Israeli Feature Films 2024 Archives

Bar 51

Amos Guttman’s second feature film tells the story of a brother and sister from the country, who decide to find their luck in the big city Tel Aviv after the death of their mother. They meet Apollonia, the owner of a sleazy joint called “Bar 51”, who employs them at the bar, mostly because of her strong attraction to the brother, who in turn, is secretly in love with his own sister.
Apollonia is played by Ada Valerie Tal, the first Israeli transgender actress, and her character is based on Gila Goldstein, who used to perform at the real “Bar 51”.
“Bar 51” is a stylish creation that reminds of the early works of Fassbinder and Almodóvar.

Contains depictions of violence, including sexual assault and self harm.

This movie is part of Amos Guttman Retrospective

“Drifting (Nagu’a)” & show by Aviv Shriki

Before the screening: short musical performance by Aviv Shriki – songs inspired by Amos Guttman’s work.

Amos Guttman’s debut film is a groundbreaking cinematic piece and considered to be the first Israeli feature film that deals directly and seriously with the subject of gay men in Israel.
Robi lives with his grandmother and works in her grocery shop. Robi has two obsessions – men and movies. All his sexual encounters are channeled towards fulfilling his dream – becoming a film director.

This movie is part of Amos Guttman Retrospective

Keep Not Silent – Ortho-Dykes (Et SheAhava Nafshi)

Celebrating 20 years of the premiere of Ilil Alexander’s groundbreaking film

Following the screening we will conduct a Q&A session with the creator of the film and a number of notable religious lesbian activists.

An Israeli documentary film from 2004, which won the Ophir Award for best docu, directed and produced by Ilil Alexander.
The film follows three Ultra Orthodox lesbian women living in Jerusalem and struggling with their sexual preference and their attraction to women. The film details the conflicts standing in their way – the wish to fulfill their desires and be authentic in their love and their loyalty to their families and their religious faith, and follows their lives and struggles.
The Hebrew name of the film comes from Song of Songs, 3:1 – “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, but I found him not.”

The film was screened in cinemas and on TV in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Poland, as well as in Israel.

Taboo: Amos Guttman

After the screening – conversation with the creators.

While alive, Amos Guttman was a “red flag” for Israel’s conservative film establishment. As a gay filmmaker, he created the nation’s first films on the subject. Guttman aimed to make films for the few, yet he also wanted global connections — films that Derek Jarman or Pedro Almodóvar could watch by chance and feel understood. Unfortunately, Guttman had time to make only four features and four short films before dying of AIDS.
“Taboo: Amos Guttman” uses excerpts from his very last interview and other, previously unseen materials, letting historical materials tell his story and reevaluate his choices on and off the set.

This movie is part of Amos Guttman Retrospective

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