Docaviv Galilee showing the best of documentary cinema

This year’s edition will feature about 20 movies by leading filmmakers from Israel, including premieres as well as a rich selection of the best documentary cinema from the past year.

By HANNAH BROWN JANUARY 13, 2025 04:06

‘BETTER DAYS’ (photo credit: YONI HAMENACHEM)

Docaviv, the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival, is returning to the Galilee to celebrate the 16th Docaviv Galilee Ma’alot Tarshiha from January 16 to 18.

During these days of recovery and renewal in the North, the event will be an especially festive gathering of documentary film lovers.

This year’s edition will feature about 20 movies by leading filmmakers from Israel, including premieres as well as a rich selection of the best documentary cinema from the past year.

The diverse program includes the Israeli films Medical School, by Udi Kalinski and Revital Oren, which looks at what getting trained as a doctor does to students’ mental and physical health; Better Days – The Story of Ze’ev Revach, a tribute to Israeli cinema’s great comic actor, which was directed by Alon Gur Arye, and which paints a portrait of the man behind that familiar smile; Saving the Pets, a preview of two episodes of the upcoming documentary series directed by Erez Bernholz, which follows the relationships between pets, the families who own them, and the team that cares for them at the University Veterinary Hospital in Beit Dagan.

ADA: My Mother the Architect, a film by Yael Melamede about her mother, 87-year-old Ada Karmi-Melamede, one of Israel’s leading architects; Wake Up Grandson – Letters to My Rebellious Rabbi, a film by Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School founder Renen Schorr Heller, about his relationship with his grandfather, a great ultra-Orthodox scholar; and Outsider. Freud, a film by Yair Qedar about the life and work of Sigmund Freud.

‘MEDICAL SCHOOL’ (credit: UDI KALINSKI)

Films by international directors include Shelf Life, Ian Cheney’s philosophical and culinary journey into the world of cheese; Anselm, Wim Wenders’s poetic and stunning look at the work of sculptor and painter Anselm Kiefer; John Galliano: High and Low, a film by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald (Whitney, One Day in September), about the rise and fall of fashion designer John Galliano, who torpedoed his career with an antisemitic rant and has struggled to return to the ranks of elite fashion designers.

Festival premiere

The festival will open with a premiere screening of films by local creators participating in a film workshop, and the Open Stage for Local Artists project, which develops and promotes local creations with the support of Mifal Hapayis.

For the full program, go to the festival website at docaviv.co.il