Chef José Andrés goes out into the world to feed humanitarian disaster survivors

Turn Your Body to the Sun

Back from Nazi captivity, he got sent to Siberia. Now, his daughter tries to piece together his silenced story

Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down

Gravely wounded by an assassin’s bullet, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is determined to make a comeback

After the Rain

A sensitive, intimate film about families trying to heal and rebuild after an earthquake took their children

Nothing Compares

A deeply thoughtful, intimate look at Sinéad O’Connor’s life, work, protest, and political struggles

Israeli Competition

Mosinzon

The writer Yigal Mosinzon reinvented himself frequently yet kept it a secret, until today.

The Bankers Trial

Five penniless citizens set on a crusade against the most powerful figures of the financial system in Israel

The Camera of Doctor Morris

Dr. Morris left his wife and children hours of documentation in 8 mm which re-tells their bittersweet story.

Mini DV

Four LGBTQ adults confront their pasts and sexual identities through watching home videos they shot as youths.

In Case You’re Still Around

A dive head first into the depths of the soul, and a long, clear look at the fear of death.

Lost Angeles — Documentary Musical

A musical tale of a town left behind and one watchmaker fighting against time.

Children of Peace

Children from the only community in the world where Palestinians and Israelis chose to live together in peace

Tantura

A portrait of Israeli society and its inability to come to terms with its founding myths and dark history.

The Artist’s Daughter, Oil on Canvas

A visit to her father's self-portrait exhibition, renews their relationship. But not in the way she expected.

The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes

Eichmannn’s Lost Confession reveals his true face and the international motives to hide them.

H2: The Occupation Lab

How a one-kilometer long street in Hebron fuels the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Seven Years of Absalon

Meir Eshel reinvented himself as an artist called Absalon - and rose to international art-scene stardom.

1341 Frames of Love and War

A complex love letter to the power, beauty and horror of photographic imagery

Icons

Rewind and Play

Instead of storming out of the studio, Thelonious Monk sat down at the piano and played (phenomenally!)

Unseen Skies

Trevor Paglen’s art persistently exposes invisible means of mass surveillance

My Name Is Pauli Murray

The story of Pauli Murray, a Black and queer lawyer, activist, priest, and trailblazer

Songs for Drella (1990)

A masterful digital restoration of Lou Reed and John Cale’s one-off intimate performance

The Computer Accent

What happens when an American pop group entrusts an AI with the task of composing its new album?

What’s Happening to Me Lately?

Israeli cultural icon Rivka Michaeli seeks a bridge between her family in America and her beloved homeland.

Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel

Manhattan may have replaced bohemia with real estate, but the residents of the Chelsea Hotel refuse to give in

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

The extraordinary life story of Kurt Vonnegut, told by the filmmaker who slowly became his close friend

Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande

They sang about peace and love back when the UK was very White, conservative, and racist. Now they’re back

Cesária Évora

The rocky life story of Cesária Évora, the Barefoot Diva, who touched millions of hearts around the world

Mosinzon

The writer Yigal Mosinzon reinvented himself frequently yet kept it a secret, until today.

Navalny

Aleksei Navalny vs. Putin: a drama so dark and thrilling it's hard to believe it isn't fiction

Anonymous Club

Courtney Barnett, on and off the stage, accompanied by a personal audio log she recorded over a 3-year period

We Feed People

At the height of his career, Chef José Andrés goes out into the world to feed humanitarian disaster survivors

Loving Highsmith

The renowned author’s unpublished diaries reveal her turbulent family relations, her identity, and her love

Award Winners

My Name Is Pauli Murray

The story of Pauli Murray, a Black and queer lawyer, activist, priest, and trailblazer

Trenches

A French military journalist spent months in the trenches with Ukrainian soldiers, as war loomed over them

Shabu

14-year-old Shabu dreams of becoming a rap legend and never growing up

Eat Your Catfish

An intimate, sober, painful, yet loving and humorous portrait of one family and its heart, a mother with ALS

Penelope, My Love

After 18 years of filming her autistic daughter, director Claire Doyon made a deeply sensitive film about love

The Balcony Movie

Passersby in Warsaw tell a stranger with a microphone their secrets and personal stories

Navalny

Aleksei Navalny vs. Putin: a drama so dark and thrilling it's hard to believe it isn't fiction

The Pawnshop

As the Polish pawnshop runs low on cash, tensions run high but kindness runs higher. How will it stay afloat?

