Mideast Piece

Here’s the buzz on the Tel Aviv International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival or TLVFEST opening on June 8.

Film director, producer, and manager of the Berlin Porn Festival, Jurgen Bruning, is scheduled to arrive in Israel as a guest of the Tel Aviv International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TLVFEST) which will open June 18.

For the Tel Aviv festival, Bruning edited a special collection of films from the Berlin Festival which explore, he said, the fine lines differentiating porn, art and politics.

The festival program includes works from around the world and deal with a variety of subjects: the world of cyber-sex, same-sex relationships, a tribute to Divine and sado-drag.

“Some of the films contain explicit sex scenes and disturbing violence,” says Yair Hochner ,the Tel Aviv’s Festival’s director of programming.

“The festival particularly aspires to present Israeli audiences with important and world-renowned Queer works that are still unfamiliar to the local scene, to examine boundaries between art and pornography, to investigate social issues and to shed light on those who live their lives on the margins.”

Turns out that the video I posted yesterday features Oshri Cohen. (It’s written in the info with the clip but I wasn’t paying attention.) Oshri is an Israeli TV and movie star. I recently saw him in Beaufort. I’ll write more about that later…

“A Jihad for Love” is the world’s first documentary film on the role of homosexuality in Islam. Filmed in a dozen countries and nine languages, the film has started to make the rounds in the US.

Director Parvez Sharma (pictured here) has faced an uphill battle bringing the film to life. “About every two weeks I get an e-mail that berates me, condemns me to hell and, if they are nice, asks me to still seek forgiveness while there is still time,” said the Indian-American director.

Sharma has attempted to portray homosexuality without shame, all the while protecting the safety of his sources by filming them as silhouettes or with their faces covered. In one case, he said the family of an Afghan woman he interviewed “would undoubtedly kill her” if they found out she was a lesbian. Even one of the film’s associate producers, an Egyptian gay man, chose not to be listed in the credits for fear of possible consequences. (When was the last time you heard of someone in Hollywood not wanting credit?!)

Though filled with the trials and tribulation of being gay and Muslim, the film ultimately leaves viewers with a positive message about the potential to reclaim Islam in the name of tolerance and love. “The Islam that this film is seeking to reclaim is rich, it is pulsating, it’s welcoming, condemning sometimes, it’s loving, it’s erotic, it’s sensual, it’s poetic and it’s musical,” said Sharma.

Amen.

Few mainstream films have been made about homosexuality in the Muslim/Arab world, and one of the more noteworthy has been “The Road to Love,” a 2004 independent French film (mainstream?). Here’s a segment from Grady Harp’s review:

French Algerian Karim (Karim Tarek) is a student in Paris and spends his time with his girlfriend Sihem (Sihem Benamoune). He happens to view a television program about the gay life in Egypt in the 20th century, a life that allowed gay relationships and even marriages so along as the men gave up the lifestyle when they eventually married women. His interest in the subject results in a sociology project of interviewing gay Arab men to explore contemporary gay lifestyles.

After a few aborted attempts (Karim is not sufficiently comfortable with the subject matter to gain the trust of his interviewees) Karim encounters Farid (Farid Tali), a gay, well-adjusted, quietly seductive handsome Algerian lad who not only agrees to be interviewed, but also finds ways to assist Karim with his project. Chemistry develops and the two depart Paris to visit Marseilles and Morocco and Karim discovers why the subject of choice fascinates him so.

The beauty of this film lies in the honesty in which it is written, directed, acted, and edited. Not only are we allowed to explore a subject matter few of us knew (Islamic homosexuality history and social mores), we are also presented with one of the more tender love stories on film - tender because it is not overt but rather because it is so naturally evolved. The actors are excellent and though they feel as though they are first time, off the street recruits, they find the core of the script and make the story beautiful.

Learn more or order a copy of “The Road to Love” here.

Tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel and abroad, “Yom HaShoah.” In Israel, the entire country pauses for a siren blared mid-morning in honor of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

You might know that in addition to Jews, Hitler targeted gays. Homosexuals were forced to wear pink triangles and were sent to death camps where thousands of them perished. Several excellent films have been made about the Nazis’ war against gays, including Bent (pictured here) and Paragraph 175.

A poem originally attributed to Martin Niemöller expressed the imperative for people to stand up for each other and battle persecution wherever it arises:

First they came for the Socialists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left
to speak up for me.

