1341 Frames of Love and War

1341 Frames of Love and War (1341 Framim Mehamatzlema Shel Micha Bar-Am) is a 2022 Israeli-German documentary drama film written and directed by Ran Tal. The film is based on the story of German born Israeli photographer Micha Bar-Am and depicts the ancient history and culture of Israel. The film is made entirely with a collection of archival images taken by Micha Bar-Am over five decades. The film was premiered in the Special section at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival on 13 February 2022.

Synopsis
The documentary gives insight of the masterpiece of iconic photographs taken by Micha Bar-Am during his career which spanned for over 50 years. Micha Bar-Am mines his extraordinary archive of over half a million negative war related images (collage of stills), questions and self-doubt surface, in a profound exploration of photography, memory, and the personal cost of a life devoted to recording a conflict.

Production
Wife of Micha Bar-Am, Orna played a vital role in materialising the documentary as she was responsible for helping out on archiving the images taken by her husband. The film project received support and backing from YES Docu, Makor Fund, Mifaal HaPaiis, Jewish Film Institute (San Francisco) and The Other Israel (New York).

Distribution rights
The distribution rights and international sales of the film were sold by Reservoir Docs to seven territories excluding North America, Israel, Greece and Portugal. The territories include Non Stop (Nordic), Tanweer Films (Greece) and Nos Lusomundo Audiovisuais (Portugal).

Release
The film was screened at several international film festivals. The film was premiered at 2022 Telluride Film Festival, 2022 Docaviv Film Festival, 2022 Krakow International Film Festival, 2022 Sheffield DocFest, 2022 Jewish Film Festival Berlin, 2022 Rhodope Documentary Film, 2022 Jewish International Film Festival Australia, 2022 Athens International Film festival, 2022 Cork International Film Festival, 2022 Zagreb Festival of Tolerance, 2022 Karala International Film Festival, 2022 Vancouver International Film Festival, 2022 Ambulante Film Festival, 2022 Morelia Film Festival, 2022 Warsaw Jewish Film Festival, 2022 Free Zone Human Rights Film Festival, 2022 UK Jewish Film Festival and 2022 Warsaw Jewish Film Festival. The film was released in Israel on 23 June 2022.

Accolades
The film won three awards at the 2022 DocAviv Festival. The director of the film Ran Tal received the Best Director award while editor of the film Nilli Feller was adjudged as the Best Editor during 2022 DocAviv. The film also won Kedar Foundation Award especially for narrating storyline inspired from Israeli history and society while also collected cash prize of $15000 during DocAviv.