Debra Messing, the star of Will and Grace, will attend this year’s TLVFest, the Tel Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, which will open its 20th edition at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque from October 23-November 2.
Messing will take part in the festival’s closing event and will speak to the festival’s founder and director, Yair Hochner, about her strong connection to the LGBT community and her activism.
The festival will open with the Israeli premiere of Kiss of the Spider Woman starring Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna, a much-awaited musical adaptation of the original film.
TLVFest just unveiled its full program of 63 films from 35 countries, many of which won awards at prestigious festivals. There will be additional screenings in Haifa, Holon, Herzliya, Jaffa, and Beit Shmuel in Jerusalem. (Details are available at www.tlvfest.com)
At the opening ceremony, an honorary award will be presented to 1998 Eurovision winner and pop diva Dana International, and it will feature performances by Yael Levita and Eitan Drori from the Israeli Opera and Drag Brunch Tel Aviv – One Night Only.
Movies premiering
Among the movies premiering at the festival will be A Wolf Among the Swans, starring Darío Grandinetti of Wild Tales and Julieta, inspired by the life of Rio-born dancer Thiago Soares and his relationship with Cuban mentor Dino Carrera.
The closing-night film is The Best Friend, a Brazilian musical about love and self-discovery featuring a soundtrack of hits from the 1980s and 1990s and a guest appearance by Brazilian pop and camp icon Gretchen.
Among the treats at the festival will be screenings of the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland and a program of other Wizard-adjacent films, including Jeffrey McHale’s new documentary It’s Dorothy!, the 1925 silent version, and The Wiz starring Diana Ross.
Gala presentations include Sally, the story of astronaut Sally Ride, screened in Israel courtesy of Disney+; Blue Moon, Richard Linklater’s new film starring Ethan Hawke about Lorenz Hart; and Hot Milk, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s drama starring Emma Mackey, Vicky Krieps, Vincent Pérez, and Fiona Shaw about the relationship between a mother and daughter.
Among the films in the Israeli program will be Nir Bergman’s Pink Lady, the story of a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) wife who has to come to terms with the fact that her husband is gay; Lee Gilat’s Girls Like Us, about a troubled teen who falls for the female soldier who is her counselor at a youth center; and Isri Halpern’s Proud Jewish Boy, a documentary about a young Polish Jew who killed a German diplomat in France in 1938.
The Queer Classics programming features Stephen Frears’s My Beautiful Laundrette, starring Daniel Day-Lewis in a 35 mm. 40th-anniversary presentation.
The Tel Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival is supported by the Culture Ministry, the Tel Aviv–Yafo Municipality, City of the World, and the Tourism Ministry.