Gidi Avivi

Gidi Avivi (born 1961) is an Israeli film producer, the founder of Vice Versa Films^[1] and a film festival director.

Education and Career

Avivi holds a Master's degree in Cinema Studies from New York University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film and Television from Tel Aviv University. Avivi was Head of the Music Department and a music programmer at the IDF radio station; additionally, Avivi was also the popular music critic for Haaretz from 1994 to 2006.^[2]^[3] Between 1994 and 1998 Avivi created (with Yoav Kutner, Ami Amir, Arik Bernstein and Gabriel Bibliowicz) a 12-part documentary series about the history of Israeli rock music, named “Sof Onat Hatapuzim” ("End of the Orange Season").^[4] In 2006 Avivi produced two documentary films: Bekummernis (with Ido Sela) and The Cahana Sisters (with Amir Harel and Gilad Melzer).^[5]^[6] In 2008 Avivi produced (with Yael Biron and Dror Nahum) a documentary about Ehud Banai and The Refugees - On The Move.^[7] In 2011 Avivi founded Vice Versa Films, a production house for innovative narrative fiction and documentary films.

EPOS – The International Art Film Festival

Since 2009, Avivi, with Micky Laron, is the Festival Director and the Artistic Director of EPOS, the International Art Film Festival .The festival is an annual event based in Tel Aviv. In its inaugural year, the festival guests were Ben Lewis, Sheila Hayman and Rene Letzgus.^[8] In 2010 EPOS 2 guests were Percy Adlon, Galina Eevtushenko, Lionel Guedj, Yony Leyser, Tom Magill, Sam McClean, Sergey Ovcharov, Tony Palmer, Viktoria Petranyi, Kathie Russo, Helma Sanders-Brahms, and Lucy Walker.^[9] EPOS 3 took place in Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2012, and some of its films were also shown in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beit She'an. The festival included a musical tribute to Dave Brubeck by his son, Darius Brubeck, after a screening of a documentary film by Clint Eastwood about the great jazz pianist. Among the festival's guests were Arantxa Aguirre, John Bridcut, Kevin Hood, Lech Majewski, Agnes Sos, Iwan Schumacher, Philipp Stolzl and Wiktoria Szymanska. EPOS 4 took place in Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2013, with additional screenings of its films in various venues in Israel. The opening film of the festival was 'Yossi Banai – A Farewell Album', In addition to the film screenings, the festival hosted cultural and musical events. "Imagination at Work", a new exhibition by Harun Farocki, who was the festival's guest, opened at Tel Aviv Museum of Art during the festival. The premiere of "The Composer's Cut", a new concert of Jonathan Bar Giora, closed EPOS 4. EPOS 5, a 10-day extended edition of the festival, took place in Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2014. The opening night film was "Mafriah ha-yonim" ("Farewell Baghdad), directed by Nissim Dayan.

Filmography

2014

Never Turn Your Back on Sparks (Working title, editing). Director: Pini Schatz;^[10] a documentary comedy about fans of the "coolest underrated rock band in the world": Sparks.^[11]
Ron Arad (Working title, editing). Director: Avida Livny; a documentary that follows Ron Arad, the world-renowned artist, as he works and exhibits his work in Jerusalem, Groningen, London, Holon and Tel Aviv.
East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem (working title, post production). Director: Henrique Cymerman and Erez Miller; a documentary about a new David Broza project that was recorded during 8 days and nights in a Palestinian studio in Sheikh Jarrah with a band consisting of Jewish and Arab musicians.

2013

Not Your Life (Original title: Lo Ha-Hayim Shelakh; Working title: Gora). Director: Tal Shefi; a personaldocumentary that focuses on her life choices and their meaning for her daughter,a half-Nepalese-half Israeli girl, who grows up in Goa.

2012

Chicken Soup with Knives (Original title: Merak Of Im Sakinim; Working title: This is Not a Holocaust Film). Director: Leora Eisenstein; a documentary about the filmmaker's investigative journey to Lviv, her family's hometown before World War II.

2011

Looking for Moshe Guez (Original title: Le'an Ne'elam Moshe Guez). Director: Avida Livny; a documentary about the filmmaker's search for the Israeli director Moshe Guez and his rarely seen feature film, The Angel was a Devil.^[12]
Running Movie (Original title: Seret Ratz). Director: Omer Peled; a documentary about the Israeli long-distance runner Seteng Ayele (AKA Haile Satayin), the oldest marathon runner in the 2008 Summer Olympic in Beijing and his efforts to compete at the age of 55, in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.^[13]

2008

On the Move (Original title: Hayav Lazuz). Director: Avida Livny; a film about courage, friendship and rock and roll, about Ehud Banai and Yossi Elephant, about the Israeli rock band "The Refugees", and especially about the passion for doing the right thing.

2006

The Cahana Sisters (Original title: Haahayot Cahana). Director: Gilad Melzer; a group portrait and dramatic life journey of four sisters who had survived the death camps together during the Holocaust.
Bekummernis. Director: Ido Sela; a personal documentary about the director's visit to kibbutz Kfar HaNassi - a magical childhood landscape that turns into a scene of crime.

1998

End of the Orange Season (Original title: Sof Onat Hatapuzim); an in-depth 12-part documentary series that explores the story of Israeli rock music from the 1960s to the 1990s.

References

External links

Gidi Avivi at the Internet Movie Database
Vice Versa Films Official Website
Vice Versa Films Official Facebook Page
On The Move - Official Website
EPOS-The International Art Film Festival - Official Website