TLVFest, officially the Tel Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival (), is an annual

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

held in

Tel Aviv, Israel Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. The festival is focused on

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

-themed film from around the world. The festival, based at the

Tel Aviv Cinematheque Tel Aviv Cinematheque (also called: Doron Cinema center) is a cinematheque and movie archive, opened in Tel Aviv on 12 May 1973. The Cinematheque, located at HaArba'a Street 5, has five screening halls. The Cinematheque programming includes Is ...

. is open to all types of audiences, not only to members of the LGBTQ community. The festival also spotlights LGBTQ

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

films, consults LGBTQ Palestinians in its film selection process, and is outspoken in its commitment to Palestinian human rights. The festival is increasingly active outside Tel Aviv, and bringing LGBTQ culture across the country to cities and towns such as

Sderot Sderot (, , ; , sometimes Romanized as "Sederot") is a western Negev city and former development town in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel. In , it had a population of . Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza St ...

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, Kibbutz Mizra,

Rosh Pina Rosh Pina () is a lay-led Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue that meets in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. The independent congregation meets for Shabbat morning services twice a month ...

Ness Ziona Ness Ziona (, ''Nes Tziyona'') is a city in Central District (Israel), Central District, Israel. In it had a population of , and its jurisdiction was 15,579 dunams (). Identification Lying within Ness Ziona's city bounds is the ruin of the Arab ...

, and Pardes Hanna-Karkur, The festival runs around the same time as, sometimes concurrently, with Tel Aviv Pride.

History

TLVFest was founded by Yair Hochner. The first-ever LGBT film festival in Tel Aviv was held in 2006, and focused on LGBT-themed films that would otherwise never have received theatrical, TV or

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

distribution in Israel. The festival took place at the Ha’ozen Hashlishit (Hebrew for "Third Ear") music venue on King George Street and screened in five tiny theaters of 20–40 seats each. The festival opened with Greg Araki’s '' Mysterious Skin'' and the festival sold out every film, attracting more than 2,000 people. The festival moved to the bigger

in 2007. IndieWire included it in its list of "10 LGBT Fests You Can’t Miss" in 2014 and 2015. TLVFest founded ''TLVFest Drag Star Search,'' a competition for Israeli

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

s and

drag king Drag kings have historically been mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of an individual or group routine. As documented in the 2003 ''Journal of Homosexuality,'' in more r ...

s. It has hosted drag artists from around the world including Peaches Christ, Sherry Vine,

Jinkx Monsoon Hera Lilith Hoffer (born September 18, 1987), best known by the stage name Jinkx Monsoon, is an American drag queen, actress, singer and comedienne, originally from the Pacific Northwest, and perhaps best-known for winning the RuPaul's Drag Race ...

, Sharon Needles,

Peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a Hybrid (biology), hybrid species of Mentha, mint, a cross between Mentha aquatica, watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in m ...

, and Alexis Michelle. In 2020, due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, the festival moved to November.

Guests

Over the years, the festival's guests have included

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish actor, writer and presenter. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. He re ...

Lea DeLaria Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. She portrayed List of Orange Is the New Black characters#Carrie "Big Boo" Black, Carrie "Big Boo" Black on the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black'' ...

, film producer Christine Vachon ('' Boys Don’t Cry'', '' Carol'', ''

Far From Heaven ''Far from Heaven'' is a 2002 historical romantic drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert and Patricia Clarkson. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Moore won the ...

''); LGBT community 'legends' such as Bruce La Bruce,

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

-star Mink Stole, Wieland Speck (Berlinale Panorama curator), Michael Stutz, Kim Yutani (director of programming for the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

Lorenzo Vigas Lorenzo Vigas Castes (born 1967) is a Venezuelan director, screenwriter and film producer. Biography Education Born in Mérida, the son of the painter Oswaldo Vigas, Vigas graduated in molecular biology at the University of Tampa. In 199 ...

(

Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

Award Winner/

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

– '' From Afar''), Marcio Reolon, Filipe Matzembacher ( Teddy Award Winner/

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

– '' Hard Paint''), Martín Rodríguez Redondo ('' Marilyn''), Jay Brannan (''

Shortbus ''Shortbus'' is a 2006 American erotic comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. The plot revolves around a sexually diverse ensemble of colorful characters trying desperately to connect in an early 2000s New York City. ...

''),

Jamie Babbit Jamie Merill Babbit (born November 16, 1970) is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films '' But I'm a Cheerleader'' (1999), '' The Quiet'' (2005), and '' Itty Bitty Titty Committee'' (2007). She has also directed ep ...

('' But I’m a Cheerleader''), Angela Robinson ('' D.E.B.S.''),

Cheryl Dunye Cheryl Dunye (; born May 13, 1966) is a Liberian-American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress. Dunye's work often concerns themes of race, sexuality, and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians. She is known ...

('' The Watermelon Woman''), Mark Christopher ('' 54''), Alantė Kavaitė ('' The Summer of Sangailė''), Daniel Ribeiro ('' The Way He Looks''),

Melanie Mayron Melanie Joy MayronRiggs, Thomas, ed. (2002). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Volume 40'. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale. p. 149. . (born October 20, 1952) is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is ...

