M

Menachem Lang left the orthodox Jewish world years ago. As a child, he was a dedicated Yeshiva boy, applauded for his melodic voice and promising cantorial skills. But behind the scenes, a dark secret lurked: for years, he had been sexually abused by rabbis and other adults in the community. Now, 35-year-old Menachem returns to the scene of the crime, where random encounters reveal similar stories from the past and present, and, together with his own personal account, shed light upon a repressed and particularly disturbing phenomenon.
Esteemed French director Yolande Zauberman’s documentary, filmed entirely at night, won many awards and was screened at dozens of festivals to outstanding critical acclaim.

Scene from “M” 


Two more movies by Yolande Zauberman are screened at the festival.

“Would You Have Sex With an Arab?”

“Would You Have Sex With an Arab?” – This is the question director Yolande Zauberman asks the subjects of her 2011 documentary, based on a script she wrote with Lebanese-French author Selim Nassib. The film premiered at Venice Film Festival and it strives to examine questions of coexistence.
The film takes us to bars & streets of night-time Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The director chose to interview night party people, assuming they will be more honest than “day people”. Time after time the question catches the passersby off guard. Some have never thought about the issue, others have. Most are surprised by their own reaction to the question, and so answers evolve and change during the film. Same question is also presented to Israeli Arabs: “Would You Have Sex With a Jew?”

One-time special screening!


Two more movies by Yolande Zauberman are screened at the festival.

Opening Ceremony & “The Belle from Gaza

.
Opening Ceremony of the 19th TLVFest: The Tel-Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival

19:30 – Cocktail sponsored by

20:30 – Opening Ceremony with performance by Galina Port de Bras
& TLVFest Honorary Awards.
Afterwards, screening with the Lead Actresses in attendance.


.
During the filming of her previous movie, director Yolande Zauberman heard a story of a young transgender woman who fled from Gazza after death threats based on her gender identity and came to Tel Aviv to live as her true self. Several years later Yolande Zauberman returns to Tel Aviv to look for her. While searching for the mysterious young woman she meets several Palestinian and Israeli trans women, some doing sex work and some other temp jobs, all of them reaching for their dreams in their own way.
The film “The Belle from Gaza” is a celebratory hymn to women who fight daily on that ever so dangerous line between Gaza and Tel Aviv just so that they could be themselves. “The Belle from Gaza” is a brave cinematic piece that puts a mirror in front of reality and offers images of struggles for self acceptance in a sad reality that is all conflict and oppression.


Two more movies by Yolande Zauberman are screened at the festival.


.