Docaviv is proud to announce the Israeli documentaries screened at the 26th edition of Docaviv Festival
The 26th edition of Docaviv Festival, Israel’s biggest and only festival dedicated exclusively to documentaries, returns to the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and select Tel Aviv venues from May 23 through June 1.
The winner of the Dov Yudkovsky Best Israeli Documentary award, named after the laureate of the Israel Prize for Journalism, will receive a NIS 60,000 prize, as well as a NIS 100,000 grant on behalf of Mifal Hapais Council for Culture and Arts to be used toward supporting the winning film in preparation for the Academy Awards. This is the biggest cash prize offered in Israel for documentary filmmaking. Other honors include the Mayor of Tel Aviv–Yafo Award for Best Debut Film, the Yossi Kaufman Best Director Award courtesy of Makor Foundation for Israeli Film and Television, Honorable Mention courtesy of Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services, the Editing Award, the Cinematography Award courtesy of GeoTours, and the Nili Tal Research Award.
This year’s festival will open with Nesher, about acclaimed filmmaker Avi Nesher, whose films interweave his personal life with the story of Israel and the young men and women who fought (and sang) for it.
A rich and diverse lineup of 13 remarkable documentaries by Israeli filmmakers has been selected for Docaviv’s Israeli Competition.
Israeli Competition Selection Committee
Artistic Director of Docaviv Festival Karin Rywkind Segal; filmmaker and director Avi Maor Marzuk, whose films (Nelson’s Last Stand, Attainder, Everybody’s Sons, The Secrets of War) express a strong agenda for profound social and political change; and Helen Yanovsky, a documentary filmmaker (Jerusalem Boxing Club, The Boy from H2), cinematographer and educator (Docu-Education: Cinematographic Literacy).
Student Competition Selection Committee
Documentary producer Rotem Heyman (Mourning in Lod, Innocence, the series MeHaAdama); documentary filmmaker and musician Adam Weingrod (The Island, I See You, Spots of Light); and Docaviv Festival Program Manager Anat Nattel.
Shorts Competition curator
Dr. Nir Ferber
ISRAELI LINE-UP – DOCAVIV 2024
Israeli Competition
Acre Wall Jumpers
World Premiere
Directors: Donna Naor Hacohen, Firas Roby
Production: Haggai Arad, Elad Peleg, Aharon Peer
Israel 2024, 54 min, Hebrew
During the hot summer days in Acre, a tradition connects the generations – children and teens jump from the walls of the old city into the cool sea waters below, a test of courage maturing from boys to men.
Death In Umm Al-Hiran
Israeli Premiere
Director: Doron Djerassi
Production: Rafael Balulu, Emmanuel Berrebi
Israel 2024, 90 min, Hebrew and Arabic
The tragic and mistaken killing of a Bedouin teacher by the Israeli police during an eviction raid, turns into one of the most tragic, political and cynical affairs ever to have occurred in Israel.
Yes Docu
Flight 1812: Rediscovering Mom
World Premiere
Directors: Iliya Zeltser, Irit Zeltser
Production: Dafna Danenberg
Israel 2024, 95 min, Hebrew and Russian
When Iliya was 13, his mother died in a missile strike during a flight from Israel to Russia. His recollection of that period has been entirely deleted. 20 years later, he is determined to uncover the truth about that flight.
Yes Docu
Francesca
World Premiere
Director: Lina Chaplin
Production: Daniela Reiss
Israel 2024, 64 min, Hebrew, Polish, Slovak and Yiddish
Dancer Francesca Mann killed an SS officer at the entrance to the gas chambers in Auschwitz. This act of heroism was not appreciated. Rumors spread that Francesca collaborated with the Gestapo.
The film revives her character and joins the myth that is gradually being built about her.
