Arava film festival celebrates movies shaped by the desert

The Arava International Film Festival, which will take place from November 4-14 near Tzukim in the Central Arava, will bring an international selection of acclaimed new films, special guests, and classic movies to its spectacular outdoor screening venues beneath the desert sky.

The best of upcoming Israeli films will also be shown.

Now in its 15th edition, the festival has become one of Israel’s most distinctive cinematic events on the Israeli film scene. Founded in 2012 by producer Eyal Shiray in partnership with the Central Arava Regional Council, it offers audiences the opportunity to see films from around the world against the backdrop of the Arava mountains.

Festival to feature two screens for first time

This year, for the first time, the festival will feature two outdoor screens, allowing it to present an expanded program that includes nine Israeli premieres, films by internationally renowned directors, and a tribute to Billy Wilder. The second screening venue was made possible by a donation from the Vidor family.

The opening evening, November 4, will focus on films made with support from the Negev Film Fund and shot in the Israeli desert.

What is to Come, the latest film by Ruthy Pribar starring Ronit Yudkevitch, will be screened. It follows a woman who finds herself alone after 40 years of marriage and embarks on a journey of rediscovery. It co-stars Ya’akov Zada Daniel of Fauda as her boss, who may become the new man in her life.

One of the most intriguing films in the international program is Reed Van Dyk’s Atonement, a moving drama about the Iraq War and its devastating aftermath, starring Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass, Boyd Holbrook, and Kenneth Branagh.

The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight, is based on a true story recounted in a 2012 New Yorker article by journalist Dexter Filkins. It tells the story of a US Marine involved in a tragic incident in Baghdad in 2003, when American troops opened fire on vehicles carrying members of an Iraqi Armenian-Christian family, killing three men.

Holbrook plays Lou D’Alessandro, a Marine who returns to the United States haunted by his role in the killings. Nearly a decade later, he seeks to meet the surviving family members and ask for their forgiveness.

Abbass, best known internationally for her leading role in the series Succession, portrays Mariam Khachaturian, the family’s matriarch, who has rebuilt her life in California but continues to live with the consequences of the tragedy. It’s one of Abbass’s greatest performances, and that’s saying something.

Branagh plays journalist Michael Reid, who helps arrange the meeting between the former Marine and the family.

Rather than presenting the war exclusively through the experiences of American soldiers, Van Dyk explores its impact on Iraqi civilians and the difficult questions surrounding guilt, responsibility, and reconciliation.

Van Dyk, whose short film DeKalb Elementary received an Academy Award nomination, makes his feature directing debut with Atonement. The film will be screened on November 5 and 12.

International filmmakers to attend festival 

Among the international filmmakers expected at the festival is Georgian director Levan Koguashvili, who will attend screenings of his film Guria with members of its cast and crew.

Set in a village in western Georgia in the early 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Guria is a comedy-drama about friendship, economic hardship, and the traditions of rural life. The film follows a farmer struggling with debt and his friend, who attempts to help him find a new romantic partner. Traditional Georgian polyphonic singing plays an important role in the film.

Other highlights include Florian Zeller’s Bunker, a psychological thriller starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, and Paul Dano. Zeller is best known for The Father, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky explores the making of the boxing classic that transformed Sylvester Stallone into a star. Farrelly won Oscars for producing and co-writing Green Book.

French director Cédric Kahn’s A Place to Heal focuses on two teenage girls receiving psychiatric treatment, while Austrian director Sandra Wollner’s Everytime, which won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes this year, explores grief and loss.

The program also includes new films by acclaimed directors Nanni Moretti, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Cristian Mungiu, and Pawel Pawlikowski.

A special retrospective honoring the late film journalist and festival adviser Edna Fainaru will feature four Billy Wilder classics: Double Indemnity, Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment. Seeing them under the stars will only add to the fun.

For more information, go to the festival website at aravaff.co.il/en/