Investigating social-political struggles through award-winning narrative and documentary films, Tel Aviv’s human rights film festival will take place for the 6th time this April. This years subjects will include globalization, refugees, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, hunger, poverty, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, environmental protection, and other significant world issues that deserve our attention.
The opening film, The Nile Hilton Incident, was the recipient of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival’s dramatic film in world cinema award. The story follows the Cairo police during Mubarak’s last days in power, looking into the murder of a famous pop star and discovering corruption in the upper levels of Egyptian government through an intense political thriller.
The festival’s topics range from past and current issues, in Israel and around the world, from the Lebanon War, to human trafficking in China, to a cultural revolution around the collapse of the Soviet Union.
A number of international films will premiere at the festival, such as winner of the 2017 IDFA award, Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas, about globalization in Ethiopia, Bones of Contention, about the struggle to honor the LGBTQ victims in Spain, 69 Minutes of 86 Days, following a charismatic three-year-old Syrian refugee, and others. And alongside these international works, Israeli premiere screenings will include Divine Daycare, about a preschool for refugees in South Tel Aviv, The Ramadan Cannon of Jerusalem, looking at both sides of Jerusalem during Ramadan, and many more by both Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers.
To encourage further dialogue on these crucial issues, discussions will be held after each screenings. Also, panels with the filmmakers, political activists, and press will follow a number of the showings. The festival is meant to construct a creative platform to raise awareness and promote peace, social justice, and freedom.
Wake up to our world’s brutal reality with award-winning films and help spread awareness at Solidarity, April 26th to May 1st at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. For more information, visit https://www.solidaritytlv.org/