04/06/2021 - The selection includes 31 world premieres among a total of 116 documentaries at the hybrid 23rd edition, which will run from 1-10 July

The Docaviv Film Festival, taking place this year from 1-10 July, has announced that it will present a total of 116 documentaries, 31 of which are world premieres, along with Q&As with local and international filmmakers, retrospectives and events held throughout the city, as well as online.

Artistic director of Docaviv Karin Rywkind Segal says: “This year's festival comes at a troubled time, a time of conflict and the aftermath of violence. This is why this year's programme, and the voices and stories it amplifies, reflect the times – by showing protests and calls for change, struggles for freedom of speech, basic liberties and human rights, the relations between humans and nature, and the need to save the only planet we have. We want to look at our history and our present, and use the power of film to create dialogue and provoke thought on a variety of burning issues. I invite everyone to dive into the programme, engage with it and respond to the voices you find within it.”

The selection boasts 31 world premieres, 28 of them Israeli films and three from around the world. Two of these will screen in the Panorama section: A Jewish Life [+see also:
film review
interview: Christian Krönes and Floria…
film profile] by Austrian filmmakers Christian Krönes, Florian Weigensamer, Roland Schrotthofer and Christian Kermer, and Ride the Wave [+see also:
interview: Martyn Robertson
film profile] by the UK's Martyn Robertson. Canada's Shimon Dotan will bow with Dayton Diaries in the Masters sidebar.

The International Competition consists of 11 films: IDFA First Appearance winner This Rain Will Never Stop [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Gorlova
film profile] by Alina Gorlova and the winner of the Special Mention in the same competition, Diane Sara Bouzgarrou and Thomas Jenkoe's The Last Hillbilly [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; Hot Docs' Best Mid-length Documentary Award winner, Silent Voice by Reka Valerik (France/Belgium), and Renato Borrayo Serrano's Life of Ivanna [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which world-premiered at the Canadian event; Joonas Neuvonen and Sadri Cetinkaya's CPH:DOX pick Lost Boys [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; the Sundance prizewinners Sabaya [+see also:
film review
interview: Hogir Hirori
film profile] by Hogir Hirori and President [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Camilla Nielsson
film profile] by Camilla Nielsson, as well as the Sundance hits Taming the Garden [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Salomé Jashi
film profile] by Salomé Jashi, Misha and the Wolves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sam Hobkinson
film profile] by Sam Hobkinson and In the Same Breath by Nanfu Wang (USA/China); and Jessica Kingdon's Acension (USA), which world-premieres at Tribeca.

Competing for Docaviv's newest award, Beyond the Screen, are films whose directors or subjects work to change our social, ecological and political reality, including Dieudo Hamadi’s Downstream to Kinshasa [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Zahavi Sanjavi's Imad's Childhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and IDFA prizewinner Inside the Red Brick Wall by Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers. The full list can be found here.

The Depth of Field Competition features nine documentaries exhibiting unique cinematic styles and distinctive voices, including Guido Hendrix's A Man and a Camera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Eleonore Weber's There Will Be No More Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. For the full list, click here.

As in previous years, the winners of the Israeli, International and Short Competitions at Docaviv will be eligible to compete for an Academy Award. The festival will open with Kobi Farag and Morris Ben-Mayor's entry Queen Shoshana, which world-premieres in the Israeli Competition (see the news).