Itay Asher is behind one of Israel’s most popular web-series, “Dokutaim”. With a refreshingly honest approach to film-making, Itay’s documentaries seek to normalize the unknown by holding up everyday individuals at equal footing. The result is an impressive 170 thousand subscribers on youtube with millions of views on countless videos.
Nowadays, Itay is a top director at the broadcasting company “Kan” with a long streak of buzz-worthy video content, but before “Kan”, he worked 18 years at a traditional print newspaper company. When the newspaper was absorbed by the Jerusalem Post in 2014, Itay’s eyes opened to the reality of the digital revolution.
“I realized that I was no longer allowed to stay in the written press and that I needed to move to the digital medium.”
He eventually started creating videos and his in-depth documentaries caught national attention.
目次
Itay’s laissez-faire approach to making documentaries
Itay directs his videos with minimum interference to create genuine portraits of his subjects.
“At first I didn't even put in my questions. This was to convey a message that the video was not scripted to gain credibility from the viewers.”
Kan aims to create content that avoids polarization. “Anyone who reads the news may think there is a civil war here, but no, it's just how the media deals with it. Left-wing against right-wing, seculars against religious and Jews against Arabs.״
Kan wants to show that the majority of people are on a spectrum of many different thoughts and values.
“We don’t put people in stencils and this is something that the digital revolution is very much emphasizing, everyone is a special someone. If you want to learn about a person – examine him and not the group to which he belongs.”
“Everyone has a story worth telling”
“Dokotaim” is the first series by Kan that documents the everyday individuals in Israeli society.
“It's important for me to stick to the typical person. These are videos about the people who make up the majority.”
Itay believes that every person has a story worth telling. Many of his videos happen as a result of chance encounters with people.
“I once walked around Acre and saw people jumping off the walls. I asked who is the best jumper, they referred me to a cook at a nearby restaurant. I took his phone number and we arranged to shoot a video. One thing leads to another. You go out into the world and anything can happen.”
Rules are meant to be broken
Kan is a media platform that shines a light on ordinary realities- but Itay says that they do not shy away from taking on the “unordinary” either. The result is, as Itay puts it, ‘stories without boundaries’.
His work includes stories about people with disabilities and unlikely relationships. Itay wants to normalize different realities and eliminate the fear of the unknown.
“How are people with disabilities treated in the media? The story is always depressing, and they are not represented as equal human beings, instead, they are presented as someone that needs help. I want to accurately display these people no differently than I would anyone else. I also believe that this straightforward way of storytelling is why we are successful.”
Itay is not satisfied with creating the typical profile story. He tries to dig beyond the surface of the person he is covering, extracting their unique, individual story.
“Rules are meant to be broken, I try to get to know the person in detail and figure out who they really are, without going too far.”
