DOC LAB TLV is a unique rough-cut lab offering professional guidance and personal acquaintance with senior international mentors in the fields of documentary production, direction, editing, and distribution, for non-fiction films in-progress. The lab runs annually for three consecutive days.
Founded in 2017, DOC LAB TLV is a collaboration between Docaviv and the New Fund for Cinema and TV (NFCT). Born out of a desire to nurture the talent of both budding and established Israeli filmmakers, twenty projects have already been supported by the lab over the past five years.
Our mission is to help these documentaries move from rough-cut to final cut and reach their highest potential. Projects with international potential are chosen to participate from a large pool of applicants by an independent selection committee. We aim to ensure these films can reach a broad audience in international film festivals and distribution.
Past projects have gone on to screen at Cannes, Docaviv, Dok Leipzig, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), MoMA Doc Fortnight, DOC NYC, Jerusalem Film Festival, and more.
The lab is led by Joelle Alexis, award-winning Belgian-Israeli documentary and feature film editor. Her works have been selected by festivals such as Cannes, IDFA, Sundance, and many others.
Past mentors include
- Lucie Kon – Commissioning Editor on Storyville, the BBC’s landmark international documentary. She is a BAFTA and International Emmy nominated Executive Producer, a mentor, judge and expert panellist, and currently a member of the EBU documentary board.
- Nino Kirtadze – Film director, actress, scriptwriter and an editor. She collaborates on a regular basis with different national and international film industry organisations, such as Close Up Initiative, Sundance Institute, Atelier Varan, Focal, Cinema du Monde.
- Tereza Šimíková – Head of CPH:FORUM, CPH:DOX’s financing and co-production platform, and the International Program Consultant of Chicken & Egg Pictures.
- Ania Trzebiatowska – Programmer for Sundance, focusing on US and World documentary features, and Artistic Director of Off Camera IFF in Krakow.
- Thomas Krag – Film and television editor for over 25 years and Head of Editing at the Danish School.
- Daan Vermeulen – Managing Director at Cinema Delicatessen – a Dutch documentary film distribution, who is in charge of theatrical distribution and acquisitions, lecturer at the Netherlands Film Academy, member of selection committees for the IDFA FORUM and IDFA BERTHA FUND.
- Peter Jaeger – Founder of Autlook Filmsales and CEO until 2014 and founder of Jaeger Creative, creating innovative film distribution & marketing strategies.
- Yaël Bitton – Documentary film editor, writer, story consultant, and director whose work has been screened at Cannes, FIPADOC, DOC NYC, Visions du reel, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and more.
- Xiaolu Guo – Chinese-British filmmaker, novelist, and author, whose films have screened at Locarno, Rotterdam IFFR, Sheffield Doc/Fest, BFI London, and more.
- Poppy Dixon – Producer of documentary films and television, including the BAFTA-winning The Imposter, Grierson nominated Untouchable and BIFA-winning American Animals. Current Director of Documentary and Factual at Sky UK.
- Matthijs Wouter Knol – Director of the European Film Academy, after having spent several years as Director of the European Film Market.
- Orestis Andreadakis – Artistic Director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
PROJECTS
Director & Editor: Keren Alexander | Producer: Kobi Mizrahi
Cinematic journey throughout and down the biggest Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem, where we'll observe the invisible laborers of death and the constant tensions between tradition and progress, war and peace, hard labor and sacred work.
Director: Zvi Landsman | Editor: Shira Clara Winther | Producers: Zvi Landsman, Mira Mendel
Jacob Israel de-Haan: a Dutch-born gay pioneer, a Jewish Orthodox leader, and a peace activist, all at once. New evidence reveals how, in 1924, he was a victim of the first political assassination in modern Israel.
