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DOCAVIV 2022

Docaviv announces Israeli Competition, reveals opening film

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- The Devil Speaks: Eichmann’s Lost Confession by Yariv Mozer will kickstart the 24th edition of the event

Docaviv announces Israeli Competition, reveals opening film
The Devil Speaks: Eichmann's Lost Confession by Yariv Mozer

The 24th edition of Docaviv, the only Israeli festival dedicated exclusively to documentary cinema, is set to unspool from 26 May to 5 June 2022. While also offering an online selection of titles, it will host around 120 local and international documentaries.

The festival will open with the world premiere of The Devil's Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes [+see also:
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directed by Yariv Mozer (US, Israel). As described by the festival, 60 years after the famous trial, original recording reels of an interview with Eichmann in Argentina, conducted by Nazi journalist Sassen, are revealed. Shockingly, they seem to contradict his claims that he only “followed orders.” The film is produced by Alice Communications, MGM Television, Tadmor Entertainment and Toluca Pictures.

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The film will also compete in the Israeli competition, composed of 13 titles and 10 world premieres. Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf will focus on a place in Hebron that seemingly fuels the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict in H2: The Occupation Lab. “54 years of military occupation, told through the story of a one-kilometer-long street” – wrote the organisers. In Mini DV by Shauly Melamed, four LGBTQ+ adults confront their past by watching home video footage they shot of themselves when they were younger: Shauly explored his homosexuality, Tom faced his gender identity, Betty filmed her friends and lovers, and Rumia discovered her roots in drag.

The Bankers’ Trial by Eliav Lilti will show five citizens, led by attorney Barak Cohen, embarking on a crusade against the most powerful figures of the Israeli banking system. Finally, Ran Tal’s Berlinale title 1341 Frames of Love and War [+see also:
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, dedicated to Israel’s celebrated war photographer Micha Bar-Am, will also be screened.

The Best Israeli Documentary Award is worth ILS 70,000 and Docaviv also offers the winner an additional grant of ILS 100,000 to be used toward promotion in preparation for the Academy Awards. However, the event will also introduce a new award this year: the Time Frame Award, granting a ILS 50,000 prize for a documentary inspired by the history of Israel and Israeli society.

In other sections, Tal Elkayam will explore the disturbing reality existing between the beaches of Tel Aviv and the hills and valleys of the West Bank in Figure-Ground [+see also:
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]
, with the help of YouTube material, while Hanan Yehiely will go personal in Savta, delivering an intimate dialogue between a grandmother and her young grandson. The Baby Daddy by Adi Rabinovici and Yair Cymerman, about a mathematics professor and serial sperm donor who has fathered more than 100 children, is bound to raise some eyebrows, and Tal Inbar’s Closed Circuit will bring back the memory of the 2016 terrorist attack in the heart of Tel Aviv. 

In this year’s Beyond the Screen Competition, presented in memory of Docaviv founder Ilana Tsur, two Israeli films will celebrate their world premieres: The Prostitution Monologues by Tamar Yarom, in which several women share their stories, trying to move beyond stigma, and 40 Steps [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
by Gad Aisen and Manor Birman.

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