Int’l Student Film fest to feature prize in memory of Avi Nesher’s son

The award – in the amount of NIS 5,000 – will be given to the winner of the short, independent film competition at the festival.

By HANNAH BROWN
Avi Nesher with his son Ari (photo credit: RAFI DELOYA)
Avi Nesher with his son Ari
(photo credit: RAFI DELOYA)
The 21st Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, which will take place this year from June 16-22 at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and throughout the city, announced Tuesday that it will award a special prize in memory of Ari Nesher, who was killed last year in an accident.
The festival chose to award this prize as a tribute to Ari Nesher, the son of director Avi Nesher, who loved cinema and was a student in the filmmaking track at Thelma Yellin High School. Although he died at 17, he had already made several short films that showed great promise.
The award – in the amount of NIS 5,000 – will be given to the winner of the short, independent film competition at the festival, which will feature 13 feature films, documentaries and animated films by independent Israeli artists.
The festival’s directors, Mya Kaplan and Talia Wigoder, said in a statement: “We chose to dedicate the award for the most promising young independent film director to Ari Nesher, the son of Avi Nesher, a dear friend of the festival who also served as chairman of the judges’ panel in the Israeli competition. Ari was a director and a gifted actor at the beginning of his career, a rising star and a promising young artist. Both films he directed showed his love of humanity, an openness and an embrace of the world and a desire to explore the social fabric around him. The last film he worked on was his high school graduation project. He had a great interest in young people and their group dynamics, and the film he developed but never completed was about the journey of a group of young people. Ari was a boy and a creator who was modest and full of awareness of the people close to him, and he loved them all without exception. We share the sorrow of the Nesher family, embrace them and the beautiful work that Ari was involved in.”
The Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival – one of the most important student festivals in the world – will present several new competitions, feature 150 films from Israel and abroad and host dozens of distinguished guests. There will be competitions and events all over the city.
The festival is produced and managed by film students at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University.