Docaviv Winners 2021

Besides telling a beautifully sensitive story about his son's magical inner world, the director manages to build an artistic style that is both captivating and aesthetic. This film is a masterpiece that sets a new standard in documentary storytelling. The Frank Lowy Award for Best Israeli Film is ''Summer Nights.''

This film is a wide-ranging yet intimate and inspiring project that opens before us a rare window into the shaky and restless world of Oren Levy, to the question of his identity and place in the world. He becomes etched in our hearts. With a confident, attentive, patient and loving artist, director Tomer Heymann leads us into the heart of Oren, his life, his parents and his families at different ends of the world. The filmmaker composes all this with the utmost sensitivity and visual finesse, making the professional cinematography and Oren's camera combine as a powerful song. The Yossi Kaufmann Award for Best Director goes to Tomer Heymann for ''I Am Not.''

This powerful film invites the viewers into the protagonists' journey to find identity and acceptance against the repetitive mantra of self-hate. Adopting a delicate and intimate approach, the director successfully reveals the violent nature of a morally and psychologically unsound practice interwoven with the protagonists' story. The director's narrative artistry and cinematic language, in presenting an urgent topic with human story, is truly remarkable. The Special Jury Award goes to ''The Therapy.''

The director takes us on an emotional journey into the past, revealing the stories and traumas of her two grandmothers. The journey also encourages her to acknowledge, face her past and find herself. She manages to tell the story with incredible sensitivity in a surprisingly quiet way, balancing obvious fractures with intimacy and closeness. Her style unfolds an irresistible pull that generates deep empathy and testifies to great strength. The Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa Award for Best Debut film goes to ''How to Say Silence.''

Very wise combination of professional and amateur cinematography allows us, in an extraordinary way, to feel the emotions shown from two different perspectives: of a protagonist himself and of the external world. Both perspectives give us a picture which can help to better understand the family relations and the inner world of the main character. The Award for Best Cinematography goes to ''I Am Not.''

This film is an exceptional editing of a collection of internet materials, giving us the fascinating story of several young protagonists. It becomes a portrait of a generation: very energetic and, at the same time, full of raw emotions and reflections on life in the times of pandemic. The Award for Best Editing goes to ''Viral.''

This is a film that dives deeply into an ocean of documents, diaries, archive footage, and never-before-seen photos, enabling this research to shed a unique light and perspective on the endless conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The Award for Best Research goes to ''Blue Box.''

This is a film that left us utterly without words. Not too far from where we stand right now - in an area still largely controlled by ISIS - is an abyss of human suffering where a group of extraordinary people are fighting back. The jury was staggered by unforgettable acts of courage carried out by women who went through living hell but refused to stay victimized. Their acts of heroism, while risking their own lives, shine as a beacon of hope, not only for their own community but for the entire human spirit. 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, the jury decides to award the film Sabaya as the best International Film.

The jury has decided to give an honorable mention to a film that challenges our very understanding of democracy in an unflinching look into post-colonial Africa. By obtaining rare access and using a unique verité cinematic gaze, the filmmakers craft a story of the nerve-racking election campaign in Zimbabwe. The protagonists are the brave young politicians who advocate non-violence and transparency as their weapon of choice and are fighting the older generation's tyranny to offer hope for the people of Zimbabwe. This film shows us what is at stake in post-colonial Africa in the urgent fight to create fair and just systems.

The filmmakers portray a reality which both inspires and makes us reflect on our own priorities, the systems we are living within, and the price we are willing to pay to change them. Viewers are taken on a journey which shows democracy as a simultaneously fragile yet enduring phenomenon. As a result of this film's structure, protagonists, and depiction of collective strength, it has the power to reverberate through the streets of cities around the world. The Beyond the Screen Award goes to ''A La Calle.''

As a film that sensitively and intimately handles a personal healing process, the camera reveals a journey back to life. Through the main character, a young boy of four-years-old, we learn the meaning of resilience. The Beyond the Screen Competition Honorable Mention goes to ''Imad's Childhood.''

Through a journey encompassing rigorous research and a multitude of perspectives that together form a unique cinematic language, this important and innovative film offers an original take on a pertinent contemporary issue. Foregrounding our ability to speak and how this can be used against us, the makers of this work manage to create its own distinct voice. In other words, this film grabbed us by the throat. The Artistic Vision Award in the Depth of Field Competition goes to By the Throat.

This film which can be conceived as a simple provocation, becomes a complex reflection on the notion of the stranger. Set in provincial Netherlands this film lingered in our minds long after the closing credits. For its uncompromising methodology, and its haunting humor, the Depth of Field Honorable Mention goes to ''A Man and a Camera.''

This film is a gentle treatment of a sensitive topic that moves between the individual and the collective - between the European hegemonic gaze and the intimate, personal point of view of a girl who meditates on the voice of her grandfather stripped of his land. The relationship between sound and image ranges poetically and surprisingly between black screen images with flickering white scratches and propaganda images. The filmmakers have created a smart, compassionate and thought-provoking film. The award for best short film goes to ''Listen to the Beats of Our Images.''

This film is told in a casual and everyday space where the director comes into conflict with the abyss of personal and family trauma from her past. The film begins with long shots of the texture of a suburban and rural place and gradually the director reveals a deep wound in a confrontation in an unconventional way with her attack. Viewers experience a brave, strong and important film. Honorable mention for the Shorts Competition goes to ''My Uncle Tudor.''

In a place far from the familiar, in a playground that revolves around birth and death, the filmmaker presents the world of one little girl. Through quiet and slightly distant observation, the film manages to make us fall in love with its protagonist and create a nearly magical environment. Even with the absence of a story in its classic sense, the film manages to captivate its viewers. It creates an experience that remains long after the film finishes, a cinematic experience created with a unique voice and clear identity. The first award deservingly goes to ''Herd.''

In a delicate and observant documentary, the director gives us a glimpse into the end of life and its meaning. The dramatic events that occur in front of the camera exist only in that moment. These moments raise the question of whether it is possible to die with dignity and who is the person willing to dedicate their life to this task. The second award goes to ''Fifty Old Dogs.''

An intimate and bittersweet portrait of three generations of women living together in a small apartment. A film about unconditional motherly love and the sacrifices mothers are willing to make for their children. With a remarkably personal and honest approach, the filmmaker offers insight into the relations between the women. By witnessing everyday moments of the family life, the story unfolds itself. The third award goes to ''We Used to Sing.''

With clever and restrained camera work, which avoids ''chasing'' events, the cinematography of this film allows them to evolve and exist naturally. The film unfolds within precise frames that manage to capture the light in a truly delicate and poetic way, giving the film a special magic that happens on the screen but reaches the viewers' hearts. The award for cinematography goes to ''Herd.''

How do we give a voice to those who cannot speak? The editing of this film manages to do just that. With of long shots full of compassion and a wonderful inner rhythm that keeps the viewer engaged until the very end. The insistence on staying most of the film on the faces of those who are at the end of their lives is a brave and admirable decision of the editor. The award for editing goes to ''Fifty Old Dogs.''