2016

ORIENTED

ORIENTED

Jake Witzenfeld | Israel 2015 | 83 Min. | OmeU

Three gay Palestinian friends in Tel Aviv investigate their national and sexual identity. Khader, the scion of a prominent Muslim Mafia family, lives with his Jewish boyfriend David and their dog Otis. Fadi is a Palestinian nationalist who struggles with the idea of ??falling in love with a Jew. Naeem only recently came out and still has to tell his parents – a situation that causes him a great deal of stress. The three young men feel connected to each other by being different: as gays in Arab families and as Palestinians in Israeli territory. Tel Aviv may be a very tolerant city, but not for everyone. At a party in Amman, Jordan, they realize that all the more. “Amman is our gateway to the Arab world. There we can meet people who we cannot meet in any other circumstances. This place shows me what could have been if Palestine existed.” The video platform that they start together provides an outlet: “We are Palestine, we are here and we are queer.” Meanwhile, tensions between Israel and the Palestinians rise, and news bulletins and air-raid sirens are the harbingers of a new war.