Ronit Avni, Director/Producer/Executive Producer

Ronit Avni is the Founder and Executive Director of Just Vision, a non-profit that widens the influence of Palestinian and Israeli grassroots peace builders. She has co-produced short videos and online video advocacy features in collaboration with filmmakers in Senegal, Burkina Faso, the United States and Brazil while working for Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization, WITNESS. WITNESS advances human rights advocacy using video and communications technology. Ronit has trained non-governmental organizations from Honduras to the Gambia to produce videos as a tool for public education and grassroots mobilizing, as a deterrent to further abuse and as evidence before courts and tribunals. She wrote and produced a short documentary film, Rise, with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. Rise premiered at Makor in Manhattan and screened at the Women’s Film Festival in Seoul, Korea, and at the GlobalVisions Film Festival in Canada. Excerpts from Rise were featured on PBS’s World At Large. She was among eight American-based recipients of the 2003-2005 Joshua Venture Fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs. She was recently selected to receive the Auburn Seminary’s ‘Lives of Commitment’ Award. Ronit has lectured at American University, Concordia University, Minnesota University, Bard College, New York University, the New School and Vassar College. Ronit has written for Satya magazine and co-edited the book, Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism (Pluto Press, UK), with staff from WITNESS. Ronit’s essay, “Inverting the Shame-Based Human Rights Documentation Model in the Context of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,” was published in the spring 2006 edition of American Anthropologist.

Ronit graduated with honors with a BA in Political Science from Vassar College. She received a Burnam Fellowship to intern at B’Tselem: the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. While abroad, Ronit volunteered for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI). Ronit acquired a DEC in Professional Theatre Studies from Dawson College. She has directed plays for Show-Off and Threepenny Productions in Montreal.

Filmography

Encounter Point (Director, Producer, Executive Producer 2006)
Expelled (Associate Producer, 2001)
Following Antigone: Forensic Anthropology and Human Rights Investigations (Associate Producer, 2002)
Forgotten People (Associate Producer, 2001)
Fueling Abuse: Foreign Investment and Terror in Burma (Associate Producer, 2002)
Garifunas Holding Ground” (Writer/Producer, 2003)
No Place to Go (Associate Producer, 2002)
Now is the Hardest Time (Associate Producer, 2000/2002)
Postcards from Peje (Associate Producer, 2001)
Refuge (Co-Producer, 2001)
A Right to Justice (Associate Producer, 2001)
Rise (Writer/Producer, 2002) Ronit equipped the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan with a hidden camera in March 2001 while working for the human rights organization, WITNESS. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, RAWA sent footage to Ronit to produce "Rise".
The Road to Pineapple (Associate Producer, 2001)
Rule of the Gun in Sugarland (Associate Producer, 2001)
Set Apart (Senior Producer, 2001)
The Soul Eaters (Senior Producer, 2001)
Terra Nas Nossas Mãos (Supervising Producer, 2001)
Voices from Silence (Associate Producer, 2002)
Youth Interrupted (Associate Producer, 2001)

Festivals and Broadcast

Official Selection Tribeca 2006 (Encounter Point)
Official Selection Hot Docs 2006 (Encounter Point) *Voted Top 5 Audience Pick
Official Selection San Francisco International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point) *Winner, Audience Award, Best Documentary
Official Selection Dubai International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)
Official Selection Jerusalem International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)
Official Selection Bahamas International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point) *Winner, Spirit of Freedom Jury Prize
Official Selection Rio International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)
Official Selection Kansas International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)*Voted Top 5 Audience Pick
Official Selection Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2007 (Encounter Point)
Official Selection Charlotte International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)
Official Selection Rencontres International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)
Official Selection Vancouver International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point) *Opening Night
Official Selection Milwaukee International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)
Official Selection BEND International Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point) *Winner, Best Musical Score
Official Selection Atlanta Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)
Director’s Cut Work-in-progress True/False Film Festival 2006 (Encounter Point)
Director’s Cut Work-in-progress Screening Search for Common Ground 2006 (Encounter Point)
Women’s Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea, 2002 (Rise)
LadyFest in San Francisco, 2002 (Rise)
MAKOR, Mediarights.org series about Afghanistan, 2002 (Rise)
Globalvisions Film Festival in Edmonton, 2002 (Rise)
Excerpts featured at Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, 2002 (Rise)
Winner, Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, 2001 (Forgotten People)
PBS's World At Large broadcast excerpts of (Rise)
Sprout Film Festival, 2003 (Forgotten People)