Director: Shakked Auerbach | Editor: Noa Weinstein | Producer: Dan Shadur
One night, my older brother bolts from the police at a checkpoint, leading to a night in a detention unit. The call about his arrest makes me realize we can't keep overlooking the ongoing challenges he faces – juggling parenthood, communication gaps, occasional outbursts, and his unique way of navigating life. Trying to help Nir sort through the chaos, I unexpectedly find myself confronting my own issues. Through a mix of amusing, intense, and eye-opening encounters, I began to understand how relations in my family, especially with my mother, are influenced by an unspoken expression - autism.
Director: Natan Rushansky | Editor: Sharon Yaish | Producer: Michal Weits
In East Jerusalem's turmoil, a policewoman emerges. Beneath her red nose, she copes with post-trauma.
Jerusalem's healing journey becomes a personal odyssey, returning to the scarred frontline, and reconciling with the past that wounded her soul.
Director and Editor: Shauli Melamed | Producer: Gil Sima
Our film profiles Amos Gutman, the pioneering Israeli filmmaker who tackled taboo subjects. Through rare interviews and edited film scenes, we explore Gutman's legacy in Israeli cinema.
Director, Editor and Producer: Hadara Oran
The film tells the story of people who live the reality of the occupation in their daily lives, are affected by it and trapped by it, and the consequences of this existence on Israeli society.
Director, Editor and producer: Ohad Milstein
Is there a way to avoid intimacy exhaustion in a monogamous marriage?
After 50 years together, love is no longer present in my parents' relationship. Echoing my marriage nowadays, the question arises if there is a way to keep the spark.
Director(s): Shay Fogelman
Producer(s): Assaf Amir
Yehoshua Elitzur, a settler convicted of killing a Palestinian man, has disappeared before being sentenced. Shay Fogelman tries to track him down for five years, all over the world, uncovering his escape route - and the mysterious personality of the escaped convict.
Docaviv 2019 (Israeli Competition), IDFA 2019
Director(s): Rana Abu Fraiha
Producer(s): Ibtisam Mara'ana Menuhin
Rodaina, my mother, decided to transfer the family life from the Bedouin Tel Sheva to the nearby Jewish town, Omer. I accompany her on her last journey, where her last wish is to be buried in Omer.The farewell raises essential questions about identity, femininity and the meaning of a home.
Jerusalem Film Festival 2017 (Van Leer Award - Best Documentary), Israeli Film Academy Ophir Awards Nominee (Best Documentary), The Shulamit Aloni Prize for Human Rights Recipient, Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum Awards (Best Documentary Award)
Director(s):
Producer(s):
The story of a family from Nahariya who is forced to cope with the transformation of the father into a transgender woman. Galit, Amit and their four children believe that love will overcome all difficulties. However, when Amit's gender journey seems to have reached his destination, it is Galit's personal journey that threatens the relationship.
Docaviv 2018 (Best Israeli Documentary Award), DOC NYC 2018, Krakow International Film Festival 2019, Guangzhou Doc Film Festival 2019, LA Israeli Film Festival 2018
Director(s): Asaf Ehrenreich
Producer(s): Yoram Ivry, David Noy
Immediately after her retirement, Chanah was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Her husband, Tuvia, is unwilling to accept the fact that his own retirement is approaching, afraid he might fade with his sick wife. Their son - the film’s director - tries to mend the cracks that threaten the entire family, as they try to adapt to new life in retirement.
Haifa Film Festival 2018
Director(s): Itay Marom
Producer(s): Itay Marom
The film Resonance reflects on the human voice by observing private lessons of three prominent voice teachers throughout a whole semester.
Docaviv 2019 (Depth of Field Competition Honorable Mention), DOK Leipzig 2019 (DEFA Award), MoMA Doc Fortnight Festival 2020
Director(s): Dani Rosenberg
Producer(s): Stav Meron, Dani Rosenberg
A father and son try to freeze time through cinema, but the father's illness threatens to cut their quest short.
Jerusalem Film Festival 2020, Cannes 2020
Director(s): Jonathan Ofek
Producer(s): Jonathan Ofek, Itamar Luria
For 20 years, Jonathan, the director, grew up in Jerusalem as well as in an Indian Ashram, with a Guru. Twenty years later he sets out to understand the secret he had to keep, and find out what happened to the other Ashram children.
