Panorama 2022 Archives - Page 3 of 3

Wet Sand

“Wet Sand” is the second feature film by Georgian director Elene Naveriani. It deals in a very delicate and moving way not only with the homophobia engrained in the Georgian society, but also with the generation gap between the older closeted queers and the younger generation who refuses to hide.
In a quaint fishermen’s village, on the shores of the Georgian Black Sea, live friendly people who are sure that they know each other well. One day, Eliko, one of the village elders, is found hanged. His androgenous looking granddaughter Moe, a city girl, arrives at the village in order to organise her grandfather’s funeral. She clearly doesn’t fit in the conservative community that sees her as an outsider, but the locals fake a warm reception. Moe befriends the old tavern owner who used to be very close with her grandfather and the village spinster bartender working for him. The more Moe delves into the mystery that is her grandfather’s life, the more she uncovers the web of lies and the tragic consequences of Eliko’s secret love life.
Pay attention to the perfect and addictive soundtrack, which will surely send you straight to Spotify to look for the songs afterwards.

Additional screening: 3.11, 20:30 Cinematheque Herzliya

The Revenge of the Shiny Shrimps

A sequel to the successful 2019 dramatic comedy “The Shiny Shrimps”.
This time the queer water-polo team are on their way to Japan, to take part in the LGBT games in Tokyo, when their plane is detained in the heart of Russia, in a particularly homophobic area. The fun trip to Japan turns into a life changing experience that will give the protagonists a new perspective on their reality.
This is an unusual sequel that chooses to confront the merry French bunch that is living a fairly safe and free life in Paris with the hard reality that is the lives of LGBT people living in East Europe. The team is facing many troubles they have never faced before, such as the dangers of using Grindr in Russia, an incarceration in a conversion camp, and raging and violent homophobia.

The scenes set in Russia were actually shot in the Ukraine, and some of the Ukrainian actors who played Russian characters had found themselves later fighting against the Russian invasion.

In association with the French Institute

Klappe

3.11 – after screening Q&A with the director
4.11 – director in attendance.

German cinematographer and TLVFest favorite, Jürgen Brüning, delivers a shameless masterpiece that took 16 years to complete. He is mixing up pieces of his works as a director and producer (on films he produced for Bruce La Bruce and Shu Lea Cheang amongst others) and unreleased footage he has taken years ago, all wildly edited together. Brüning weaves into the narrative countless references to global pop culture.
“Klappe” project (which means “public toilets” or “Tea rooms”) was written and partly filmed in 2006 and was shelved due to lack of time by the busy producer. The forced break from his work due to the COVID epidemic allowed Brüning and editor Jörn Hartmann to return to the ambitious project and finish it. In the time since the beginning of the project the two had grown up, developed and found new topics of interest. “Klappe” is an indescribable idiosyncratic film. An experimental queer cinema that is anti-religious, anti-authoritarian and somehow just anti everything! The result is subversive, pornographic, social, political, revolutionary and perhaps, mostly, a romantic musical that is nostalgic of the time when queer cinema was ground breaking and smashed conventions.

Viewing is 18+ due to explicit sex scenes.

Circus of Books

For over 35 years, the gay porn shop “Circus of Books” gave the members of the Los Angeles LGBT community a safe space to celebrate themselves without judgment. Not many people knew that the owners of the shop were Karen and Barry Mason – she was an ex-journalist and he was a special effects master for big Hollywood films such as “2001: A space odyssey” and “Star Wars”. A straight, religious, Jewish couple with three children that attended a religious Jewish school and went to Synagogue on the weekends and were never aware of their parents occupation (and neither did friends and close family members). The Masons witnessed the HIV plague first hand and lost a generation of treasured employees. They became social activists, and yet throughout the whole period never identified as such – only as entrepreneurs serving clients the world ignored, until the internet had ruined their business.
“Circus of books”, which was produced by Ryan Murphy, is Rachel Mason, the couple’s daughter, first documentary film. For the first time she puts a camera in front of her parents, the least radical people she ever knew. She asks how they became the biggest distributors of gay porn in the the USA and why did Karen react so negatively when her own son came out of the closet.

The screening is courtesy of Netflix.

Phantom Project

When was the last time you saw a gay urban ghost comedy in cinema or on TV? This film from Chile, by the director Roberto Doveris (who also produced “El Príncipe”), is an unexpected surprise.
Pablo is a young actor with dreams of becoming a star. Until his dream comes true he is working as a simulated patient in a medical school where medical students do experiments on him. Not only is his acting career at a standstill, his whole life seems to be going nowhere – he’s still in love with an ex-boyfriend, his roommate disappeared without paying rent and has left an unusual problem in his wake. A ghost.
“Phantom Project” is an indie comedy about the journey of a young man to self discovery and about following dreams in strange and surprising ways.

Wildhood

Link is doing his best to protect his younger brother Travis from their father’s violent rages. But one night he discovers a dark family secret and realizes that he must leave his father, who symbolizes the violent cultural evisceration of European colonization. Yet Link cannot accept who he really is – even hearing his native language triggers feelings of aggression and resentment.
Pasmay, a young vagabond he meets on his journey, is sympathetic to Link and his younger brother’s situation and decides to put his own life on hold in order to help Link to find his way.
“Wildhood” is director Bretten Hannam’s second film. This is a road trip film following a young Native-Canadian man on his journey of self-discovery and unveiling a heritage he knew nothing about. It is also a delicate, sensitive and sexy love story of a couple Two-Spirit young adults.

Sublime

16 years old Manuel and Felipe live in a beach town in Argentina. They’ve known each other their whole lives and do everything together. They are best friends and formed a rock band together. Like most teenagers they spend most of their time thinking about and planning for sex. Felipe helps Manuel convert an old truck into a secret love nest where they can have some privacy with their girlfriends. Their debut concert is going to be at the end of the year ball and they are working hard towards it. Felipe is a very talented songwriter, whose lyrics mostly deal with unfulfilled desire. Felipe is hiding a secret, he’s struggling with his feelings and his desire for Manuel. A few days before the concert Felipe’s frustration and the turmoil inside his bubbles up to the surface and threatens to ruin his and Manuel’s friendship and the future of their band.
Writer and director Mariano Biasin captures a piece of lively teen spirit, full of passion and hurt of a young man who’s in love with his best friend that cannot return the love he craves.

Additional screening: Rosh Pina Cinematheque 5.11, 18:00

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Panorama 2022

Wet Sand

The Revenge of the Shiny Shrimps

Klappe

Circus of Books

Phantom Project

Wildhood

Sublime

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