The conference will be conducted via Zoom | 

This year’s Docaviv festival will include several Israeli films that focus on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In thinking about these films, two topics stand out: the story of the Zionist struggle and the founding of the state, from a contemporary perspective, as portrayed in Blue Box, Rothschild 16, and Nelson’s Last Stand; and the issues of treason, dissent  and criticism from within, as depicted in Riding with a Spy and The Good Soldier.

Moderator: Dr. Assaf David, director, Israel in the Middle East research cluster at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

With the participation of the filmmakers

First session: How Does Zionist Israel Tell Itself the Story of Its Founding? The Current Moment in Zionist Historiography of the Conflict

Participants:

Eli Osherov, doctoral candidate, Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and the Mandel School for Advanced Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Adv. Ameer Fakhoury, co-director, Nationalism and Partnership research group, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute; director, The School for Peace Research Center, Wahat al Salam–Neve Shalom

Dr. Rula Hardal, lecturer in political science and head of the School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, Al-Quds University, Abu Dis, East Jerusalem; participant in the Nationalism and Partnership research group, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

Anat Dan, doctoral candidate, Comparative Literature Program, University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation focuses on the intersection of documentary films, human rights, and the environmental humanities

Second session: Opposition from Within: Dissidents and Whistle-Blowers

Participants:

Dr. Anat Matar, Department of Philosophy, Tel Aviv University

Mikhael Menekin, co-director, Nationalism and Partnership research group, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute; Israeli Director at Alliance for Israel's Future

Adv. Sawsan Zaher,, deputy managing director, Adalah—The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel