Local Stories: Akevot's 10-year anniversary

To mark Akevot Institute’s ten-year anniversary, we take a look at the stories Israeli documentary cinema tells about our society and about the conflict, as well as the challenges facing those who set out to tell them.

Akevot Institute has been working since 2014 at the intersection of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, human rights and the archives.

STFU: Silencing Documentary Cinema, Here and Now

In the past year, Israel’s documentary film industry has come under increased pressure, and repeated efforts by far-right groups to impede the ability to tell complex stories about the country’s history are gaining traction. As part of a series of events to mark Akevot Institute’s ten-year anniversary, we talk to documentary filmmakers about silencing efforts and how they face them.

Thursday, February 6, 2025, 6:00 PM: Reading at Allenby, 43 Allenby St., Tel Aviv.

Participants: Neta Shoshani, Danel El-Peleg, Ayelet Heller, Noam Sheizaf. Moderator: Hagit Ben Yaakov.

Talk in Hebrew, with simultaneous translation to English. Event is free of charge but sitting is limited. Please register here to reserve your seat.

Agenda Item: Erasure (Israel, 2025)

Two months into the war in Gaza, seven political activists got together inside a closed, empty theater in Tel Aviv. Each of them fights the injustices of the state – violence, landgrab, erasure and obfuscation – in their own way.  They were asked to read the transcripts of government meetings dating back to 1948, which had been classified until recently and opened for access after a long struggle by Akevot Institute. Viewers watch the activists as they take their first look at the transcripts, exposed to documentation that was inaccessible for decades, and together with them, learn about dark aspects of Israeli history.  The film seeks to shed light on the connection between silencing crimes of the past and attempts to silence opposition to crimes of the present.

Director: Einat Weizman. Film produced by Akevot Institute.

33 minutes. Hebrew. Subtitles in Hebrew and English.

World premiere. The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Einat Weizman and film’s participants (with simultaneous translation to English).

Friday, February 7, 2025. 12:00, Tel Aviv Cinematheque (Auditorium 4).

Tickets at Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Cinematheque website

1948: Remember, Remember Not (Israel, 2023)

Two films that create one work about the 1948 War of Independence unfold along two axes. One in the past, retelling the events of the war through journals and letters that were written in real time – an ensemble of voices, Jewish and Arab, that create a human story about that dramatic war and allow a glimpse into the way the perception of this war was constructed on both sides. They’re accompanied by breathtaking original footage, a great part of it being shown for the first time.
In the present, the characters are battling over the war’s memory – researchers, archivists, members of the unit for detecting missing soldiers. Some are charges with maintaining the ethos, other with its deconstruction. Each one of them believes that how memory of this crucial war will be embedded is critical to the future of our lives here in Israel.

Director: Neta Shoshani

147 Minutes. Hebrew, English, Arabic. Subtitles in Hebrew and English.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Neta Shoshani.

Friday, February 7, 1:45pm. Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Auditorium 4.

Tickets at Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Cinematheque website

Blue Marks (Israel, 2024)

In recent years, particularly amid the violent suppression of protests against the judicial reform, public trust in the Israel Police has been lost. This is the culmination of a long process that went as far as appointing a convicted felon as the minister in charge,  but began long before that, when police violence was directed at Israel’s “backyard,” and then seeped into society at large.  The web series “Blue Marks,” produced by Akevot Institute, focuses on this violence through conversations with representatives of communities that are in constant conflict with the police and with retired senior police officers. In six episodes, the series tries to understand when and why the Israel Police lost the public’s trust, and why it continually fails when interacting with people who have mental health issues, members of the Jewish-Ethiopian community, members of the ultra-orthodox community and others.

Director: Matan Ben Moreh. Produced by Akevot Institute.

69 minutes. Hebrew. Subtitles in Hebrew and English.

Saturday, February 8, 12:30pm. Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Auditorium 2.

Tickets at Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Cinematheque website

The Governor (Israel, 2024)

Zvi Elpeleg, the director’s grandfather, was a military governor of the Arab citizens of Israel after the establishment of the State. The positive image Zvi presented slowly crumbles when the director reveals his true actions as a ruler in both his military and family life. As she uncovers a family secret, the personal and political merge, reflecting on one another. The film investigates the subject of control and draws a portrait of a country that has, and still is, constantly and obsessively, since its inception, dealing with controlling populations.

Director: Danel Elpeleg.

71 minutes. Hebrew, Arabic. Subtitles in Hebrew and English.

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 2:45pm. Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Auditorium 2.

Tickets at Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Cinematheque website

The 1957 Transcripts (Israel, 2024)

On 29 October 1956, 49 residents of the Palestinian village of Kafr Qasim were murdered in cold blood by soldiers of the Israeli Border Police. The victims were men and women returning from their work in the fields outside the village, as well as children. They were killed because they were unaware that the curfew had unexpectedly been brought forward on that day. The 1957 Transcripts unravels the background, execution and consequences of the massacre. It features the testimonies of survivors, historians and the journalist who brought the massacre to light three days later, and includes a re-enactment of the military trial of 11 of the soldiers involved. The reconstruction is based on recently released transcripts of the trial. In court, the soldiers said they were only following the orders of their superiors (“carrying out the order required killing”). Moreover, the film also reveals a political plan of ethnic cleansing. The outcome of the trial is shocking to anyone who believes in justice.

Director: Ayelet Heller.

75 Minutes. Hebrew, Arabic. Subtitles in Hebrew and English.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Ayelet Heller.

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 5:00pm. Tel Aviv Cinematheque,  Auditorium 2.

Tickets at Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Cinematheque website