(Below, Berlin’s Holocaust memorial)

Over at Jewlicious, Phoebe shares about how she got all tongue tied during a recent Q and A session with Eytan Fox. Phoebe was thrilled to spend an evening her favorite film director and the man behind Yossi and Jagger, Walk on Water, and the new film, The Bubble, premiering April 30 at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Phoebe says that Eytan

went on to study film at Tel Aviv University, to produce a romantic comedy (”Song of the Siren”) deemed frivolous by an American Hadassah audience, to direct an Israeli TV series called “Florentine” which included gay sex before, he told us, American TV made such a leap, and, most importantly as far as I’m concerned, to make the most amazing movie ever, Yossi and Jagger.

Lots of folks have expressed interesting in seeing Fox’s latest The Bubble. There’s a whole post and comment thread about it over at Bedtime Stories. As you know, we’re on top of things here at MEP and brought you the news that The Bubble will be distributed in the US way back in February. Keep asking for it at your local video store or at your favorite retailer!

Though I am a mid-20’s kind of gay guy, my closeted years were enhanced by a lot of gay icons who (a) are not gay men and (b) are typically associated with gay men born a generation before me.

Chief among those grand dames to whom my heart really belongs is none other than Barbra Streisand. Ah, Babs. They simply do not make them like Barbra anymore. That voice, that gaze, that gusto…that nose!

A few minutes ago I was thinking about Babs (don’t ask why) and remembered her Oscar-winning performance in 1968’s Funny Girl. Within five, maybe seven seconds, I realized this movie is quite related to our site (lucky for you). Barbra plays legendary performer Fanny Brice, and her love interest in the movie is played by none other than Omar Sharif, the internationally-known Egyptian actor (there they are above in the movie!)

The film caused quite a stir at the time because Barbra, a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn, shared quite a few deep kisses with Omar, whose native country had just been crushed by Israel in the Six Day War. Barbra allegedly received death threats leading up to a public performance, setting the stage for a decades-long hiatus from the stage.

The movie brings us gay-man torch songs like “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “My Man” and, of course, “People.” A Jewish woman and an Arab man launch a torrid romance, Oscars follow, and the world kept spinning.

What ever happened to musicals? (And divas wearing bras?)

Did you know Lawrence of Arabia, the hero of Arab nationalism, was probably a big homo, not to mention a lover of Mideast pieces like me and John?

Lawrence rallied thousands of strapping young pieces to his side in the name of national liberation. It doesn’t surprise me that a British dude would want to leave that overly civil, tea-obsessed land and come to the Middle East where the hot men is at, honey. Or that he would want to train them intensely in the sand, put them in uniforms, and watch them fight.

Larry-cakes was never known to have chased girls around, much less dated or done the dirty deed with one. It is also know he had men administer annual beatings to him. He once made a nude carving of his live-in “friend” and displayed it proudly in his home for years to come.

As if all this evidence is not enough for you, check out this poem Sir Lawrence wrote to (allegedly) his Arab lover, Dahoum:

I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
and wrote my will across the sky in stars
To gain you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house,
that your eyes might be shining for me
When I came

Men prayed me to set my work, the inviolate house
in memory of you.
But for fit monument I shattered it, unfinished: and now
The little things creep out to patch themselves hovels
in the marred shadow
Of your gift.

Last night I went to a showing of Jerusalem is Proud to Present at the DocAviv documentary film festival here in Tel Aviv. I was impressed by the large crowd that turned up for the film. Just like other pride events, it was great to be surrounded by “my” community, our supporters, and other cool people just looking for an interesting documentary film for a Friday night.

I had low expectations for the film and I guess that’s why I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. The movie is about all the ups and downs that were associated with putting on World Pride 2005 - that became World Pride 2006. It shows how World Pride (and accordingly the LGBTQ civil right movement in the Middle East) was forced to take a back seat to the pull out from Gaza in 2005, a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, and violent protests from the ultra-orthodox community in Israel.

I was living in Jerusalem during the planning for World Pride and was a volunteer at the Jerusalem Open House (the GLBTQ organization that put the event together) at the time. I led the English speakers meetings there and help to recruit people from around the globe to attend the event. It was a very frustrating experience and watching the movie made those memories fresh in my mind. It also reminded me how much work we still have to do here regarding GLTBQ issues and human rights in this neck of the woods. Matt and I feel that this blog is our way of making the Middle East a better place for gays, lesbians, bi, trans and queer people. Yes, we bring you hot guys (nothing wrong with that!), but in our hearts we’re social activists that are doing the best we can to make a difference. You can help us in our work by becoming a Mideast Piece Ambassador. A few folks have already made contributions and we really appreciate your help!

Here are a couple of YouTube videos of Jerusalem World Pride 2006. The first clip is a news report in Russian! I tried to find an English one - but watch anyway. You’ll see the event and all the police protection that was necessary to protect our civil rights to march, gather, and speak freely. The second video is someone’s personal clip of part of the concert portion of the celebration.