Yaël Bitton is a film-maker-editor-writer, and story consultant.
She has been making films for over 25 years and pursues collaborations with filmmakers around the world.
Additionally to her editor’s endeavours, she works independently as mentor, editing and story consultant
as well as for Rough Cut Service, Doc Nomads, DokIncubator, Doc Montevideo, Circle, Visions du Réel,
Ex Oriente, Doc Aviv, and Doc Point.
She has been working as an editing tutor at the HEAD/Geneva in the Bachelor of Arts in Cinema
department since 2008.
Yaël is a member of The Oscars Academy in the documentary branch.
She won the Sima editing award for Radio Silence by Juliana Fanjul in 2020,
and the Best editing at Israel documentary forum for Advocate by RL Jones and Philippe Bellaiche in 2019.
As an editor, some of her credits include:
– Kix by David Mikulan and Balint Revesz 2022/23(editor)
Prod. ARTE/Cinéphage/Elf Pictures Hungary
– Sound of thunderstorm by Biljana Tutorov 2022/23 (editor and writer)
Prod. Wake up films /Les films de l’oeil sauvage
– Invisible Demons by Rahul Jain 2021 (editor and writer)
Prod. Participant media/Ikka Vehkalahti/Majade
(Cannes Film Festival 2021, BFI 2021, Zurich Intl Film Festival 2021…)
– Hijos del Viento by Felipe Monroy 2021/22 (editor)
Prod. Adok Films/RTS
(Soleure 2023; Visions du réel 2022; BIFF 2022; EDOC 2022…)
– Origins of the species by Abigail Child 2020 (editing consultant)
(DOC NYC 2020)
– Dans tes yeux je vois mon pays by Kamal Hachkar 2019/2020 (editor)
Prod.H’Kart Studio/Timbia films
(PCMMO 2021;Tangier film festival 2020// WINNER Jury award; PriMed 2020; Durban Int film festival 2020;Marrakech Intl film festival 2019…)
– Radio Silence by Juliana Fanjul 2019/2020 (editor)
Prod. Akka films /Cactus films Mexico
(FIFDH 2020 //WINNER Prix Gilda Vieira de Mello; Fipadoc 2020; Ambulante 2020; DOKFEST 2020 Compétition Horizonte; Millenium -Festival international du documentaire ; FIPADOC 2020- Compétition Impact; Solothurner Filmtage 2020;Journées du Soleure; Idfa 2019…)
– Advocate by Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaiche 2019 (editor)
Prod. Homemade docs/Paul Cadieux/Close up films
(Emmy 2021//WINNER Best Documentary; Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) // WINNER Best Documentary Feature; International Documentary Association Awards (IDA) // NOMINEE Best Documentary Feature and Best Directing; Producers Guild of America (PGA) //NOMINEE Best Documentary Feature; European Film Awards (EWA) // Documentary Selection; Israel Documentary Forum Awards // WINNER Best Documentary Feature; Cinema Eye Honors // HONOREE The Unforgettables; Social Impact Media Awards // Winner Best Directing;Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival // WINNER Golden Alexander; Thessaloniki International Film Festival // WINNER FIPRESCI Prize; Hong Kong Film Festival // WINNER Jury Prize; Docaviv Film Festival // WINNER Best Israeli Documentary; Krakow Film Festival //WINNER Golden Horn; Moscow Jewish Film Festival // WINNER Best Documentary Feature; Antenna Film Festival // WINNER Best Film; Antenna Film Festival // WINNER Audience Award; Festival des Libertés // WINNER Prix Smart; Loft Film Festival // WINNER Cinema Art Award // International Confederation of Art House Cinemas; UK Jewish Film Festival // WINNER Best Documentary; Verzio Human Rights Film Festival // WINNER Best Human Rights Film;Palm Springs Film Festival // WINNER GoE Bridging the Borders)
– D’Angelo-The chosen one by Carine Bjilsma 2019 (editor)
Prod. Interakt/Pulse Films/SIgnificant productions
(Tribeca film festival 2019; LA film festival 2019//WINNER Best Music Documentary; Chicago 2019 //The Audience Honorable mention award; nominated for the Golden Kalf awards in Holland 2019; and the Eurosonic media prize 2020)
– The Edge of Democracy by Petra Costa 2019 (editing and story consultant)
Prod. Netflix/Busca Vida filmes
(Oscar shortlist 2020; Netflix release; Sundance International competition 2019; and many more)
– One more Jump by Manu Gerosa 2019 (editing supervisor)