Yes Docu
Full Support
World Premiere
Director: Michal Cohen
Production: Shani Sror-Etinger, Maya Fischer, Roi Kurland, Gal Greenspan
Israel 2024, 68 min, Hebrew, English subtitles
In a cozy bra shop fitting room, customers confess their intimate bond with their breasts. It’s a tale of love, war, womanhood, and cup-size.
KAN 11
Get the Land Back
World Premiere
Directors: Irmy Shik Blum, Elad Orenstein
Production: Mika Timor, Yotam Guendelman
Israel 2024, 70 min, Hebrew
Irmy embarks a mission to reclaim his only inheritance: occupied land seized by Jewish settlers in the West Bank. What starts as a personal quest to recover this forbidden real estate transforms into hilarious activist adventure, smashing through ideological taboos.
Yes Docu
It Happened on our Ground
World Premiere
Director: Avner Faingulernt
Production: Hagar Saad Shalom, Paul Cadieux, Danae Elon, Jurgen Kleining
Israel / Germany / Canada 2024, 125 min, Hebrew, English and German
Feminine personal portrait of a German aristocratic family who used their privileged position to save Jews from a concentration camp that was erected on their land. The three women are not afraid to confront the difficult past of their family.
KAN 11
Monogamia
Israeli Premiere
Director & Production: Ohad Milstein
Israel / Germany 2023, 73 min, Hebrew and English
Monogamia takes you on a journey into the world of love and intimacy within committed relationships. Can love endure the test of time? Is there a way to keep the spark in a long time monogamous relationship?
HOT8
Rabbi Capoeira
World Premiere
Director & Production: Barak Heymann
Israel 2024, 70 min, Hebrew, English, Portuguese and Yiddish
How does a shy ultra-Orthodox guy become a world master in Capoeira and how does the ultra-Orthodox community of his city, Bnei Brak, react to the revolution he is determined to bring about?
Yes Docu
Sapir
World Premiere
Director: Liran Atzmor
Production: Orly Topel, Vivi Halpern
Israel 2024, 70 min, Hebrew
She wants to be a woman, she wants to be a referee- can she be both? Sapir Berman is the first transgender to become a professional league soccer referee in the world. She is not going to give up on any of her dreams.
Keshet
Thai-Land
World Premiere
Director: Nir Dvortchin
Production: Haggai Arad, Aharon Peer, Elad Peleg
Israel 2024, 75 min, Hebrew and Thai
The special and unique relationship between an aging Israeli farmer and his Thai workers raises critical questions regarding identity and agendas, challenging capitalist notions and the Zionist vision. Together they try to salvage what remains of their dreams.
KAN 11
The 1957 Transcripts
International Premiere
Director: Ayelet Heller
Production: Osnat Trabelsi
Israel 2024, 72 min, Hebrew and Arabic
Recently exposed classified transcripts of the Kfar Qasim trial, shed new light on forgotten facts and troubling truths on deep fractures in Jewish-Arab relations in Israel. Is there hope for change? A cinematic montage that interweaves and unravels conflicting narratives, leading to profound discussions on ‘manifestly unlawful order’.
Yes Docu
Wanted: Roni Kalderon
World Premiere
Directors: Erez Laufer, Hilla Medalia
Production: Hilla Medalia, Jeff Hoffman
Israel 2024, 100 min, Hebrew, English and Portuguese
At 17, he was the greatest promise of Israeli football. The offer to play for Ajax football club was the beginning of a journey that started with football, but soon turned into drug trafficking, entanglement with international law, and a mythical disappearance.
Yes Docu
Shorts Competition
M/other
World Premiere
Director & Production: Iris Zaki
Israel / United States 2024, 19 min, Hebrew
Three childfree women in their 40s face the ultimate explanation: their mothers. In a unique twist, they have their long-overdue heart-to-heart, not with their own moms, but with each other’s.
The Speed Of The Distance Between Us
Israeli Premiere
Director: Yuval Shapira
Production: Yuval Shapira, Ilya Marcus, Kathryn Everett, Noam Argov
Israel / United States 2024, 19 min, Hebrew, English subtitles
Mountains and parents’ grief – both mammoth, immovable and incomprehensible – compose a mosaic of parenting after bereavement.
