Solidarity Film Festival spotlights human rights

The Solidarity Human Rights Film Festival is set to take place at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque from December 4 to 13, marking its 13th edition. The festival will offer ten days of film screenings, panel discussions, and special events that explore social and political issues both in Israel and globally.

Founded and directed by Danny Wilensky with Gidi Avivi as artistic director, the festival has established itself as a key event for audiences seeking films that address pressing topics such as democracy, freedom of expression, social inequality, and human rights.

This years lineup includes 25 Israeli premieres of international dramas and documentaries, many of which have received awards at major film festivals. The program will also showcase new Israeli productions and honor filmmakers whose work has focused on human rights themes.

The festival will open with Kontinental 25 by Romanian director Radu Jude, which received the Best Screenplay award at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival. The drama centers on an eviction officer facing a moral dilemma after being instructed to remove a homeless man from a basement destined to become a luxury hotel.

In addition to screenings, the festival will host the Solidarity Conference on Cinema and Human Rights on December 11 for the first time. This conference will explore the responsibilities of filmmakers, journalists, and cultural figures during times of conflict, reflecting on the past two years of unrest and the events of October 7. Participants will include former Supreme Court justice Hanan Melcer, former deputy attorney-general Dina Zilber, MK Ayman Odeh, former Meretz leader Zehava Galon, journalists Yaron London, Nir Hasson, and Rina Mazliah, as well as filmmakers Uri Barbash, Zohar Wagner, and Tom Shoval.

Wilensky and Avivi emphasize the festivals urgency, highlighting it as a platform to maintain public awareness on issues of equality, peace, and social justice through compelling cinema from Israel and abroad.

International Narrative Competition

The festivals international narrative competition will feature award-winning films such as:

• The Fourth Wall by David Oelhoffen, about a director attempting to stage a Greek tragedy in Beirut in 1982
• The Message by Ivn Fund, following a nine-year-old Argentine girl who is said to communicate with animals
• Vena by Chiara Fleischhacker, a German drama about a young mother struggling with addiction

Panorama Section

The Panorama section will showcase three international films and three Israeli premieres. International entries include documentaries on asylum seekers in Austria, intergenerational memory in Switzerland, and teenage life in a Dutch boarding school. Israeli films will explore social challenges, including:

• They Came to Take Me by Yaniv Berman, focusing on the detention of three women who distributed flyers for hostages in a synagogue
• Leviathan (Whale) by Elia Schwartz, following a girl and her father joining environmental activists protesting offshore gas rigs

Special Screenings

Beyond competitions, the festival will present a diverse selection of international films, including Beethovens Nine: Ode to Humanity by Larry Weinstein, exploring the symphonys global impact, and Blame by Christian Frei, a documentary on scientists entangled in COVID-19 conspiracy theories.

Tribute to Bilin Protests

The festival will also commemorate 20 years of protests in Bilin with screenings of Bilin, My Love, The Sea by Shai Carmeli-Pollak, and the Oscar-nominated 5 Broken Cameras by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi.

For further details, visit the festivals official website: https://www.solidaritytlveng.org/

Author: Sophia Brooks