Cinema South Festival

Cinema South Festival - The Official Trailer

The Cinema South Festival of the School of Audio and Visual Arts at Sapir has been held every year since 2001 at the Sderot Cinematheque and across the city, in the communities and kibbutzim of the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council and the neighboring councils, and in towns throughout the south.The Cinema South Festival is one of the 5 largest and oldest film festivals in Israel, and over its 23 years has hosted hundreds of creators from Israel and around the world, from a wide range of creative fields for cinema, television, animation, soundtracks, acting and more. Our guests, the creators, the audiences, and the partners who have joined the journey have brought the Cinema South Festival to its 22nd year as a major cultural event that is at once very local, telling the southern story with a broad prism of perspectives, but is also universal, capturing through the films it screens the story of the global south, that of the broad margins in society, in art, in culture, in all its nuances. The activity of the Cinema South Festival and the School of Audio and Visual Arts has taken place over the years under unique conditions and at the vortex of a security and human conflict that is deep, complex, and dangerous. It is hard not to notice the manifestations of these living conditions in the school’s films, in the various anthologies, in the events and meetings at the festival, and in the unique atmosphere that each guest feels upon entering the festival premises: a combination of freedom, creative spirit, and constant vigilance. 2023 is the first year in the history of the festival that it did not take place. We hope to see you at the various screening complexes of the "Cinema South Festival on the Road" across the country, and wish our audiences a shared respite, a longing for what was and is not, and hope for new growth.
 

Sapir's School of Audio and Visual Arts, launched in 2001, the Cinema South Film Festival in collaboration with the Sderot Cinematheque.  It has grown from a small event that screened student films to a weeklong international film festival. The region's leading cultural event, Cinema South it is the only film festival in the western Negev, Israel's southern periphery in close proximity to the Gaza border. Annually, some 20,000 people participate in movie screenings, music performances and events on Sapir's campus, at the Sderot Cinematheque and in local communities. 

Known for its focus on authentic, independent, edgy and creative films, Cinema South screens Israeli and international films that feature people and places on the margins. The Festival highlights filmmakers that utilize cinema as a powerful tool to explore significant issues in society. 

Prestigious Stage for the Next Generation of Artists
Cinema South offers our students, alumni and other independent artists a significant national and international platform to premiere their films, meet with leading Israeli and international artists, producers and distributors. They participate in advance showings, workshops and master classes with industry experts, gaining insight and tools. 

Annually, the Festival screens students' documentaries that sensitively illustrate local stories and resilience, reflecting life in Israel's south.

Cinema South has premiered the best of award winning Israeli films including: Shiva and Gett (Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz), Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman), Footnote (Yosef Cedar), Ajami (Yaron Shani & Scandar Copti), HaMashgichim (Meni Yaish), That Lovely Girl (Keren Yedaya), Beyond The Mountains and Hills (Eran Kolirin), Turn Left at the End of the World (Avi Nesher), Zero Motivation (Talya Lavie) and many more. 

Among the prominent international artists hosted in recent years are: Marcel Ophuls Carlos Reygadas, Kirsten Johnson, Richard Gere, Albert Maysles, Mania Akbari, Sergei Loznitsa, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Bruno Dumont, Pablo Larraín, Dominga Sotomayor, Denis Côté, Natalia Alameda, Brillante Mendoza and Bing Wong. 

Cinema South Awards: Each year, alumni and independent artists submit their films for Cinema South Film Award Competitions for Best New Artist and Best Short Film. 

For more information

   tamirh@sapir.ac.il  |  lihib@sapir.ac.il
 077-9802549           | 077-9802787

Festival address

Sapir Academic College, Building 2
D.N. Hof Ashkelon, Shaar Hanegev 7916500