Mr. Landsbergis

The complete, riveting, manifold, loaded story of how Lithuania broke away from the USSR. Winner of IDFA 2021

The Velvet Queen

A journey through the beautiful-yet-inhospitable Tibetan plateau, in search of the rare snow leopard

Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987)

A stirring, absorbing elegy for justice unserved in the murder case of a Chinese-American in Detroit in 1982

Midwives

Two midwives, a Buddhist and a Muslim, run an obstetrics clinic in strife-ridden Myanmar

Mutzenbacher

Men of all ages audition by reading an infamous erotic text that evokes curiosity, awkwardness, and passion

What Remains on the Way

Lilian and her four children are walking from Guatemala to the US, joined by thousands of fellow dreamers

A Night of Knowing Nothing

Forbidden love and ideological struggles weave together into a spellbinding story about social change in India

Israeli Films

Nothing Is Always

The complex relationship between a single mother and her only daughter is revealed in a small hotel room.

Do You Want to Cross the Sea?

For the first time, Noureldin Musa can start the life he has always imagined, yet something is missing.

What’s Happening to Me Lately?

Israeli cultural icon Rivka Michaeli seeks a bridge between her family in America and her beloved homeland.

Purple Bells

A journey of the film's director to learn about his family immigration story from the collapsing USSR

The Other City

An intimate and bittersweet documentation of the rise and fall of a group of artists in downtown Haifa

Mosinzon

The writer Yigal Mosinzon reinvented himself frequently yet kept it a secret, until today.

Savta

A young boy documents his grandmother’s last chapter in life. A riveting story full of laughter and loss.

The Elected — Chapter 1

Israeli female politicians tell their stories of representation, legislation, and leadership.

The Bankers Trial

Five penniless citizens set on a crusade against the most powerful figures of the financial system in Israel

The Camera of Doctor Morris

Dr. Morris left his wife and children hours of documentation in 8 mm which re-tells their bittersweet story.

Dad’s Camera

A daughter unknowingly documents her father's last years through his own eyes as he learns how to film again

Words That Remain

Six people recall the languages that cradled their childhoods: Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo-Persian.

Mini DV

Four LGBTQ adults confront their pasts and sexual identities through watching home videos they shot as youths.

Requiem for a Whale

From the fabric of responses, a collective experience shines, regarding the dialogue between life and death

In Case You’re Still Around

A dive head first into the depths of the soul, and a long, clear look at the fear of death.

Across the Universe

A Marble Travelogue

What do the Parthenon, a Chinese factory, and influencer twins have in common? Marble. But wait, there’s more!

Facing Monsters

What pushes Kerby Brown to try and conquer the world’s mightiest (and most spectacular) waves?

Party Poster

In preparation for the festival of Ganesh, laundrymen in Mumbai design a poster to get their moment of fame

Crows Are White

Director Ahsen Nadeem is living a double life. Will a remote Japanese monastery provide the solution he seeks?

Cesária Évora

The rocky life story of Cesária Évora, the Barefoot Diva, who touched millions of hearts around the world

The Velvet Queen

A journey through the beautiful-yet-inhospitable Tibetan plateau, in search of the rare snow leopard

Midwives

Two midwives, a Buddhist and a Muslim, run an obstetrics clinic in strife-ridden Myanmar

This Stolen Country of Mine

Will activists in Ecuador be able to prevent China’s financial takeover of their country?

What Remains on the Way

Lilian and her four children are walking from Guatemala to the US, joined by thousands of fellow dreamers

We Feed People

At the height of his career, Chef José Andrés goes out into the world to feed humanitarian disaster survivors

The Night

A night in Hong Hong’s bustling commercial district shows the vibrant city in a new light

Where Are We Headed

These curious encounters all took place underground—in the opulent corridors of the Moscow Metro

All That Breathes

Two brothers rescue the exhausted birds of prey that fall from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies

Dark Red Forest

A beautiful portrait of the annual retreat of thousands of Tibetan nuns on the vast Tibetan Plateau

Children of the Mist

Di, a 12-year-old Hmong girl from North Vietnam, must face the possibility of her childhood coming to an end

Family Matters

Life

Tehran is in lockdown but the filmmaker’s mom comes by anyway. Except old Iggy lives there too—Will mom adapt?

Nothing Is Always

The complex relationship between a single mother and her only daughter is revealed in a small hotel room.

Do You Want to Cross the Sea?

For the first time, Noureldin Musa can start the life he has always imagined, yet something is missing.

Shabu

14-year-old Shabu dreams of becoming a rap legend and never growing up

Facing Monsters

What pushes Kerby Brown to try and conquer the world’s mightiest (and most spectacular) waves?

What’s Happening to Me Lately?

Israeli cultural icon Rivka Michaeli seeks a bridge between her family in America and her beloved homeland.

Eat Your Catfish

An intimate, sober, painful, yet loving and humorous portrait of one family and its heart, a mother with ALS

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

The extraordinary life story of Kurt Vonnegut, told by the filmmaker who slowly became his close friend

Penelope, My Love

After 18 years of filming her autistic daughter, director Claire Doyon made a deeply sensitive film about love

Purple Bells

A journey of the film's director to learn about his family immigration story from the collapsing USSR

Crows Are White

Director Ahsen Nadeem is living a double life. Will a remote Japanese monastery provide the solution he seeks?

The Other City

An intimate and bittersweet documentation of the rise and fall of a group of artists in downtown Haifa

Strigov

A lyrical, artistic farewell to a grandmother and her tiny, traditional, soon-to-disappear Slovakian community

Mosinzon

The writer Yigal Mosinzon reinvented himself frequently yet kept it a secret, until today.

Savta

A young boy documents his grandmother’s last chapter in life. A riveting story full of laughter and loss.

ACRI - 50 years celebration

Hanging On

With real estate investors itching for their land, the impoverished residents’ fate is up in the air

Unseen Skies

Trevor Paglen’s art persistently exposes invisible means of mass surveillance

My Name Is Pauli Murray

The story of Pauli Murray, a Black and queer lawyer, activist, priest, and trailblazer

Returning to Reims

An intimate and political story deciphering the history of e French working class

Do You Want to Cross the Sea?

For the first time, Noureldin Musa can start the life he has always imagined, yet something is missing.

Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande

They sang about peace and love back when the UK was very White, conservative, and racist. Now they’re back

The Elected — Chapter 1

Israeli female politicians tell their stories of representation, legislation, and leadership.

Navalny

Aleksei Navalny vs. Putin: a drama so dark and thrilling it's hard to believe it isn't fiction

The Bankers Trial

Five penniless citizens set on a crusade against the most powerful figures of the financial system in Israel

Mr. Landsbergis

The complete, riveting, manifold, loaded story of how Lithuania broke away from the USSR. Winner of IDFA 2021

Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987)

A stirring, absorbing elegy for justice unserved in the murder case of a Chinese-American in Detroit in 1982

Midwives

Two midwives, a Buddhist and a Muslim, run an obstetrics clinic in strife-ridden Myanmar

What Remains on the Way

Lilian and her four children are walking from Guatemala to the US, joined by thousands of fellow dreamers

We Feed People

At the height of his career, Chef José Andrés goes out into the world to feed humanitarian disaster survivors

A Night of Knowing Nothing

Forbidden love and ideological struggles weave together into a spellbinding story about social change in India

Treasures of the Archive

Rewind and Play

Instead of storming out of the studio, Thelonious Monk sat down at the piano and played (phenomenally!)

Three Minutes — A Lengthening

A rare short film roll showing a Jewish town before the Holocaust raises questions about memory and oblivion

Returning to Reims

An intimate and political story deciphering the history of e French working class

The Camera of Doctor Morris

Dr. Morris left his wife and children hours of documentation in 8 mm which re-tells their bittersweet story.

Mr. Landsbergis

The complete, riveting, manifold, loaded story of how Lithuania broke away from the USSR. Winner of IDFA 2021

Mini DV

Four LGBTQ adults confront their pasts and sexual identities through watching home videos they shot as youths.

