Tel Aviv Cinematheque Invites You to the Solidarity Film and Human Rights Festival 2025

This year's festival program includes approximately 25 premiere screenings in Israel of new and award-winning international films, both narrative and documentary, from major film festivals around the world, alongside premiere screenings of Israeli films and tributes to prominent Israeli filmmakers and films dealing with human rights issues.

Also this year, within the framework of the festival, produced by the Solidarity for Art, Activism and Human Rights Association, three competition frameworks for full-length films will be held - an international narrative film competition, an international documentary film competition, and a panorama competition for human rights films from Israel and around the world. In addition, competitions will be held for short films, student films, and youth creative films by high school students, in order to encourage quality Israeli film production on human rights.

As part of the festival, special events will be held in cooperation with human rights organizations and professional associations in the film industry, as well as discussions on human rights issues and meetings with filmmakers after special screenings of their films.

On 11.12, the first Solidarity Conference for Film and Human Rights will take place, focusing on the role and mission of film, media and culture in times of war. The conference will include filmmakers, representatives of human rights organizations, politicians, academics, media and culture figures, including: the President of the Press Council Hanan Melcer, Adv. Dina Zilber, MK Ayman Odeh, Zehava Galon, Yaron London, Akiva Eldar, Gili Izikovich, Nir Hasson, Muhammad Majadla, Rina Matzliah, Orly Noy, Lior Elephant, Uri Barabash, Netali Braun, Zohar Wagner, Shai Carmeli-Pollak, Ibtisam Mara'ana, Tom Shoval, Noam Shizaf, Osnat Trabelsi, Prof. Daniel Bar-Tal, Dr. Tali Zilbershtein and Adv. Oded Feller.

Danny Vilensky - Founder and Director of the Festival, and Gidi Aviv - Artistic Director: "The existence of the Solidarity Film and Human Rights Festival precisely now - given the importance of struggles for the existence of independent Israeli cinema, free media and human rights after two years of war and the beginning of dealing with the events of October 7 and their consequences - is made out of commitment to the issues and values ​​that shape the festival. The Solidarity Festival is held out of a desire to promote Israeli cinema and raise central socio-political issues to public discourse in Israel through the screening of groundbreaking films on human rights from Israel and around the world, films that strive to promote peace, democracy and human rights alongside equality and social justice. This is the thirteenth edition of the festival, and given the situation in Israel and around the world, it seems to us that the need for its existence is more vital than ever."

The International Narrative Film Competition: presents an exceptional selection of award-winning films from around the world, including the festival's opening film - “Continental ‘25” (Kontinental ‘25) by Romanian director Radu Jude, winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival, which examines moral and human responsibility in modern Europe.

The International Documentary Film Competition: In which six films will compete, presenting human and sensitive views on personal and social struggles around the world.

Panorama Competition for Films from Israel and the World: Presents six narrative and documentary films in premiere screenings - three international and three Israeli - offering unique perspectives on struggles for human rights in a contemporary reality of immigration, identity and memory, through the lenses of creators from around the world.

International Screenings Outside the Competition: A rich collection of documentary and narrative films from around the world.

The Israeli Program: This year's program will feature some of the most prominent and moving documentary films made in Israel in recent years. Among them are films dealing with human rights.

For the full festival program and reservations: www.solidaritytlv.org

And on the Tel Aviv Cinematheque website: https://www.cinema.co.il/

(Photo: Courtesy of the Solidarity Film and Human Rights Festival 2025)