It was in the back alleys of Tel Aviv while filming her last film. middle — French documentarian Yolande Zauberman is set to win a César Award for best documentary for finding her latest subject. The beauty of Gaza Strip (The beauty of Gaza Strip).
Zauberman was filming three young Arab trans women, one of whom told her filmmaking partner in Arabic that she had walked from Gaza to Tel Aviv. Zauberman recalls: “I thought it was an almost impossible path. “First you become a man, then you become a woman, then you come from Gaza to Tel Aviv, and in Tel Aviv you become a Muslim. I really wanted to find this woman and find out how she sees her world.” After losing contact with the woman, Zauberman began looking for her. That journey will be the driving force and title of her latest document. The beauty of Gaza Strip.
The finished film, currently in special screening at the Cannes Film Festival, ultimately becomes a searing portrait of Tel Aviv's Arab trans women, from sex workers to beauty pageant winners, reminiscent of a high-flying LGBTQ document. good night Paris is burning and peer kids.
Filmed over the course of a year starting in 2022, the film's subjects include women such as Natalie, who is cared for after gender reassignment surgery by her childhood friend, and Nadine, who grew up in a Bedouin community and speaks openly about the dangers she faced. I feel like a trans woman in sex work. The film documents the isolation these women can face, especially within their families.
“[Family] This is important in all regions of the world, but especially in the Middle East,” says Zauberman. “So if you are a trans woman, especially if you are Arab; [amounts to] “I spend most of my time separated from my family.”
The beauty of Gaza Strip The book, which bravely addresses LGBTQ+ rights, Muslim-Jewish relations, and Arab citizenship in Israel, was finished before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and the ensuing conflict in Gaza. “I did it because I thought we should keep the movie and not release it,” says Zauberman of holding off on releasing the film. A time of greater tragedy for the region.
At the urging of her filmmaking team, she and fellow directors Alice Diop (his saint omer Zauberman (who won the Jury Prize in Venice in 2022) screened the film in Paris to gauge the response. Her positive response inspired her to release her film. It will be released in French theaters after Cannes through Pyramide International, which is handling sales for the Marché. The subject of the film will be present on the Croisette.
However, the possibility of his release in Israel remains unclear. Zauberman says: “I asked the people I filmed to decide if they wanted the film to be shown in their country. Because you don’t want to put them in a situation they don’t want to be in. So they decide.”
That decision will be made after the Cannes Film Festival, the director said.