('' Snapshots''), Madeleine Olnek ('' Wild Nights with Emily''), Thom Fitzgerald ('' The Hanging Garden''); international trans activists and performers:

Buck Angel Buck Angel (born June 5, 1962) is an American sex educator and former pornographic film actor and producer. He founded the media production company Buck Angel Entertainment. Angel is a transgender man. Angel served on the board of directors o ...

Gigi Gorgeous Gigi Loren Lazzarato Getty, known professionally as Gigi Gorgeous, is a Canadian YouTuber, socialite, actress, and model. In 2008, Lazzarato began uploading video blogs onto streaming platform YouTube. Her videos achieved popularity and establi ...

, Miss Rosewood, Zazie de Paris, Maya Jafer and many more.

Opening Night Films

* 2006 - Mysterious Skin * 2007 - The Gymnast * 2008 - FD Tel Aviv * 2009 - Strella * 2010 - I Love you Phillip Morris * 2011 - Melting Away * 2012 - Leave It on the Floor * 2013 - Snails in The Rain * 2014 - Guttman X 5 * 2015 -

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

* 2016 -

Oriented In mathematics, orientability is a property of some topological spaces such as real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, surfaces, and more generally manifolds that allows a consistent definition of "clockwise" and "anticlockwise". A space is ori ...

* 2017 - The Wound * 2018 - My Days of Mercy * 2019 - 15 Years

Selected films, screened at festival

* '' Mysterious Skin''. Directed by Greg Araki * '' One Kiss''. Directed by Ivan Cotroneo * '' The Wound''. Directed by John Trengove

Controversies

Funding 2012

The Israeli Film Council threatened to withdraw funding for the festival; however it did not cancel the funding.

Calls for boycott

2017

A number of scheduled speakers canceled their attendance at the event in response to pressure from the BDS movement. The speakers who withdrew their participation are South African director John Trengrove, Canadian author and screenwriter of Pakistani descent Fawzia Mirza, Palestinian Nadia Ibrahim, who was supposed to sit in a jury panel, and Swiss Jasna Fritzi Bauer, though only Trengrove, Mirza and Ibrahim cited the BDS movement. Jasna Fritzi Bauer and Helene Hegemann claimed schedule clashes as a reason for cancellation. Despite speakers withdrawal, there were not changes in the screen program and the films of those who cancelled their participation were shown during the festival. John Trengrove cancelled his participation after he arrived to Israel on festival dime. Palestinian Israeli actress Samira Saraya and filmmaker Maysaloun Hamoud participated in the festival.

2020

More than 100 filmmakers from 15 countries signed a petition launched by the

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was launched in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals in Ramallah, in the West Bank. PACBI is part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions ...

calling for a boycott of the festival out of solidarity with the struggle by the Palestinian queer community. Among the signatories are filmmakers Charlotte Prodger,

Alain Guiraudie Alain Guiraudie (; born 15 July 1964) is a French film director and screenwriter. He has directed ten mostly LGBT-related films since 1990. He is openly gay. Work Guiraudie has named Georges Bataille as an important influence. His 2013 film '' ...

, Thomas Allen Harris, Harjant Gill,

Ian Iqbal Rashid Ian Iqbal Rashid (born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and poet, known for his volumes of poetry, for his work on the Peabody Award-winning and Canadian Screen Award-winning HBO Max/ CBC TV series '' Sort Of'' (2021� ...

, Sarah Schulman,

John Greyson John Greyson (born March 13, 1960) is a Canadian director, writer, video artist, producer, and Activism, political activist, whose work frequently deals with queer characters and themes. He was part of a loosely affiliated group of filmmakers to ...

, Adrian Stimson,

Richard Fung Richard Fung (born 1954) is a video artist, writer, public intellectual and theorist who currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. He was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and is openly gay. Fung was a professor at OCAD University. He earne ...

, Catherine Gund and

Raquel Freire Raquel Freire (born 22 June 1973, in Porto) is a Portuguese film director, screenwriter and novelist. Career In 2014, she released the film ''Transiberic Love'' which is a love story set in modern times showing how one can be an activist within ...

, as well as film scholars Alexandra Juhasz, Thomas Waugh, Marc Siegel, Shohini Ghosh and

Chris Berry Chris Berry is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He plays the mbira (thumb piano) and the ngoma drum, from the Shona people of Southern Africa. His records with the band Panjea have gone platinum in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. He has ...

2021

In October 2021, over 200 celebrities, including

Mila Kunis Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and raised in Los Angeles, she was Jackie Burkhart on ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) and has voiced Meg Griffin on ''Family Guy'' since ...

, Billy Porter,

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received List of awards and nominations ...

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...

Lance Bass James Lance Bass (; born May 4, 1979) is an American singer, actor, and producer. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the Bass (voice type), bass singer for the boy band NSYNC. The band has sold over 70 million records, becoming one of ...

and

Jeremy Piven Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series '' Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the Britis ...

, signed an open letter rejecting calls for a boycott of the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:TLVFest Film festivals in Israel LGBTQ culture in Tel Aviv LGBTQ film festivals in Asia LGBTQ events in Israel Festivals in Tel Aviv LGBTQ-related controversies in film 2006 establishments in Israel