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All Films and Events 2024

Jacob de Haan: A Voice Out of Time

After the screening: conversation with the creators.

The death of Jacob Israel de Haan is commemorated annually by both the ultra-Orthodox Jews of ‘Neturei Karta’ in Jerusalem, and the LGBTQ community in Amsterdam. He is a pioneer for both. In the early 20th century he published the first LGBTQ novel in the Netherlands. He then returned to his Jewish roots, migrated to Palestine as a Zionist, but eventually became the spokesperson for the Orthodox community, spearheading its fight against Zionism. He was still publishing queer poetry in Dutch. He was killed in Jerusalem in 1924, and his assassins were never caught. Today, never-before-heard audio recordings shed new light upon the mystery of the first Zionist political assassination.

Tropicana

After the screening: conversation with the creators.

Special Tel-Aviv Premiere

Omer Tobi, the talented director behind the music videos for gay party line “Arisa’’ and the creator of the musical TV series “HaYoresht” (“The Heiress”), in a surprising, daring and unusual debut film,

Orly Belaish, a lonely middle-aged woman, splits her time between her monotonous job at a supermarket and caregiving for her ailing mother and family members. The mysterious murder of the head cashier at the supermarket leads to Orly’s promotion, and her status in the supermarket rises. Along with this new role, Orly also inherits the deceased cashier’s dark past – a past that will take her on a journey into the depths of her repressed desires, revealing her deep longing for warmth and human connection.

“Tropicana” is a meeting in a forgotten small town in the south of Israel between Ulrich Sidle, David Lynch, the Dardenne brothers and Keren Yedaya. The result is one huge mindfuck.

“The Binding” – Closing Film

World Premiere!

Life partners Eyal Kantor and Yoav Keren are without a doubt the most prolific queer independent filmmakers in Israel at the moment. TLVfest’s closing film is their newest feature – “The Binding”. Be prepared for one of the most daring gay films ever made in Israel.

Benjamin’s life is about to change when Avinoam (Shimon Mimran), his religious boss, comes to his aid. Under Avinoam’s wing Binjamin finds a safe place until an unexpected event will force the two to spend a Shabbos together and will bring to the surface dark secrets from their past.
“The Binding” is a gay suspense drama that deals with some very relevant issues, such as conversion therapy and religious oppression.

Viewing is 18+ due to explicit sexual content and violence.

Marzipan Flowers

A special screening in memory of Rotem Kalderon, mother of Adam Kalderon
All the proceeds from the screening will go to the rebuilding of kibbutz Be’eri

Before the screening: Opening words
After the screening: conversation with Mika Kalderon, actresses: Nouli Omer, Tal Kalay and Efrat Aviv, and the producer Ori Hod.

Adam Kalderon, a native of kibbutz Be’eri, filmed there his debut feature “Marzipan Flowers” during the military operation “Amud Anan” (2012). The script was inspired by events from his mother’s life, who also assisted with the production. A decade had passed since the release of this special and different film. Kalderon’s 2nd feature “The Swimmer” screened at TLVfest 2022.

Hadas is working at the kibbutz laundry, when she’s informed that her husband Moshe was killed in a traffic accident. In one second Hadas’ entire world crashes down. After a hard year of mourning, the kibbutz is getting too stifling for Hadas and she realizes she can’t move on with her life. She decides to leave the kibbutz, where she lived her whole life, in favor of a new life in Tel Aviv. Penniless and provincial, she shares an apartment with Petel, a vibrant trans woman, and works as a waitress. The journey to the big city makes Hadas confront the fact that her youth is gone, but also with the dreams she never fulfilled, and she decides to realize those desires: she opens up her own place and experiences a late marzipan blossoming.