Beyond The Screen Competition
Shepherd’s Keeper
World Premiere
Director & Production: Hadara Oren
Israel 2024, 70 min, Hebrew and Arabic
Bedouin shepherd communities who live in the magical spaces of the Jordan Valley have to deal with a variety of pressures and threats. The film follows the complexity of the ‘human layer’, that disturbs the peacefulness of the desert and awakens ancient struggles. All this, against the backdrop of, and perhaps in contrast to, the wonderful scenery of the desert.
Shtaif Affect
World Premiere
Director: Julie Shles
Production: Zafrir Kochanovsky, Miri Ezra
Israel 2024, 75 min, Hebrew
After exposing the Effi Neve case, veteran journalist Hadas Shtaif confronts a significant lawsuit from one of Israel’s most influential figures, yet remains committed to supporting every woman seeking help for sexual abuse.
Yes Docu
The Waterfront
World Premiere
Director: Alon Levi
Production: Saar Yogev, Guy Hodes, Naomi Levari
Israel 2024, 65 min, Hebrew
The Waterfront follows young activists fighting for access to a river, engulfed by Kibbutz Nir David. As public outcry and the reverberations of protest intensify, the struggle becomes increasingly entrenched, drawing both sides into an emotional, political, and social whirlwind.
KAN 11
Depth Of Field Competition
Under a Blue Sun
Israeli Premiere
Director: Daniel Mann
Production: Itai Tamir, Christophe Gougeon, Fabrizio Polpettini
Israel / France 2024, 80 min, Hebrew, Arabic and English
Under a Blue Sun tells of how indigenous lands were made into lucrative locations for high-budget film productions. It tells of Bashir Abu-Rabia, who worked on the film and to whom the desert locations belong.
ARTE
Panorama
Colleyville
Israeli Premiere
Director: Dani Menkin
Production: Dani Menkin, Asaf Shaul
Israel / United States 2024, 80 min, English
The story of four hostages held by a gunman in an antisemitic terror attack in Colleyville Texas.
Hostages
World Premiere
Director: Duki Dror
Production: Liat Kamai Eshed
Israel 2024, 113 min, Hebrew, Hebrew subtitles
King of Sephardim
World Premiere
Director & Production: Ofer Pinchsov
Israel 2024, 128 min, Hebrew
Discover how Rabbi Ovadia Yosef rose to be Israel’s most influential figure. Director Ofer Pinchasov unveils his life story, accessing unseen Yosef family segments. Gain insight into his political journey with unprecedented access to his inner circle
Yes Docu
The Last Righteous Man
World Premiere
Director: Rafael Balulu
Production: Rafael Balulu, Emmanuel Berrbei
Israel 2024, 70 min, Hebrew
The story of Rabbi Israel Abuhzira and his brother, Rabbi Yizhak, the leader of the Sephardic Religious Zionists. From their youth in Morocco, through their prominence in Israel where they became influential figures, forming three generations of an Israeli-Moroccan powerhouse.
HOT8
The Prosecution
World Premiere
Director: Reuven Brodsky
Production: Shula Spiegel, Dana Eden, Tal Leviathan
Israel 2024, 64 min, Hebrew
For the first time, a film crew gains access to the criminal prosecution and documents its casework in real-time. The series features well-known affairs, along with the prosecutor’s challenging professional dilemmas and human dramas that normally remain beyond media coverage.
Yes Docu
Water Tower Murder
World Premiere
Directors: Daniel Najenson, Oded Farber
Production: Erez Ben Harosh, Benny menache
Israel 2024, 67 min, Hebrew
An obsessive director for Israel’s first private detective uses AI animation to bring back to life a murder investigation from 1937 that exposes an international spy network.
