Narrative Competition Archives

Thesis on a Domestication

A successful transgender actress (Camila Sosa Villada), known for her promiscuous and wild lifestyle, which defies every expectation set for her by her friends and the conservative Argentinian society, surprises her friends when she decides to settle down and start a family with a new husband (Alfonso Herrera “Sens8”, “Ozark”), will she be able to navigate between the mis-matched worlds she lives in? Moving between the wild nightlife she blossomed in, as a successful theatre actress in a demanding cultural world and the seemingly normal family life.

Director Javier van de Couter’s film (“Mía”- 2013 TLVFest closing film starring Camila Sosa Villada as well) is a steamy adaptation to a novel by the same name written by Camila Sosa Villada. This is a brave cinematic piece that gives us a strong and complex transgender heroine that is navigating between sexual fantasies, complicated personal history, social expectations and the want to create a family unit she never had. Can she have everything or will she have to give up some things in order to have the bourgeois family dream?

This film is limited to 18 years old and above due to explicit sex scenes.

In association with the Instituto Cervantes

Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day

“Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day” – Croatia’s official nomination for Best Foreign Film in the 2025 Academy Awards, is an historical epic and an ode to love, loyalty and the power of friendship and art.

The film that spans over decades, follows lovers Lovro and Nenad and their long-time friendship with Steven and Ivan, all of them were part of a gay group turned filmmakers while navigating their lives through communist, post-war Yugoslavia.

The film studio they run gains world fame, but they are forced to compromise their arts and beliefs to produce propaganda for the communist regime. The more success they gain the more the fascism of the government seeps into their studio and they suddenly find their lives in danger despite being Nazi fighting heroes.

“Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day” is a luscious, intimate and politically charged cinema and the result is a heartbreaking piece on resistance. This is a film that is crying against oppression, against silencing and for the freedom to live, love and create art without fear.

Talented filmmaker and director Ivona Juka says this film was inspired by a relative of hers that was forced to hide his sexual identity for most of his adult life (homosexuality was still a crime in Croatia up until the 90’s).

Warning: This film contains explicit sex scenes and graphic violence.

In association with the European Union

Summer School, 2001

The third millenia had barely started and 17 years old red haired Kien returned to his family and their little market stall in the Czech Republic after a decade growing up with his grandmother in Vietnam. Instead of the warm welcome he expects he finds a distant father, a worried mother and a clingy little brother.

“Summer school 2001” may be told in a light tone but it is a complex and multi-layered film on the differences between generations and cultural identity. This is an authentic piece telling a coming-of-age story of a young man who feels a stranger in the community he belongs to in a foreign country.

Director and screenwriter Dužan Duong’s debut film brings Kien’s story in a very moving and unique way and gives its audience a new and intriguing voice you will want to follow.

In association with the Embassy of the Czech Centre Tel Aviv

Perro perro

Some men are just dogs! Juan happens to find one in the wild while on a nice vacation with his girlfriend and another couple of friends. He adopts him, bathes him, feeds him, plays with him and gives him plenty of love and affection, even though his girlfriend warns him not to get too attached.

Argentinian provocative director Marco Berger (“The Astronaut’s Lover”, “Los Agitadores”) who’s films we frequently screen at the TLVFest, comes back with an absurd and daring homo-erotic tale on the human need to connect to a living creature and when that connection becomes a primal basic animal instinct. The result is thought provoking about controlling relationships even in our daily lives.

Rains Over Babel

Babel is a legendary nightclub that is an oasis to anyone who is queer, freak and different in town. La Flaca is Death herself that resides in the club, and she plays with the lost souls that gamble with her through the years. Will they be able to win against death herself?

Director Gala Del Sol’s first full length feature is an intoxicating fusion of alternative tropic dream and modern-day Columbia. Del Sol creates a hypnotic and fantastic world where life and death clash and destinies are rolled with dice. The sexiest of casts is portraying sparkling characters that takes us to a journey full of life which is all wild subversion where each and every one of them fights their own demons and it’s all happening in a retro-punk-futuristic-colorful style full of passion.

“Rains Over Babel” is an ode to the resilience of queer characters from the fringes of society that are fighting for one thing- to be themselves without fear.

The result is sexy, sparkly, daring and ambitious cinema that promises an unforgettable experience.

In association with the Instituto Cervantes

No Beast. So Fierce.

The Shakespearean tragedy “Richard III” in a queer, daring and contemporary adaptation. A monumental cinematic experience that meant for the big screen and will leave breathless throughout.

Two noble houses, the Arab families York and Lancaster, bring to the courthouse the war that was raging in the streets of Berlin for decades. The York youngest daughter, Rashida, is a lawyer who ends the long-time gang war in a bloody attack on the heads of the Lancaster family. Finally – some peace!

But as a woman, Rashida is only a pawn in the men’s world. As soon as the dust settles on the battlefield, she is destined to follow her traditional family norms and could never take the top spot in the pyramid. Rashida has no intention to bow to the men in her family- she intends to rule. To claim her place she must plot, seduce enemies and kill lovers. Rashida is played by rising actress Kenda Hmeidan and she gives the role a lesbian twist, and many more layers that do not appear in the original play with a touch of Mediterranean history of violence and war. Rashida’s scarred and wounded soul rises from the ashes and dust into a goddess of revenge. Hiam Abbass (“Succession”, “The Old Man” opposite Jeff Bridges, Eran Riklis’ films: “The Syrian Bride” and “Lemon Tree”) plays Rashida’s devoted right hand.

In association with the Embassy of Germany

Blind Love

A love triangle goes out of control in Taiwanese director Julian Chou’s second film. Shu-Yin is a mother that quietly runs her family- a husband who’s a respectable surgeon and her rebellious teenage son who refuses to follow his father’s footsteps. An encounter with Shu-Jin, an amateur photographer and an ophthalmologist, will awaken memories, longing and desires she had been suppressing for a long time.

While Shu-Yin is dealing with her old desires, her son Han discovers completely new desires and passions. He accidentally meets Shu-Jin and falls for the charismatic woman who gives him new energy for life.

Director Julian Chou created a melodrama that delves into the fragile bonds that define family dynamics. She explores identity, longing and exposes the tension between the traditional family cell and the westernization of Taiwan.

“Blind love” navigates gently between queerness, gender and cultural expectations.

In association with the Embassy of The Taiwan

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Narrative Competition

Thesis on a Domestication

Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day

Summer School, 2001

Perro perro

Rains Over Babel

No Beast. So Fierce.

Blind Love

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