Music 2024 Archives

“Love & Revolution” and panel

The screening will be preceded by panel and discussion “The LGBT struggle in Israel”
(app. 30 min)

The year is 1977 and Miguel is going to be the first one in his family to go to university. But Miguel has different dreams: to become a singer and take part in a popular TV competition. He’s exposed to social activists, finds himself doing drag in underground clubs and becomes an activist himself, all this in secret and against the will of his mother Reme, a 50 year-old woman, who works as a seamstress in a luxury suits shop.
In the 70’s homosexuality was still taboo in Spain, the police regularly used violence against the LGBTQ community and being associated with the gay community was an offence that could get you in jail. When Miguel is caught in drag by the police, his conservative mother decides to step up and join Miguel’s friends – other activists from the gay community, to fight the police, the court and the government in order to make Spain a better place.
In his debut film, director Alejandro Marín manages to get into the hearts of his audience with a thrilling and sweeping dramedy on the right to love. A film that is a salute to all those who fought and are still fighting to live in a liberal country with equal rights and no fear.
The film’s original name, “Te estoy amando locamente” (“I love you madly”), refers to the power of mother’s love to her son, and therefore it is also a film that honors all the mothers that support their LGBTQ children, and even if sometimes it’s hard for them, they would fight for their sons and daughters till the end.
The film is based on real events.

In association with the Embassy of Spain & PrideTV

“Chuck Chuck Baby” & Stand-up by Talya Bartfeld

Before the screening: short Stand-up show by Talya Bartfeld

Northern Wales, a chicken packing factory, in the background are the inspiring tunes of Neil Diamond, Janis Ian, Minnie Riperton and others. Helen is in her late 30’s and spends most of her time either at the factory or taking care of her ex’s dying mother.
A surprising twist comes in the shape of Joan, her former neighbor who returns to the godforsaken town. The two women renew their friendship, Helen regains her joie-de-vivre as well as some hidden desires. The two begin a playful courtship – but will they have the courage to let go of the painful past and let their love win?
Oh, and did we mention that the whole thing is an uplifting, full of life, lesbian kind-of musical?

Please note: part of the movie takes place in a meatpacking factory. No animals were hurt during the filming.

Additional screening: 8.11, 20:00, without a show.

Aum Penjor

For the first time ever – an LGBTQ film from Bhutan!
A moving film of identity, parenthood and chosen family.

Aum Penjor is a transgender singer in a queer club, and a sort of local celebrity. One rainy night, while another one-night-stand is slipping away, she hears crying and finds an abandoned baby amongst the cartons. When she takes the baby home, she begins to develop feelings she never imagined having. Aum Penjor suddenly discovers she has maternal instincts that lead her to a whole new type of journey.

This is a film about a determined woman who embraces her true self bravely in the face of social prejudice. The film follows the complexity of struggles and personal triumphs in a community entrenched in traditional values. This is a thrilling drama with exquisite landscapes, adorned with some wonderful musical moments, and it’s not afraid to make you shed a tear or two.

I Trust You

Susana and Nélida met in their youth in a convent, fell in love and abandoned their calling. The two built a home together, adopted 3yo Erika, and lived a happy life on the family farm. But in 2006 the two were charged with murder and were sentenced to 20 years in prison, in what became a sensational media event, combining nuns, lesbians, jealousy, rivalry, prejudice, politics, corruption and parenthood. Many things happened since then – Nelida came out as a trans man, and is now Daniel, Erika is 24yo and visits her parents in prison, while they still plead innocence.
Director Agustin Toscano who has been following the couple since 2019, is bending the rules of documentary cinema and brings to the screen a humane drama of a family behind bars. He combines documentary filmmaking with professional acting and adds original musical pieces, and most importantly – he does not judge his subjects in any way.
This is an original and forceful piece of cinema.

Sultana’s Dream

Ines is an artiste who travels to India and finds a novel by Begum Rokeya Hossain in a book shop. Begum Rokeya was a Bengali feminist philosopher and writer. Her sci-fi novella “Sultana’s Dream” was published in 1905, and tells of a feminist utopia Ladyland, where women have all the power while men take care of the household. Ines, inspired by the novel, searches for a place where women can live peacefully, away from the world of men.

Short film director Isabel Herguera in her first feature film, with three distinctive animation styles: Begum Rokeya story is told through shadow animation, Ines’ journey is depicted with water colors and Ladyland is designed using traditional Mehndi prints.
The result, interlaced with traditional Indian music, is breathtaking and inspiring.

Courtesy of The Hive Distribution

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

For the first time on the big screen in Israel, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”, the film that earned Jessica Chastain the Oscar for Best Leading Female.
The film is based on a documentary by the same name from the creators behind “RuPaul’s Drag Race”.

In a heartwarming performance, Jessica Chastain undergoes a full transformation and becomes Tammy Faye Bakker, an evangelist TV host that led for years an extravagant missionary talk show. A woman who built, alongside her husband Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield) an empire that is worth millions of dollars. Tammy Faye was popular with her choices of colorful outfits and extreme make-up. While she soared in the Christians circles she became a laughing stock of late night talk shows and skits such as SNL, which turned her into a popular culture icon even for those who never saw her actual show.

Director Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick”) brings to the big screen an honest and merciful portrait of a woman, far from the caricature Tammy Faye had become. From her humble start as child, through the wedding her parents didn’t approve of, to the huge success and Jim’s conviction of fraud. Even though Tammy Faye was an evangelist Christian, she supported the LGBTQ community and was one of the first conservative Republicans to interview with compassion an AIDS patient during the height of the pandemic, a move that enraged a lot of her supporters as well as the evangelists leader, rev. Jerry Falwell.

Chastain is nothing short of amazing, stepping into Tammy Faye’s shoes. She manages to create a humane and colorful personality who always shows up in full make-up- ready to give a performance of a lifetime, even if the camera isn’t rolling.

The movie is also available on Disney Plus

Emilia Pérez

The new and much talked about musical crime drama by director Jacques Audiard (“Rust and Bone”, “A Prophet” “The Beat That My Heart Skipped”) which premiered at the last Cannes Film Festival to standing ovations. This film earned its amazing cast a joint award and the Judges Choice main award. This is the film that introduced to the world one of the best cinematic newcomers of recent years – transgender actress Karla Sofía Gascón, who takes over the screen and the viewers hearts with an unforgettable performance.

Zoe Saldaña (“Avatar”, “Guardians of the Galaxy”) is Rita, a frustrated lawyer who works for a big and corrupt company. One day she gets a chance to change her life – a one-on-one meeting with the head of one of the cruelest cartels in Mexico. To her immense surprise the man asks her to help him realize his dream – to undergo a gender affirming procedure and start a new life as a woman under the name of Emilia Pérez.
Other cast members include one of todays’ biggest stars as the cartel head’s wife, Selena Gomez (“Only Murders in the Building”) and the Israeli actor Mark Ivanir.
This is a film that you will not forget.

In association with the Embassy of France

“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

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

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