ARMY OF LOVERS IN THE HOLY LAND (2019)
Asaf Galay/Israel, Sweden/61 minutes/Documentary, LGBT
Thirty years after the hit Swedish queer disco-pop band Army of Lovers launched into international stardom, its frontman, Jean-Pierre Barda, embarks on a new chapter when he uproots his existence to move from Sweden to Israel. In this new documentary, director Asaf Galay joins Barda alongside his journey at the age of 50, while Army of Lovers (a blend of ABBA, the B-52s and performance art) continues to rock pride celebrations and underground club parties with its mix of high camp, daring music videos and a motto of “More is more, less is a bore.”
Synopsis
Asaf Galay has directed numerous award-winning documentaries for Israeli television, including a series called Hasidistock about pop music in the Ultra Orthodox community. He wrote, directed and produced The Muses of Bashevis Singer, about the Nobel Prize-winning Yiddish author, and recently completed The Adventures of Saul Bellow about the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, which won a Library of Congress/Ken Burns award in 2019. In 2016 he directed and produced The Hebrew Superhero, described by Tablet magazine as a “supremely entertaining” film on the subject of comics in Israeli history. In addition to his acclaimed film and television career, Galay is museum curator at Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum for the Jewish People located in Tel Aviv, and head curator of exhibits on Bob Dylan (“Forever Young”), Jewish Humor (“Laughing at History”), Jewish fashion designers (“Dream Weavers”), and “Amy Winehouse – A Family Portrait.”
FESTIVALS
-
Haifa International Film Festival, Best Documentary Film
-
qFLIX Philadelphia's PrideFLIX Film Festival
-
Oxford Film Festival, Memphis
-
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
-
Berlin Jewish Film Festival
-
Warsaw Jewish Film Festival