Ronit
Avni
Director/Producer/Executive Producer

Ronit founded Just Vision to increase media attention and international support for Palestinians and Israelis working nonviolently to resolve the conflict. In six years, she and her team have created a far-reaching and ever-growing network of peacebuilders, community leaders, educators, journalists, film enthusiasts, activists and organizations eager to support the Palestinian and Israeli civic leaders profiled by Just Vision. Ronit directed and produced the documentary film, Encounter Point, which received the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary and was an official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs, Atlanta, Vancouver, Dubai and Jerusalem International Film Festivals. Encounter Point has screened at the International Finance Center, the United Nations and in Gaza, Tel Aviv, Jenin and more than 200 cities worldwide. She is currently producing a new documentary film, Budrus, which received the competitive 2009 Sundance Documentary Fund award, and was featured as a work-in-progress at Independent Film Week’s Spotlight on Documentaries series and at the Good Pitch at Silverdocs.

Ronit has personally represented Budrus, Encounter Point and Just Vision in dozens of cities around the world. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005 with her colleague, Joline Makhlouf, and her op-eds have appeared in the Washington Post, Haaretz, the Khaleej Times and the Huffington Post.

Before founding Just Vision, Ronit worked with Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization, WITNESS, which advances human rights advocacy using video and communications technology. At WITNESS, she worked with human rights defenders in Afghanistan, Senegal, Burkina Faso, the US and Brazil and trained NGOs from Honduras to the Gambia. She recently co-edited a book with WITNESS entitled, "Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism."

Ronit has been recognized with a variety of honors, including: a Young Global Leaders Award from the World Economic Forum, the Auburn Seminary’s Lives of Commitment Award and a Joshua Venture Fellowship for young, Jewish social entrepreneurs. She is a United Nation’s Global Expert through the Alliance of Civilizations, a source for journalists of reliable, thoughtful commentators on issues pertaining to East-West divides. Ronit graduated with honors with a BA in Political Science from Vassar College.

 

Filmography

  • Budrus (Producer, Executive Producer 2009)
  • 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 Berlin International Film Festival 2010 (Budrus)
  • Official Selection Dubai International Film Festival 2009 (Budrus)
  • 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)