02/06/2022 - The two films have won in the international and Israeli competitions, respectively; other winners included 40 Steps, 1341 Frames of Love and War, Tantura and Fragile Memory

Docaviv's managing director and artistic director celebrating with the team behind The Camera of Dr. Morris

The 24th edition of Docaviv, Israel's biggest documentary festival, announced its winners during the official awards ceremony on Wednesday 1 June. The gathering started on 26 May and is still running until 5 June at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and select venues around the city.

Vietnamese director Diem Ha Le's Children of the Mist took home the Best International Film Award, following its world premiere at IDFA, where it won the Best Director Award and a Special Mention for Best Debut, as well as having snagged prizes at ZagrebDox, DOK.fest Munich and Las Palmas. Igor Ivanko's Fragile Memory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Igor Ivanko
film profile] received an Honourable Mention in the same category.

The festival’s biggest accolade, the Frank Lowy Award for the Best Israeli Film, worth almost €20,000 (70,000 ILS), was handed to Itamar Alcalay and Meital Zvieli for The Camera of Dr. Morris [+see also:
film review
film profile], with the jury calling it an “expression of pure cinema”. They stated: “From bringing vividly and vibrantly to life one family and one place, we are able to see how the joy, sorrow and intensity of everyday life quietly intertwines itself around an alternative pioneer spirit within Israel. This is the magic of cinema, and this film gave the jury members a truly magical experience.”

The Seven Years of Absalon by David Ofek, co-directed by Amit Azaz, received the Special Jury Award. 40 Steps [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Gad Aisen and Manor Birman, about an Orthodox school in southern Tel Aviv which is divided in half for a new secular elementary school, won the Beyond the Screen Award.

The Artistic Vision Award in the Depth of Field Competition went to Helmut Dosantos's Gods of Mexico (Mexico/USA), an almost religious aesthetic and sensory experience about Mexican labourers on salt flats and in ore mines.

The Berlinale Special title 1341 Frames of Love and War [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won both the Best Directing Award for Ran Tal and the Best Editing Award for Nili Feller, as well as the newly established Kadar Foundation Award for best use of archive in an Israeli film. Meanwhile, the Best Cinematography Award was handed to Ran Aviad for his work on Golan Rise and Sharon Yaish's Lost Angeles - Documentary Musical.

Another new prize, the Yad Vashem Award for Cinematic Excellence in Holocaust Documentary Filmmaking, went to Bianca Stigter’s Venice entry Three Minutes - A Lengthening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bianca Stigter
film profile].

Here is the full list of Docaviv award winners:

International Competition

Best International Film Award
Children of the Mist - Diem Ha Le (Vietnam)
Honourable Mention
Fragile Memory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Igor Ivanko
film profile] - Igor Ivanko (Ukraine/Slovakia)

Israeli Competition

Best Israeli Film
The Camera of Dr. Morris [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Itamar Alcalay, Meital Zvieli (Israel)

Best Director
Ran Tal - 1341 Frames of Love and War [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Israel/UK/USA)

Special Jury Award
The Seven Years of Absalon - David Ofek, Amit Azaz (Israel)

Best Debut Film
The Artist's Daughter, Oil on Canvas - Margarita Linton, Yaniv Linton (Israel)

Best Cinematography Award
Ran Aviad - Lost Angeles - Documentary Musical (Israel)

Best Editing Award
Nili Feller - 1341 Frames of Love and War

Research Award
Alon Schwarz, Shay Fogelman, Teddy Katz, Alon Sahar, Sami El Ali - Tantura [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Israel/USA)

Kadar Foundation Award
1341 Frames of Love and War - Ran Tal

Beyond the Screen Competition

Beyond the Screen Award
40 Steps [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Gad Aisen, Manor Birman (Israel)
Honourable Mention
What Remains on the Way - Jakob Krese, Danilo do Carmo (Germany/Brazil/Mexico)

Depth of Field Competition

Artistic Vision Award
Gods of Mexico - Helmut Dosantos (Mexico/USA)
Honourable Mention
Ultraviolette and the Blood Spitters Gang - Robin Hunzinger (France)

Yad Vashem Award
Three Minutes - A Lengthening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bianca Stigter
film profile] - Bianca Stigter (Netherlands/UK)

Shorts Competition

Best Short Film Award
In Flow of Words - Eliane Esther Bots (Netherlands)
Honourable Mention
Geamăna - Matthäus Wörle (Germany)