Masters
Wake Up, Grandson – Letters to my Rebellious Rabbi
Israeli Premiere
Director & Production: Renen Schorr Heller
Israel 2024, 93 min, Hebrew
Director Renen Schorr follows his grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Heller, war hero of 1948 War in Safed. A duel: faith vs. film. Safed vs. Tel- Aviv. The grandson is asked to leave film-making for religion, and carry on Rabbi’s legacy.
Art And Culture
Bubblegum Memory
World Premiere
Director & Production: Avi Weissblei
Israel 2024, 75 min, Hebrew
Dalia Friedland in her final performance struggles with the remnants of her fading memory, oscillating between the stage and the starkness of reality, where she takes on the leading role.
HOT8
If This World Were A Sea
World Premiere
Director & Production: Ari Davidovich
Israel 2024, 67 min, Hebrew
The remarkable life of one of Israel’s prominent poets, Natan Yonatan, who was born a century ago and died twenty years ago. A portrait of a man whose own tragedy became the soundtrack of the Land of Israel.
Yes Docu
Look, Soon You Won’t See Anything
World Premiere
Director: Matan Abramovitz
Production: Amir Harel, Ayelet Kait
Israel 2024, 62 min, Hebrew
At 95 years old, Baruch keeps showing up at his architect’s office every morning, even as his clarity and memories are slipping away. When will his wife, Gila, have to put an end to his independence?
Nesher
World Premiere
Director: Yair Raveh
Production: Moshe Edri Sharon Sberlo, David Silber, Executive Producer: Sharon Tobias Sberlo
Israel 2024, 120 min, Hebrew, Arabic, English and French
When Nesher was 24 years old, he directed one of the most successful and influential films in Israeli film history called The Troupe. 50 years later and 20 movies under his belt, this time Nesher is the one in front of the camera.
Yes Docu
Students Competition
Bottle. Sea. Love.
World Premiere
Director & Production: Gal Salomon
Israel 2024, 25 min, Hebrew
Rami loves collecting bottles from the streets, and identifying their notes when they fall. Through music, he connects with his brother, an internationally acclaimed Maestro, now his guardian. A colorful and hidden world where brothers cope with perceived limitations.
Minshar College for Art
Diary of an Illness
World Premiere
Director & Production: Mika Ruskin
Israel 2023, 4 min, Hebrew
The film traces Jacqueline Kahanoff’s “Diary of an Illness,” portraying her confrontation with cancer: her fears, isolation, and the peculiar beauty that emerges amidst the agony.
Shenkar
Father, Stones And A Daughter
World Premiere
Director & Production: Liav Tamuz
Israel 2024, 14 min, Hebrew
Issachar built a stone house with his hands for the family. His daughter doesn’t live there. She returns to ask why, but her father turns to talk about his love for stones, as the cracks in their relationship are exposed.
Minshar College for Art
Looney
World Premiere
Director & Production: Hen David
Israel 2024, 6 min, Hebrew
A young mother tells her baby boy about Looney, her dog, who passed away just when she found out she was pregnant. She wonders – can a new life fill the emptiness?
The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television – Tel Aviv University
Not Wanting To Marry Is Surrendering To The Measure of Pride
World Premiere
Director & Production: Tzlil Golov
Israel 2024, 8 min, Hebrew
A young lesbian girl, a student at the girls’ seminary, studies Torah and undergoes conversion therapy in an attempt to change her sexual orientation and establish a holy Jewish family.
The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television – Tel Aviv University
Pretty For Her Age
World Premiere
Director & Production: Dani Sahar
Israel 2024, 13 min, Hebrew
Dani accompanies her mother as she undergoes plastic surgery. She is sensitive and courageous in her gaze. Can Dani overcome the conservative feminine tradition her mother is trying to instill? And can her mother accept Dani as she is?
