In this documentary, Yun Suh offers a rare glimpse of the intertwining lives of a handful of gay people living near Jerusalem. The heart of the film pumps from within the Shushan, the only gay bar in Jerusalem, owned and operated by Sa’ar, the only openly gay councilman in the city. Sa’ar says that he opened the Shushan in order to create the image of Jerusalem that he wanted — a place where everyone could come to feel at home. The reality is that it’s highly frowned upon to have any type of Israeli/Palestinian intermingling, and to be openly gay in some quarters is to risk one’s life. Thurs. Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m., Muvico Baywalk.
More reviews at the Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival page.
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.