National Library's Docu.Text film festival goes online
This year’s international festival highlights some of the best Israeli documentary films from recent years.
By HANNAH BROWNA SHOT from the film ‘Golda’.(photo credit: Courtesy)
Read all about it: the National Library of Israel’s sixth annual Docu.Text Film Festival is going digital this year, with festivals in both the US and Israel, November 15-25.Both festivals feature award-winning documentary films, Q and A sessions, and a number of special events. All the events are free, while viewers need to pay to stream the films.This year’s international festival highlights some of the best Israeli documentary films from recent years. A number of these are about the arts, including Black Honey: The Life and Poetry of Avraham Sutzkever, by Uri Barbash, which will be followed by a look at archival treasures from the legendary Yiddish poet housed at the National Library of Israel (NLI) and the National Library of Lithuania; The Wonderful Kingdom of Papa Alaev, a portrait of one of Tajikistan’s most famous musical families, directed by Tal Barda and Noam Pinchas, followed by a Q and A with one of the filmmakers; and Dani Menkin’s Picture of His Life, a portrait of renowned nature photographer Amos Nachoum, followed by a Q and A with Nachoum.Another film based on rare archival material, Golda, looks at the tenure of the first and only woman to serve as prime minister of Israel, which will be followed by a talk with Dr. Michal Asaf Kremer. The film was directed by Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein and Shani Rozanes.The other films explore a wide range of topics, including Ethiopian immigration and stolen identity during the Nazi era.The Israeli festival will feature both Israeli and international documentary films, with a number of films and talks related to cultural and political protests, including Meet the Censors by Havard Fossum, a firsthand look at censorship from Iran to China; Four Mothers, by Dana Keidar and Rephael Levin, about the struggle of four women to get Israel to withdraw from Lebanon in the 1990s; and several more.Films on female writers will be screened, including Giacomo Durzi’s Ferrante Fever, a look at the impact of the work of the mysterious novelist Elena Ferrante; Margaret Atwood: A Word after a Word after a Word is Power, by Nancy Lang and Peter Raymont; and Ron Omer’s Rain in Her Eyes, about legendary children’s author Dvora Omer, followed by a look at items from her archive at the NLI and a conversation with her son, who made the film, which just received an Ophir Award.The Docu.Text Film Festival is produced in collaboration with the Docaviv Film Festival. International Docu.Text is part of Gesher L’Europa, the NLI’s initiative to share stories and connect with people, institutions and communities in Europe and beyond.For more information and tickets, please visit: https://docutext.nli.org.il/english