The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School
Symbiosis
World Premiere
Director: Liron Rachel Erez
Production: Liron Rachel Erez, Lilach Bar David
Israel 2024, 27 min, Hebrew
Liron documents her sister Liel’s struggle with mental health issues. What starts with resistance to the invasive camera and the overprotective sister, unfolds as a shared journey uncovering pain and trauma.
The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television – Tel Aviv University
The Life and Tragedy of Tatiana Haikin
World Premiere
Director & Production: Noa Amiel Lavie
Israel 2024, 18 min, Hebrew and Russian
An Ukrainian immigrant was murdered by her partner and her body remained unclaimed. Women who knew her recount her life story and tell what led to her tragic end.
The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television – Tel Aviv University
The Midwife to Afterlife
World Premiere
Director & Production: Tal Schindel
Israel 2024, 20 min, Hebrew
Although euthanasia is prohibited, it’s possible to pass away in Israel without undue suffering. Keren demonstrates this to her patients – terminally ill people. Through her work, we glimpse into the final stages of life.
The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television – Tel Aviv University
Was Not Born a Messiah
World Premiere
Director & Production: Vered Ben Zion
Israel 2024, 13 min, Hebrew and Russian
Being in her 20’s while struggling with her parents medical condition, the filmmaker opens the family video archive and its secrets.
Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem
Water & Fuel
World Premiere
Director & Production: Yoav Biran
Israel 2024, 28 min, Arabic and Different Languages
In the unforgiving Israeli desert, Akram must make sure that his cows have enough water to survive the day, but what Akram really wants is to drive carelessly in his Subaru Impreza.
The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television – Tel Aviv University
Wild City
World Premiere
Director & Production: Roni Avni
Israel 2024, 30 min, Hebrew
Wild boars have invaded the streets of Haifa, turning the sleepy port city in Israel upside down. The film documents this local affair, which encapsulates worldviews, fears, nostalgia and questions about nature and humans.
Minshar College for Art
XXY-47
World Premiere
Director & Production: Adam Dov Horovitz
Israel 2024, 13 min, Hebrew
Using his own illustrations and medical records, the director attempts to come to terms with the effects of a variation in his chromosomes known as XXY-47.
The Maaleh Film School
Fragments
Four short films produced in the immediate aftermath of October 7, with the initiative and support of the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema and Television.
Deep in the fog
World Premiere
Director: Yoav Biran
Production: Dor Y. Levy
Israel 2024, 27 min, Hebrew
Three stories, set along the borders of Israel, sketch a portrait of a society striving to rise from the ashes.
Tattooed4Life
World Premiere
Director & Production: Kineret Hay-Gillor
Israel 2024, 30 min, Hebrew
A tattoo artist uses her needle to heal the gaping wounds of October 7th, commemorate the victims, make connections between survivors, and create a tapestry of human life.
Voiceless Witness
World Premiere
Director: Nikolay Kouleshov
Production: Benny Shklovsky
Israel 2024, 31 min, Hebrew and Russian
Nikolay adopts Khani, a rescue dog from Gaza. In his attempt to save her from the inferno, he saves himself from the memories of his military past.
Yearim
World Premiere
Director & Production: Yakie Ayalon
Israel 2024, 23 min, Hebrew
Following the October 7 massacre, Netiv HaAsara and Kibbutz Zikim residents were evacuated to the ‘Ya’arim’ Hotel in the Jerusalem hills. The film intertwines evacuees, staff, and volunteers’ stories, delving into the attempt to redefine the notion of “home” amidst an uncertain future.
Docu-Climate
Concrete
World Premiere
Director: Tai Inbar
Production: Noy Levin
Israel 2024, 12 min, Hebrew
Sand, gravel, water, and cement blend together into a liquid that covers the land and solidifies. Thus, on the slopes of rocky hills, alongside a stream that flows into the sea, Ir Yamim neighborhood was born.
The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television – Tel Aviv University
* The film’s descriptions were written by the filmmakers and the Docaviv festival has no responsibility for the content of these descriptions.