The 14th edition of the Arava International Film Festival will take place from November 12 – 22, 2025 with outdoor screenings in the natural beauty of the Ashush Nature Reserve in the Arava Region of the Southern Negev. Founded in 2012, this year’s festival will include a diverse program of about 30 films, including exclusive premieres, award-winning films, new Israeli films, films for children and youth, and timeless classics. The Ashush Art Gallery in the Zuqim Artists Village will host a special exhibit with photos from past festivals. Hundreds of high school film majors from 8 different schools throughout the country will attend this year’s festival.
The internationally esteemed director Sergei Loznitsa will be a guest of the festival with his latest film Two Prosecutors. From its ominously grim aesthetic to its Kafkaesque narrative, the film is compelling and chillingly relevant. Featured in the Official Competition at Cannes, the historical drama, is based on the eponymous novel by Georgy Demidov. Set in the Soviet Union of 1937, during the time of Stalin’s purges, prisoners are permitted to appeal, but their letters are bound for destruction. Somehow, the old man tasked with burning the letters decides to hold on to one of them, and it finds its way to a young, idealistic prosecutor. Aleksandr Kuznetsov stars as Kornyev, a prosecutor who feels the responsibility to investigate the matter further and seek justice for the prisoner. Despite efforts to dissuade him, and hours of waiting in corridors, he persists, eventually reaching the chief prosecutor Vyshinsky (Anatoliy Beliy). Israeli audiences might recognize the actor Beliy, who has relocated to Israel and has performed at the Gesher Theatre, as well as in the Israeli film Halisa. Both Kuznetsov and Beliy deliver outstanding performances, yet although their sparring characters may be equal in intellect and determination, it is clear where the power lies. Although set in 1937, the film represents a dire warning – how democracy can be eroded to the point of obliteration.
Five films will hold their Israeli premiere at the festival: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, directed by Diego Céspedes, which was awarded the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes; At Work, directed by Valérie Donzelli, awarded Best Screenplay at the Venice International Film Festival; Made in Eu, a pointed social drama by Bulgarian Director Stephan Komandarev; Summer Beats, a coming-of-age drama directed by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret; and Kokuho, directed by Lee Sang-il, which has been selected to represent Japan at the Oscars.
Among the films to be screened are three more (in addition to Two Prosecutors) from the Official Competition at Cannes: The Secret Agent, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, a political thriller set in the final years of the Brazilian military dictatorship, for which Mendonça Filho was awarded Best Director, and Wagner Moura, who starred as a teacher trying to escape persecution, was awarded Best Actor.
Sentimental Value, winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, directed by Joachim Trier, stars Renate Reinsve (who won the Cannes Best Actress Award for her performance in The Worst Person in the World) as Nora, the estranged daughter of filmmaker Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård). Abandoned by their father, who left when they were young girls, Nora and her sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) made very different life choices. Nora pursues a career onstage (despite paralysing stage fright), while Agnes has a more traditional life, she is married with a child and a stable job. Following the death of their mother Sissel, Gustav approaches Nora with an invitation to star in his upcoming film, which he plans to shoot in their family home in Norway. It’s perhaps an attempt to mend relationships, but Nora refuses the role, and it is given instead to an American actress, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning). The film follows Gustav and Rachel as they work on the film that was meant for Nora, and the two sisters Nora and Agnes as they navigate the feelings and traumas of the past and present, looking to the future.
The Little Sister, written and directed by Hafsia Herzi, the screenplay is adapted from Fatima Daas’s debut novel The Last One (La Petite Dernière). Nadia Melliti stars as Fatima, 17, the youngest of three daughters in a French-Algerian family who is torn between her desire to forge her own path in life, and her sense of loyalty to her family. Melliti won the Best Actress Award in the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival for her role.
Additional films to be screened include: Silent Friend, directed by Ildikó Enyedi, which won the FIPRESCI prize at Venice, a unique film which follows an ancient gingko tree through three narratives taking place in different eras; Adam’s Sake, directed by Laura Wandel, which opened Critic’s Week at Cannes; Meteors, directed by Hubert Charuel, a social drama set in rural France, depicting the struggle of two friends to set their life on course; Left-Handed Girl, directed by Shih-Ching Tsou, and co-written with Sean Baker, it was selected as the Taiwanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards; Leave One Day, directed by Amélie Bonnin, a musical comedy which opened the Cannes Film Festival; and Nino, directed by Pauline Loquès, and starring Théodore Pellerin who won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award at Cannes.
The Classic Film program includes several cinematic gems: Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (1925), celebrating its centennial; Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt (1963); Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966); George Roy Hill’s The Sting (1973); Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974); Michel Franco’s After Lucia (2012); and Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (2009).
Three regional funds have recently united and will work as one funding organization as United Negev Film Fund. The festival’s opening night will be dedicated to this unification with screenings of short films produced through the support of the fund, as well as Eyal Halfon’s film A Burning Man, which was awarded Best Film in the Israeli Competition at the Haifa International Film Festival, and its star, Shai Avivi was awarded Best Actor. The festival’s Israeli program will also include Eti Tsicko’s Nandauri, which won several Ophir Awards, including Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Cinematography.
The Arava International Film Festival is the initiative of producer Eyal Shiray in cooperation with the Central Arava Regional Council. The festival is supported by the Central Arava Regional Council, The Ministry of Culture and Sport Film Council, Mifal HaPais, The Office for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, and the Ministry of Regional Cooperation.
Information on the festival and local accommodations may be found on the festival website: www.aravaff.co.il