Himmo, King of Jerusalem

Amos Guttman’s third film is an adaptation of a book by Yoram Kanyuk.
Even though the film doesn’t deal with explicit LGBTQ themes, but with the Israeli War of 1948, it is steeped with criticism of the existing societal norms and the ideal of masculinity. Guttman’s unique style and cinematic language are imbued well in this film. There is a prevalent subtext of homoeroticism and complex relationships between the soldiers, especially Frangi and Assa (played by the young Amiram Gabriel and Dov Navon).
Hamutal, a young nurse who volunteers in a military hospital improvised in an abandoned monastery, is inexplicably drawn to Himmo, a soldier severely injured during the battle for Jerusalem. Favoritism sparks jealousy among the other wounded soldiers and highlights the tension between attraction and revulsion, compassion and pain, the life force and the wish to die – a conflict that is accentuated by Edna Mazia’s macabre and humoristic dialogues.

This movie is part of Amos Guttman Retrospective

Fabric Stories

After the screening: conversation with the reporter Itay Yakov and the designers Dorin Frankfurt & Yuval Caspin.

Amos Gutman’s first film, discovered in the Channel 1 archives and restored, tells the story of Israeli fashion. But more than that it reveals the birth of one of the most important local filmmakers.
The film was made in 1978, 5 years before Gutman’s directorial feature film debut “Drifting“ (“Nagu’a”). On the surface it’s a documentary focusing on the Israeli world of fashion in the late 70’s, but in fact, the film uses that world to produce a cinematic
language incorporating different styles from scene to scene. Rather than your typical talking heads and fashion footage, this is a much surrealistic journey of what Gutman himself saw and perceived as fashion.
At the time, the film did not sit well with TV executives and after single screening was sent to the archives.

In association with the Film Archives of Israeli Television – Channel 1

This movie is part of Amos Guttman Retrospective

“Jerusalem Is Proud to Present” & Panel

After the screening, a panel will take place with 3 LGBTQ activists from different cities –
Reut Nagar (Tel Aviv), Shiri Bar-On (Mitzpe Ramon) & Nava Dissentshik (Rosh Haayin), hosted by the film creator Nitzan Gilady.

In the summer of 2006, Jerusalem was to host, for the first time in history, the World Pride events, which were to culminate in a traditional gay pride parade. The planned events stirred turmoil in the politically complex city, with Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders banding together in an uncompromising battle against what they said would “defile the holy city”. On the other side stood the activists of the Open House, Jerusalem’s LGBT community center, who planned the events. Steadfast in the face of the heated and violent anti-gay sentiment, they had to deal with threats to much more than just their right to march.

Sapir

After the screening: conversation with the creators.

Sapir Berman is part of the global revolution taking place today in professional sports in relation to the LGBTQ community. Sapir was born near Haifa, and began her career as a soccer player. She progressed at the highest speed, and at the age of 26 was appointed as a referee in the Premier League. Everything happened while she was still in the closet, without telling anyone about her true dream. Then, one day she announced to everyone, I am a woman and always have been. And so began her long-standing struggle to continue refereeing, while going through the gender affirming process. Today, she is still the only woman referee among 20 men in the Israeli Premier League.

Gay Days

The screening will be followed by a panel with Yair Qedar, Elliott, Michal Eden and Omer Ohana, on the subject of the Israeli LGBTQ community 15 years ago (when the film was released) versus today. What had changed for the better and what had not?

Director Yair Qedar chronicles Israel’s LGBT revolution in a series of interviews and archive footage and in the process, shares his own story – a boy from a small town who arrived in Tel Aviv in the mid-eighties and embarked on a journey that began with oppression, before plowing on towards equality and along the way, starting the free LGBTQ publication, The Pink Times (‘haZman haVarod’).

Eyes Wide Open

Before the screening: an introduction by the creators.

Aaron is a respected butcher in one of the ultra orthodox communities in Jerusalem, he is married to Rebbeca and they have two children. When Aaron is looking for an assistant to fill his deceased father’s place in the shop, he meets Ezri, a handsome yeshiva student who is looking for a place to stay.
Aaron takes Ezri under his wing and becomes his mentor. One day, at a remote mikve (a Jewish ritual bathhouse), a deep connection is formed that is shaking Aaron’s whole being. Aaron is developing feelings towards Ezri, spends more and more of his time with him, neglecting his family and his duties to his community and gets swept into a vortex he can’t get out of.

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