Yaniv Aviran, a 28-year-old severe muscular atrophy patient, lives with his parents and his Filipina caregiver Gladys Tauhop. Yaniv’s journey in life is beautifully depicted in a documentary film full of humor and spirit. Yaniv desires to live independently at the cost of risking his own life and the film is about his constant struggle between desire and determination, and between helplessness and optimism.
Maayan Schwartz (the filmmaker) and Yaniv have been friends for over ten years. Yaniv shares with Maayan his desire to leave home to become truly independent for the first time, even at the cost of risking his own life.
The documentary film shows Yaniv’s journey full of humor and spirit; and constant struggle between desire and determination, and between helplessness and optimism.
"My Friend, Yaniv" which challenges the image of a disabled person in film and in society has received the Bernstein Award for Outstanding Documentary Work, and Best Documentary and Second Best Film in Cinema South Film Festival, Sderot Israel. It was also screened at the Jerusalem International Film Festival, and selected for the 29th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
As part of the Embassy cultural program, "My Friend, Yaniv" was shown at the University of the Philippines Film Institute and New Era University.