LGBT film festival celebrates 21st anniversary with award winners, dramas, and classics - preview

TLVFest, the International LGBT+ Film Festival founded by Yair Hochner, will take place at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque for the 21st year, with a new team and a diverse program, under the artistic direction of Gili Porat and produced by Yael Lavi.

It will run October 22-31.

Over two decades, the festival has hosted leading figures from the world of cinema, including Christine Vachon, producer of Carol and Far from Heaven; Wieland Speck, co-founder of the Teddy Award and former head of Panorama at the Berlinale; Kim Yutani, director of programming at the Sundance Film Festival; producer Jonathan King; and filmmakers Bruce LaBruce, Jamie Babbit, and Angela Robinson.

Special events this year will include a 35-mm. screening of Bound, the feature debut of sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski, who made The Matrix when they were known as the Wachowski brothers, marking the 30th anniversary of its release.

Bound is a very sensual and violent story of the alliance and attraction between a gangster’s girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) and an ex-con/repairwoman (Gina Gershon), who conspire to rob the gangster (Joe Pantoliano) of a fortune.

There will also be a screening of one of the most beloved cult classics of all time, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

RuPaul, Hüller works lead diverse TLVFest lineup

At the heart of the international program is Rose, directed by Markus Schleinzer, the film that won Sandra Hüller the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in Berlin.

She plays a woman disguised as a man in the 17th century who comes to a new town and keeps her identity a secret.
Hüller, who starred in Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest, is one of Europe’s leading actresses.

Another highlight will be Gugu’s World, winner of the Crystal Bear and the Grand Prix of the International Jury in the Generation Kplus section at the Berlinale.

Directed by Allan Deberton, the movie tells the story of an 11-year-old Brazilian boy who dreams of becoming a great soccer player, but who is considered effeminate in his community. Raised by his grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, he will do anything to hide her illness so he won’t have to live with his father, who doesn’t accept him at all.

Ian de la Rosa’s Iván & Hadoum tells the story of the relationship between two greenhouse employees in southern Spain. It won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at Berlin.

Trial of Hein, directed by Kai Stänicke, tells the story of a man who returns to his home village on a small German island after years away and is put on trial to prove his identity.

Among the films that premiered at Cannes will be Roma elastica by Bertrand Mandico, starring Marion Cotillard and Noémie Merlant, about an actress in 1982 on the verge of collapse who goes to Rome to shoot what may be her final film.

A Woman’s Life, with Léa Drucker and Mélanie Thierry, looks at a distinguished surgeon whose life changes suddenly when a novelist arrives to observe her for a book.

Another Day, starring Adèle Exarchopoulos, tells the story of an actress struggling with alcoholism.

Several new American films include Stop! That! Train! a camp comedy by Adam Shankman and produced by the drag icon RuPaul, which looks at the long-neglected world of train travel.

It tells the story of two friends tapped to be attendants on a glamorous, luxury train line who save the passengers from a storm.

It stars Ginger Minj and Jujubee, and RuPaul plays the US president.

In the crime comedy The Wrong Girls by Dylan Meyer, Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat play broke best friends who become entangled with an experimental substance that gives them telepathic powers. The film also stars Seth Rogen and Geena Davis.

In Noam Ash’s Bookends, starring F. Murray Abraham and Charlie Barnett, a young man moves in with his grandparents in a Jewish assisted-living facility and falls in love with his grandfather’s doctor.

The Israeli program will premiere A Man Walks Down the Street, by Yuval Hadadi, starring Angel Bonanni and Uri Banai, about a man who returns to Israel after 30 years and becomes involved in a romance with a younger man.

Also screening will be Where To? by Assaf Machnes, centered on the relationship between a Palestinian Uber driver and a young Israeli in Berlin, which just won Ophir Awards for its stars, Ehab Salami and Ido Tako; Tell Me Everything by Moshe Rosenthal, winner of the Ophir Award for Best Film and nine other Ophir Awards, which tells the story of a boy who, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, learns that his father is gay; and Thou Shalt Love, the final feature film by the late award-winning director Nitzan Gilady, starring Yael Elkana and Michael Moshonov, about an ultra-Orthodox yoga teacher whose marriage and faith begin to unravel.

The festival will also screen documentaries, international competitions for narrative and documentary films, and host Israeli competitions for new local productions.

Porat said in a statement, “When we built this year’s program, we asked what happens to the world when you look at it from a queer perspective.

“Alongside familiar stars and films from the major festivals, it was important to us to discover new voices, bring forgotten histories back to the screen, and create a live encounter between film, audience and community.

“I hope audiences will come not only for the films they already want to see, but will also walk into a theater by chance and walk out in love with something they didn’t know they were looking for.”

Hochner departs from festival after 20 years as artistic director

After 20 years, the festival bids farewell to its founder and artistic director Hochner, who established it as a central platform for LGBT+ cinema in Israel and nurtured generations of filmmakers and a loyal audience.

It is one of Israel’s most anticipated film festivals every year, and one of the most fun. You can expect some interesting costumes among the audience on its final night, which falls on Halloween.

The festival is supported by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality, the Culture Ministry, and Delta Air Lines.