This book uncovers the aesthetically innovative and politically daring documentary films made in Israel during the 1960s and 1970s, a period often overshadowed by the focus on narrative cinema. Through meticulous archival research, it reveals how these documentaries not only preceded the Israeli "new wave" but also played a crucial role in shaping it. The book explores the conflict between Israeli documentarians and state-governed institutions over censorship, particularly regarding politically sensitive themes like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Readers will encounter key concepts such as the ethics of documentary filmmaking, the influence of European and American modernism, and the transnational aspects of Israeli cinema. The book highlights the works of pioneering filmmakers like David Perlov and Ram Loevy, who navigated state-imposed constraints to create films that challenged official narratives. It also revisits the contributions of overlooked female filmmakers, offering a fresh perspective on Israeli women's cinema. Ideal for researchers and students in Israel studies, film studies, and Middle Eastern studies, this book provides a nuanced understanding of Zionist ideology, Israeli society, and the evolution of documentary cinema. It is an essential resource for anyone interested in the intersection of art, politics, and history in Israeli film.

Shmulik Duvdevani is Assistant Professor at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University. He is a scholar of Israeli cinema, Israeli documentaries and the ethics of documentary filmmaking and spectatorship. He is the author of First Person Camera (2010) that deals with Israeli personal documentaries (I movies) and The First Modernists: The Rise of Documentary Art Cinema in Israel (2023), a pioneering study on Israeli modernist documentaries of 1960's and 1970's which won a grant from the Israel Science Foundation.