Docaviv 2019, Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival 2020 (International Competition)
Director(s): Daniel Binsted
Producer(s): Efrat Cohen
Noy is a Filipino rock legend who found himself living in the slums of Tel-Aviv, barely scraping by, father to an Israeli daughter who is about to begin her military service. Now, at the age of 61 and for the first time in many years, he will pick up his old guitar and dare to dream of a new future.
Haifa Film Festival 2019
Director(s): Karnit Mandel
Producer(s): Gil Sima
In an Israeli archive lies a collection of Palestinian tapes. Why are they there? To whom do they belong? Archive Fever tells the story of a lost archive, and a fight for narrative and identity through visual records.
* In production
Director(s): Tomer Halfon
Producer(s): Tomer Halfon
Waking up from a 70-day coma, Trina is forced to face her own life - and her death, yet again.
Docaviv 2020
Director(s): Noam Demsky, Ido Bahat
Producer(s): Noam Demsky, Ido Bahat
Osher, Michelle and Eitan who were transferred to foster families, are filmed during the last year of foster care, and first year of independence, at age 18. The film interweaves the personal relationships between themselves, their foster and biological parents.
Nominated to the Beyond the Screen Award
Docaviv 2020 (Beyond the Screen Competition)
Director(s): David Ofek
Producer(s): David Noy, Yoram Ivry
Meir Eshel left Israel for France, where he re-invented himself as Absalon, an artist destined for international stardom - until his death from AIDS at 28. Dani, his brother and estate manager, discovers his amazing story.
* In production
Director(s): Anna Somershaf
Producer(s): Tal Barda, Anna Somershaf
Ultra-Orthodox women can't run for parliament. One woman is determined to change it. Fighting with her partners against their own community comes at a huge personal price, but she won't stop until she achieves equal rights for 500,000 women.
Jerusalem Film Festival 2021
Director(s): Itamar Alcalay, Meital Zvieli
Producer(s): Itamar Alcalay, Meital Zvieli
Everyone in Eilat knows Dr. Morris and his crocodile Clarence who grew up in his garden. As it turns out, he left his wife and children hours of personal documentation, which re-imagine a bittersweet legend.
* In production
Director(s): Yair Cymerman, Adi Rabinovici
Producer(s): Ben Giladi, Mika Timor
Ari Nagel has dedicated his life to help women in their struggle to conceive (65 kids and counting). Ari’s insemination mission takes over his life as he risks losing the people closest to him and both his old and new family.
* In production
Director(s): David Wachsmann
Producer(s): Yoav Roeh
The film follows four Palestinian children arrested and imprisoned in 2016 by Israeli forces. Through interrogation materials and interviews, the film traces the Israeli punishment mechanism for children in the West Bank.
* In production
Director(s): Eliav Lilti
Producer(s): Stav Meron
Five penniless people declare war against the most powerful figures of the financial system.
* In production
Director(s): Hillel Rate
Producer(s): Avigail Sperber
When Amotz was 20-years-old, he experienced a sexual assault. The film follows Amotz’s journey to accept himself as a man despite experiencing sexual abuse, and to the understanding that he is innocent.
* In production
Director(s): Orit Ofir Ronell
Producer(s): Ayelet Kait, Amir Harel
Wassim Razzouk, the sole heir of 500-year lineage of Coptic Christians tattoo artists from Jerusalem, sets out to complete his collection of ancient wooden stencils before they are lost forever. During his journey he discovers that his family is hiding not only stencils, but haunting secrets.
Jerusalem Film Festival 2021 (Diamond Competition for Israeli Documentary Films)
Director(s): Hadar Morag
Producer(s): Hadar Morag
After 30 years of failed efforts, Tahel manages to persuade her sister Tzipora to leave the psychiatric hospitals she has been living in and come ‘’home’’ with her, to the small apartment she rents in Tel Aviv.
* In production
