PAPER DOLLS

US Premiere

This poignant film tells the story of four transvestites from the Philippines who leave their homeland to go to Israel in search of a better life. By day, they take care of aged orthodox Jewish men, and on a rare night out, they perform together in a campy drag show as "The Paper Dolls."

Across all borders and against all odds, the transvestite caretakers and their frail employers forge extraordinarily tender relationships. Through the intimate rituals of feeding, bathing, and nurturing, the caretakers become regarded by the Jewish men as family members-sometimes as children, sometimes as parents-and the elder orthodox men fill an aching void for the caretakers as well, for their parents, separated by hundreds of miles and by an inability to accept their sexual orientation.

The brief hours that The Paper Dolls spend on stage performing as their lip-syncing alter egos offer some reprieve from the difficulty of their lives, spent otherwise grappling with harassment and the constant threat of deportation. But even these musical interludes have a trace of dissatisfaction, as the Dolls dream of taking their routine out of the seedy bars and into a larger spotlight.

Heymann's film is a tender and touching portrait that is both fiercely political and deeply human. While it offers a compelling provocation on issues of race, class, and sexuality, what one remembers most is the simple beauty found in the most unexpected but essential of relationships.

-Sky Sitney

Sponsored by
The Israeli Embassy

DIRECTOR BIO
Tomer Heymann was born in Israel in 1970. From 1994 through 1997 he trained as a cinematographer at the Camera Obscura School of Art in Tel Aviv; he has been making documentary films since 1996. FUCKED-UP GENERATION is a portrait of Israeli rock star Aviv Gefen, and his film IT KINDA SCARES ME was shown at several international gay and lesbian film festivals.

Print Source:
Andrew Herwitz
Film Sales Company
151 Lafayette Street
5th Floor
New York, NY 10013
646.274.0945
andrew.herwitz@filmsalescorp.com

6/15 10:00 PM
6/17 at 8:00 PM

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