Classic 2024 Archives

The Life and Death of a Porno Gang

Winner of the Best Film award at the 2010 TLVFest, this is one of the most powerful films you’ll see this year.
Director Mladen Djordjevic created a biting commentary on post Milosevic Serbia. This film brings together horror, social and political satire, dark humour and lots of sex and violence.

Local criminals hire Marko, a young, artistic and ambitious filmmaker, to make for them porno films. They don’t really appreciate his artistic approach, and after a violent attack, Marko decides to go underground and travel with a troupe of outcasts who participate in a live pornographic theatre production that travels through conservative Serbian villages.
Warning! Not suitable for the faint of heart!

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

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.

Trick

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the film “Trick” with a 35mm screening!

Miss New York in the ‘90? Enjoy rom-coms about a slick flirt who meets an innocent guy? Then “Trick”, one of the oldest commercial gay rom-coms ever, is just for you.
Gabriel works in an office by day but dreams of being a Broadway composer by night. A chance meeting with Mark, a go-go dancer in a gay bar, will change the night’s plans for them both. As they head back to Gabriel’s place to hook-up, Katherine, Gabriel’s roommate and an aspiring actress, foils their plans. The couple embarks on a nightly odyssey to find a place to be alone and along the way meet plenty of colorful New York characters and learn a thing or two about themselves.
The role of Katherine is played by Tori Spelling, then at the height of her success. Another unforgettable performance is by legendary New York drag queen Miss Coco Peru.

Go Fish” & introduction by Shir Reuven”

Celebrating 30 years anniversary of the sapphic cult film with a short lecture by Shir Reuven.
~30 minutes long opening before the screening.

A romantic comedy set in Chicago that shakes all the conventions of that period about the way lesbians and bisexual women were shown on screen.
Five friends in their early 30’s are living and loving in Chicago. Max is looking for a meaningful relationship. Kia is in love with Evy, who lives with her mother and tries to get rid of her ex-husband. Ely is ready for an adventure that might come her way and shares an apartment with Daria – “The” Lesbian of Chicago, who had every girl in Chicago pass through her bed.
Rose Troche’s debut film is a witty and fast-paced comedy about women who are very comfortable with their sexual identity and who are trying to fulfill themselves emotionally as well.

Undertow

15th anniversary of the film “Undertow”

A moving cinematic piece that takes place in an idyllic fishermen village on the coast of Peru.
Miguel is a handsome fisherman, married to Mariela and expecting their first child. Miguel is hiding from his family and friends his love for Santiago the painter, who is shunned by the village locals. An unexpected event will change their lives and will force Miguel to make a fateful decision.
“Undertow” is a thrilling and sensitive drama that will not leave you unaffected.

Mysterious Skin

20th anniversary of the film “Mysterious Skin”

Opening movie of the 1st ever TLVFest, way back in 2006.
“Mysterious Skin” is a heart breaking cinematic art creation directed by Gregg Araki (“Totally F***ed Up”), and is celebrating 20 years to its debut screening at the Venice Film Festival.

“Mysterious Skin” is based on Scott Heim’s book and describes the meeting of two young men in a small town in Kansas. Neil is a hustler and Brian is obsessed with alien abductions. As the paths of the two collide and a shared truth from their past will resurface.
This is a stunning cinematic piece that through its colourful pop beauty describes a horrible and painful reality. This is one of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s best performances.

The Life and Death of a Porno Gang

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

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Two more Serbian LGBT movies are screened at the festival.

Marble Ass

The groundbreaking creation of director Želimir Žilnik will celebrate its 30th anniversary this coming February and this is a rare opportunity to discover it.

With the war in Bosnia and political upheavals in the background, Merlin and Sanela, two trans friends and sex workers, share a house in the suburbs of Belgrad. Johnny returns from the war with PTSD, questionable friends & a tendency for petty crime. Will those three manage to establish a stable household?

Unusual by its humanistic approach to queer characters, an achievement that wasn’t repeated in the Eastern-European cinema for many years to come, this movie was at first conceived as a documentary. In the main role of Merlin, loosely based on her own life, shines Merlinka (Vjeran) Miladinović. After her tragic death in 2003, Serbian LGBT Film Festival was named in her honour – Merlinka.

Viewing is 18+ due to sexual content and violence.

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Two more Serbian LGBT movies are screened at the festival.

Jennifer’s Body

Celebrating the 15 year anniversary to the Sapphic cult comedy-horror.
Before the screening, a short lecture by Gili Porat (podcast “TrashTalk”) on queer viewing of “Jennifer’s Body”.

After winning the Oscar for best original script for “Juno”, Diablo Cody wondered what would be her second Oscar-worthy movie? And thus we got “Jennifer’s Body” – a wonderfully bloody teen comedy that flopped in real time but rose to a cult film status over the years.
After a mysterious incident in the woods, the high school’s most popular student (Megan Fox) becomes very hungry. When male students start to disappear one after the other, her nerdy best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried), who is having a rather unusual relationship with Jennifer, decides to put a stop to the massacre. Will she succeed?
Also, Chris Pratt is literally on fire in the film!

The movie is also available on Disney Plus

Battle of the Sexes

Emma Stone and Steve Carell star in this recreation of the legendary 1973 tennis match that pitted Billie Jean King against Bobby Riggs.

Scripted by Academy Award winner Simon Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton (“Little Miss Sunshine”), “Battle of the Sexes” is a rousing depiction of a historical moment.

King (Stone) is a champion athlete and an outspoken feminist in her professional life, but her personal life is a struggle. Her marriage is failing. Her closeted sexuality feels like a distraction. Outraged that the National Tennis League won’t allow equal pay for men and women, King founds her own tour with Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman) as manager. Riggs (Carell) is decades removed from his last championship. Facing dwindling finances and desperate to win back his ex-wife, he proposes a publicity-snaring challenge.

The film reminds us just how much blatant sexism pervaded the so-called sexual revolution. But it also shows the great strides made by trailblazers like King.

Bursting with colorful period production design and costumes, “Battle of the Sexes” is as fleet and fun as it is politically acute, and Stone and Carell make hugely enjoyable adversaries.

The movie is also available on Disney Plus

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Classic 2024

The Life and Death of a Porno Gang

M

Trick

Go Fish” & introduction by Shir Reuven”

Undertow

Mysterious Skin

The Life and Death of a Porno Gang

Marble Ass

Jennifer’s Body

Battle of the Sexes

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