Prod. Amka films/Graffitis Films
(PriMed 2020// WINNER 3 awards Prix des Jeunes de la Méditerranée, Prix Première Oeuvre and Prix à la diffusion 2M; PRIX EUROPE for BEST DOCUMENTARY 2020; Kazan Film Festival 2020//WINNER Prize of the Russian Guild of Film Critics; Trento Film Festival 2020//WINNER prize Cinema AmoRe; London Palestine Film Festival; Other Israel FF; Docs MXvisions du réel 2020…)
– Retrospective by Jérôme Bel 2019 (editor)
(Sheffield 2020, FID Marseille 2019, Doc Lisboa 2019)
– Soeurs Jarariju by Jorge Cadena 2018 (editor)
Prod. Golden Egg Productions
(Berlinale 2019 Generation// SPECIAL MENTION; Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival// Special mention of jury…)
– Las fantasmas del Caribe by Felipe Monroy 2018 (editor)
Prod. Adok films/RTS
(International competition Visions du réel 2018; Malaga Film Festival 2019)//WINNER Best Documentary director)
– Disappearances by Anat Even 2016 (editor)
(Doc Aviv 2017)
– Machines by Rahul Jain 2016 (editor)
(Griersons awards 2017//WINNER Best documentary ; Sundance film festival 2017//WINNER Best Cinematography; Thessaloniki International film festival//WINNER International Jury award, Human value award, FIPRESCI award; Doc Fortnight MOMA opening film, and many more)
– Thy father’s chair by Antonio Tibaldi and Alex Lora 2015 (story editor and editing consultant)
(L’Alternativa Film Festival 2016 //WINNER Jury Prize; Euganea Film Festival 2017//WINNER Best International Documentary;Filmmaker Film Festival 2016; IDFA 2015 Competition Feature-Length Documentary; Danish Film Institute ; Docaviv; Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival; Belfast Film Festival ; DocumentaMadrid; San Francisco Jewish Film Festival; Message to Man International Film Festival; DOC NYC; Dokufest (Kosovo); Verzio Film Festival; Flahertiana IDFF; Antenna International Documentary Film Festival; Docudays UA ;True/False Film Fest; Open City Docs; Biografilm Festival | International Celebration of lives ; Docs Against Gravity Film Festival…)
– The wonderful kingdom of Papa Alaev by Noam Pinchas and Tal Barda 2015 (editor)
– Muchachas by Juliana Fanjul 2014 (editor)
– Jugando con los pajajos by Simona Canonica 2014 (editor)
– The idiot cycle by Emmanuelle Schick 2011(editor)
– La main de Dieu by Francois Sculier 2011 (editor)
– Tinghir-Jerusalem by Kamal Hachkar 2010 (editor)
Yael is known to work closely with music, and she pursues close collaborations with experimental and jazz musicians
She has edited the musics of Kimmo Pojhonen, Hector J.Ayala, D’Angelo, Darko Rundek, John Zorn, Doug Wiesleman,
Andrea Parkins , Neta Elkhayam and Amit Hai Cohen, Roy Nathanson, among others.
-more credits and CV available upon request .
As director,
she has directed two feature length documentaries. Both were invited to film festivals worldwide, and were broadcasted
and distributed in Europe and the USA: Not for Sale, 2003 and The Rabbi’s 12 children, 2007.
She also directed various shorter formats for television (ARTE).
She graduated in film directing at INSAS in Brussels in 1995. Since her first directorial endeavours, from conducting a film workshop in a psychiatric hospital in Brussels, or portraying young Israeli soldiers towards the end of their military service following the second intifada, to documenting the changes in the social fabric of her neighbourhood in NYC during the big first wave of gentrification, or telling the history of her father’s family by reassembling the stories of 12 siblings living across three countries, after living Morocco in the 60’s, her filmic investigations have been addressing this basic question: what makes people who they are?
From to 1995 to1999 she worked as a script supervisor on various feature films in the USA and in Europe, including:
Lisbon story by Wim Wenders, Girlfight by Karin Kusama, Hamlet by Michael Almereyda.
She was born in Geneva, lived in Israel, Brussels, New York, Spain and now lives in Paris .
French/English
Spanish/German/Italian/Hebrew
contact@yaelbitton.com
