Dr. Adva Balzam is a lecturer and researcher in media, a psychologist, and a creator of non-fiction television. Her research brings psychoanalysis into dialogue with documentary cinema and visual culture. Her current work examines hysteria and identification with the aggressor through cinema; consent in documentary cinema in relation to feminist debates; and the politics of visibility in the context of October 7, 2023, and its aftermath.
Selected Publications
Balzam, A. (2026). Suspended shame in perpetrator images: Documentary film as psychosocial working-through. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, 31, 478–495. Read the publication here
Balzam, A., & Arav, D. (2026). Trauma-selfie: Active victimhood in war. Media, War & Conflict. Advance online publication. Read the publication here
Balzam, A. (2025). “Male male milmala”: Ronit Elkabetz ve-histerya ke-bilbul ha-safot [“Full, full of ruffles”: Ronit Elkabetz and hysteria as a confusion of tongues]. Ot, 13, 149–182. Read the publication here
