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DOCAVIV 2021

Karin Rywkind Segal • Directora artística, Docaviv

"La capacidad de cuestionar y subir nuestra propia voz es crucial para la democracia"

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- La directora artística de Docaviv nos habla de la 23ª edición del festival, que tiene lugar del 1 al 10 de julio

Karin Rywkind Segal  • Directora artística, Docaviv

Este artículo está disponible en inglés.

We chatted to Docaviv's artistic director, Karin Rywkind Segal, on the occasion of the festival's 23rd edition, which is currently unspooling from 1-10 July.

Cineuropa: This will be your first live festival since the pandemic started, and it's happening in the midst of yet another crisis. How are you dealing with all of this?
Karin Rywkind Segal:
When planning a festival under these conditions, there are always uncertainties. This is our 23rd edition, and we have been through some distressing times in the past, but we just do our very best to continue with our mission to expose as wide an audience as possible to superb and meaningful documentaries. Also, taking into account these unstable times, we had decided to produce a hybrid edition that includes indoor and outdoor screenings as well as an online edition.

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How would you describe your selection for the international and national competitions? Are there maybe any trends or particular titles you'd like to highlight?
The Israeli Competition explores in-depth biographies of iconic cultural figures, troubling encounters with the country's past, poetic and personal stories, gems from the periphery, probes into little-explored issues such as therapy conversion, road movies, and the pandemic seen from a unique perspective. This competition offers a layered view of our society, but also different approaches to storytelling and often-daring explorations.

The International Competition is a rich and often troubling kaleidoscope of films, hand-picked from this year's impressive crop. What we looked for were diverse voices to take our audiences on a journey that will expose them to the different varieties of titles in this genre and the stories that make it so diverse.

In addition, throughout the festival programme, there are quite a few trends that are very visible: the pandemic filmed and depicted through different cinematic approaches, as well as poetic, environmental films that explore our relationship with nature. Plus, a close look at powerful protests from around the world which manifest an urgency for freedom of speech and democracy.

Tell us a little about the Beyond the Screen competition.
We launched this award last year, as we learned that specific films that we screen often have an impact that goes literally beyond their screening, meaning that the audiences have an urge to help or to make a difference, both actively and mentally. The competition stems from a diverse range of possibilities for change; it also touches on the issue of acceptance, and shows the beauty and complexity of people who want to make a difference and raise often silenced voices, or take different approaches to making things better.

To highlight this award, we have named this year’s prize in memory of Docaviv’s founder, Ilana Tzur, who passed away last September, on the day the 2020 festival opened. She was an advocate of freedom of speech and believed that documentary has the power to create change.

Docaviv has at times been under pressure for screening films perceived by some as "anti-Israeli". At the same time, the government supports the festival financially. Is this contrast more pronounced in this time of crisis?
Docaviv is independent and always has been with its decision-making and film selections. We are partly funded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, as are most of the major cultural organisations, festivals and many of the films themselves, as it should be. Having said that, as I see it, one of the major roles of art is to challenge, to ask questions and to bring to the surface burning issues of many sorts. This is crucial for democracy: the ability to question and raise a voice. We select our films for their artistic merits, and yes, they could sometimes be uncomfortable for some, but as we are a documentary film festival, we select pictures that reflect on our reality and use it to spark a dialogue and elicit a range of opinions.

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