Arava film fest debuts double outdoor screen

Producer Eyal Shiray will open the 15th Arava International Film Festival near Tzukim in the Central Arava on November 4. The event runs through November 14 and marks the first time the festival operates two outdoor screening venues. A donation from the Vidor family funded the second screen, enabling an expanded lineup that includes nine Israeli premieres and works by internationally recognized directors.

The festival began in 2012 through a partnership between Shiray and the Central Arava Regional Council. It has since become a distinct event on the Israeli film calendar, showcasing international selections and classic movies against the Arava mountains. The opening night focuses on films produced with support from the Negev Film Fund and shot in the Israeli desert.

Ruthy Pribar’s film What is to Come will screen during the opening. The movie stars Ronit Yudkevitch as a woman rediscovering her life after 40 years of marriage. Ya’akov Zada Daniel, known for his role in Fauda, appears as her boss. The international program features Reed Van Dyk’s feature debut, Atonement, which premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.

Atonement is based on a 2012 New Yorker article by Dexter Filkins. It depicts a 2003 incident in Baghdad where American troops killed three men from an Iraqi Armenian-Christian family. Boyd Holbrook plays Marine Lou D’Alessandro, who returns to the United States seeking forgiveness from the surviving family members. Hiam Abbass portrays the family matriarch, Mariam Khachaturian, while Kenneth Branagh plays the journalist who arranges their meeting.

Georgian director Levan Koguashvili will attend screenings of Guria with its cast and crew. The film is a comedy-drama set in a rural village in the early 1990s. It follows a farmer struggling with debt and his friend’s attempt to find him a romantic partner. The program also includes Florian Zeller’s psychological thriller Bunker, starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, and Paul Dano. Zeller previously won an Academy Award for The Father.

Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky examines the production of the boxing film that made Sylvester Stallone a star. Farrelly won Oscars for his work on Green Book. The schedule also lists new films by Nanni Moretti, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Cristian Mungiu, and Pawel Pawlikowski. A retrospective honoring festival adviser Edna Fainaru will show four Billy Wilder classics: Double Indemnity, Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment.

Atonement will screen on November 5 and November 12. The festival website aravaff.co.il/en/ provides further details on the program and ticketing.