Documentary 2024 Archives - Page 3 of 3

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’).

Gila Goldstein, Cat Lady

(Combined duration: 60 min)

After the screening: conversation with the director Yael Bedarshi.

Premiere

Gila Goldstein (1947-2017) was an actress, artist and singer, one of the first Israeli transgender activists and also a feeder of stray cats.
“Gila Goldstein, Cat Lady” was shot in 1999 during a research on Tel Aviv cat feeding community. Gila agreed to participate in the film as long as the focus stayed on the cats. But then her friend Ronit Maimon showed up and the conversation went in a much more colorful direction, that gives us a glimpse of the Israeli trans community and the lives of these two brave and unique women.

Yair Hochner, TLVFest director:
Watching “Gila Goldstein, Cat Lady” brought me back to the moments that I miss so much – sitting with Gila in her living room or in a coffee shop and talking about life, sometimes seriously and sometimes jokingly. Watching this film is like watching a true moment, without any filters or shticks (one of Gila’s favorite words). It’s so realistic you can almost smell Gila’s cigarettes.

TLVFest dedicates this screening to Ronit Maimon who passed away this year.

That’s Gila, That’s Me

Alon Weinstock’s documentary film has a cult following with fans who return annually; packing movie theatre to capacity for the sole purpose of enjoying Gila Goldstein’s zingers and being moved by the life story of one of Israel’s first trans women who was also a Tel Aviv icon-turned legend, while still live.
Gila was born in the 50’s in lower Haifa. A young soccer player in the Maccabbi Haifa who had always known that she is a woman. In her 20’s she moved to Tel Aviv and worked as a prostitute and exotic dancer. In 2003 she was proclaimed the community’s darling for her contribution and continued fight for social justice.
The film, shot between 1997 – 2010, describes the world of a woman who is, despite fleeting years and many struggles, still happy, optimistic and feeling forever young. Because Gila is the one and only and in her own radical language: “That’s Gila, That’s Me.”

In memory of Gila Goldstein (18.12.1947 – 05.02.2017)

Guttman X 5

Special cinematic project produced by TLVfest and supported by The Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts.
Five different episodes inspired by the life story and films of the director Amos Guttman.
Animated sequences between the episodes were done by the animator Mysh.

The different plots in the project are ranging in genres and different cinematic styles:
1) Sivan Levy brings a video clip about a prostitute, two drug addicts and sexually exploited young man, who are successful in escaping their bitter fate for some moments of grace in the bar which serves as a place of refuge.
2) Yoav Inbar takes us to the beginning of the 80th and tells the story of a young boy from Haifa who decides to make a journey to the gay garden in Tel Aviv.
3) Ronny Almog and Emil Ray in a movie about a middle-aged film director who speaks with young director from “Drifted” (1983) and wonders what has changed for the LGBT people in the past thirty years.
4) Yoav Brill tries, in an animated film, to follow after one of the most intimate and public practices – two guys holding hands.
5) Stephanie Abramovich introduces us to Kati Gutman – it’s been twenty years since her only son Amos died of AIDS. Today, for the first time, she dares to open past wounds.

This movie is part of Amos Guttman Retrospective

“Dana Kama” Picture Show

20:00-21:00 – Cocktail party with DJ Daniel Mariuma
(for ticket holders only)
Sponsored by

21:00 – Live show
(duration app. 90 min)

The cult series “Dana Kama” (2023, 13 episodes), winner of the Israeli Television Academy Award and follows Israel’s first international diva – the one and only Dana International, is coming to the TLVfest with a unique event.
Eran Swissa and Shay Kerem will ‘spill the tea’ in a Live episode of the podcast – “Dana Lo Kama” with special guests.
The podcast, which has become a cultural phenomenon in its own right, will take place on the TLVFest stage, where the two hosts will converse with the creators and participants of the show.

*Podcast is available on Spotify and other platforms.
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Queer Israeli Music Videos

Duration: 45 min

Sapir College Shorts & Panel

Conversation with students about the lingering effects of October 7th
With Dr. Yasmin Sason

Duration: 70 min

LGBTQ Mix – Israeli Shorts 6

As its name suggests, this is the most colorful, diverse, surprising and fun shorts collection of the 2024 TLVFest. It contains many different cinematic genres and topics from every color of the LGBTQ rainbow.
Animation, video-art, fiction, documentary, serious drama and comedy – and all of it made in Israel.

Duration: 70 min

Israeli Short Docu Mix

Duration: 70 min

Opening Ceremony & “The Belle from Gaza

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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.

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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.