The Bubble is Eytan Fox's (Walk on Water, Yossi & Jagger) latest film about a gay love story between an Israeli man and a Palestinian man. The title of the film refers to Tel Aviv, a relatively peaceful city in a tumultuous region. Three young Israelis, two guys and a girl, share an apartment in Tel Aviv’s hippest neighborhood. Trying to put aside political conflicts and focusing on their lives and loves, these progressive 20-somethings are often accused of living in an escapist “bubble”. Headstrong Lulu, works in a bath products boutique, flamboyant Yali, manages a trendy café, and brooding music store clerk Noam, spends his weekends serving at checkpoints in the National Guard. When Noam meets and falls in love with a young Palestinian man named Ashraf, the young Israelis decide to help Ashraf stay on in Tel Aviv illegally. Watch a trailer...



The Bubble, starring Ohad Knoller, Yousef 'Joe' Sweid, Alon Friedman, Daniela Virtzer directed by Eytan Fox is available on DVD here. Eytan Fox's Yossi & Jagger and Walk on Water are also available on DVDs.

Eytan Fox's new film The Bubble, is a Romeo and Juliet story directed by a gay Israeli - set in Tel Aviv, not Verona - with star-crossed lovers who are both men, one an Arab and one a Jew. But there are moments of almost sitcom levity - a touch of Friends, a dab of Will & Grace - along with the politics and tragedy that come with Israeli-Arab politics. "That's why I created this bubble," Fox says of the sex-and-latte world-within-a-world in which the film is set. "Because the reality of Israel for young people is just so overwhelming."
Fox, 43, born in New York, moved to Israel at age 2 and has known he was gay for as long as he can remember. He and his partner Gal Uchovsky have been together for over 18 years. They are also professional collaborators, Uchovsky, a writer and journalist, is involved in much of the scriptwriting for Fox's movies (Walk on Water, Yossi & Jagger). Watch a trailer...

The Bubble, starring Ohad Knoller, Yousef Sweid, Alon Friedman, Daniela Wircer, directed by Eytan Fox, is released in theaters across the world. Check The Bubble MySpace for more info.

Source San Francisco Gate

Ivri Lider, a popular Israeli musician and singer-songwriter has been barred from performing for troops. Three days before a gala concert for 10,000 soldiers Sunday night, the 33-year-old star was dropped from the lineup. According to the Los Angeles Time, the abrupt cancellation was a result of the army's disappointing call-up this summer, which yielded the fewest draftees in five years. Worried Israeli leaders are now moving to stigmatize entertainers and other celebrity role models who have failed to complete mandatory military service. Lider, who was discharged from the army after serving one month, is one of the first to feel the backlash. Watch Jesse, Ivri Lider's first U.S. single...

You might already know Ivri Lider for his original music for Eytan Fox & Gal Uchovsky films Yossi and Jagger, Walk On Water and The Bubble, in which he also appears, giving a heartwarming rendition of the Gershwin classic, "The Man I Love". The openly gay singer shared his thoughts about his love for his partner of the past eight years in an intimate Haaretz interview. About how hard it is to maintain a gay relationship over the years, he said: "The basis of our relationship was how much we loved each other. And it still is. I haven't completely stopped being excited about Yaniv. But it's very hard, over the years, to preserve a situation in which the two people in the couple are equal and satisfied, no matter how much they love each other. Especially when you have two strong and ambitious people... We found a good place - or maybe not so good - in the middle, between the conservative model and the open model. There's no winning model. If there's something I learned a little about during these past few years it's that when you think you can deal with life by holding rigid views, then life will laugh right back at you. Rigidity creates difficulty and a couple whose relationship derives from such a stance won't last. Like [the pop group] Bright Eyes said: 'If you love somebody, let them go.' None of the experiences I've had in my life have been for nothing. Even if I felt bad, I learned something, and they served me somehow." Read the full interview here.

Source Los Angeles Time and Haaretz

After Walk On The Water and Yossi and Jagger, The Bubble, Israeli director Eytan Fox's new film is out. The movie follows a group of young friends in the city of Tel Aviv in Israel and is as much a love song to the city as it is an exploration of the claim that people in Tel Aviv are isolated from the rest of the country and the turmoil it's going through. The Bubble looks at young people's lives, gays and straights, Jews and Arabs, men and women. It all begins when Noam, a young Israeli soldier, serves in the reserve forces and meets at a check point a Palestinian young man called Ashraf... Watch a trailer (left) and a scene (right)...



The Bubble, starring Ohad Knoller, Yousef "Joe" Sweid, Daniella Wircer, Alon Freidmann, directed by Eytan Fox. Currently in theaters in France, in the US in September.