A Night of Knowing Nothing

Forbidden love and ideological struggles weave together into a spellbinding story about social change in India

Terra Femme

A rare collection of travelogues tells the stories of the 20th century’s first female travelers

Fragile Memory

As the memory of an elderly cinematographer slowly fades, his grandson pores over his crumbling old film rolls

Los Zuluagas

The son of two guerilla fighters returns to Colombia to try and make peace with his memories

Turn Your Body to the Sun

Back from Nazi captivity, he got sent to Siberia. Now, his daughter tries to piece together his silenced story

Fire of Love

Katia and Maurice Krafft loved two things with a red-hot burning intensity: each other—and active volcanoes

The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes

Eichmannn’s Lost Confession reveals his true face and the international motives to hide them.

Ultraviolette and the Blood—Spitters Gang

Letters that lay hidden for decades reveal the passionate secret love affair between Emma and Marcelle

O, Collecting Eggs Despite the Times

Max Schönwetter dedicated his life to the study of bird eggs, even with war clouds looming overhead

Human/Nature

Life

Tehran is in lockdown but the filmmaker’s mom comes by anyway. Except old Iggy lives there too—Will mom adapt?

Unseen Skies

Trevor Paglen’s art persistently exposes invisible means of mass surveillance

A Marble Travelogue

What do the Parthenon, a Chinese factory, and influencer twins have in common? Marble. But wait, there’s more!

Facing Monsters

What pushes Kerby Brown to try and conquer the world’s mightiest (and most spectacular) waves?

The Velvet Queen

A journey through the beautiful-yet-inhospitable Tibetan plateau, in search of the rare snow leopard

Requiem for a Whale

From the fabric of responses, a collective experience shines, regarding the dialogue between life and death

This Stolen Country of Mine

Will activists in Ecuador be able to prevent China’s financial takeover of their country?

Heart of Oak

Heart of Oak is more than a documentary: It is a real, nature and wildlife opera.

All That Breathes

Two brothers rescue the exhausted birds of prey that fall from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies

Hive no. 10

The wish of her son to raise bees forces the director to deal with her own fragile memories from her childhood

A Taste of Whale

In the Faroe Islands, the locals still hunt whales. Is this justified, and could it even be moral?

Man’s Best Friend

An observation at an pet cemetery where people come and visit their deceased companions.

Haulout

A man waits in the desolate expanse of the Russian Arctic. Nothing could prepare us for what he encounters.

Nuisance Bear

The obstacle course migrating polar bears must navigate in an attempt to avoid tourists and wildlife officers

Geamăna

The last resident of a mud-flooded Romanian village recalls her life there before she has to leave forever

The Cinematic Edge

San Vittore

The children who visit their parents in San Vittore prison quickly realize that it is not a fairytale castle

San Siro

In the giant stadium’s belly, its human and mechanical parts work together with a near-mystical efficiency

Da Vinci

From a surgical robot’s perspective, the abdominal cavity resembles a strange, mysterious pulsating landscape

Rewind and Play

Instead of storming out of the studio, Thelonious Monk sat down at the piano and played (phenomenally!)

A Marble Travelogue

What do the Parthenon, a Chinese factory, and influencer twins have in common? Marble. But wait, there’s more!

The Computer Accent

What happens when an American pop group entrusts an AI with the task of composing its new album?

Trenches

A French military journalist spent months in the trenches with Ukrainian soldiers, as war loomed over them

We Met in Virtual Reality

When the real world went into lockdown, it was the virtual world where a rare kind of intimacy could be found

Letter from Eusapia

COVID looms. The filmmaker—who studies a city hidden beneath Brussels—talks to his father, a doctor in Ecuador

Mutzenbacher

Men of all ages audition by reading an infamous erotic text that evokes curiosity, awkwardness, and passion

The Night

A night in Hong Hong’s bustling commercial district shows the vibrant city in a new light

A Night of Knowing Nothing

Forbidden love and ideological struggles weave together into a spellbinding story about social change in India

Everyman and I

Can one ever truly know an actor who has to erase his whole being every time he plays a part?

Terra Femme

A rare collection of travelogues tells the stories of the 20th century’s first female travelers

Gods of Mexico

The sound of the Mexican laborers’ slow, painstaking toil produces a near-religious immersive experience