City of Borders

Filmmaker Yun Suh's City of Borders argues that since gays and lesbians in Jerusalem and surrounding areas form a community transcending divisions intrinsic to Middle Eastern culture, they will be in the vanguard in the struggle for peace. Viewers meet Boody, who tries to live openly as a gay man in Ramallah on the West Bank, but after receiving repeated death threats he emigrates to the United States; and Sa'ar Netanel (the first homosexual elected to the Jerusalem city council), whose Shushan nightclub became a rallying point and refuge for kindred spirits. Interviews on the street and footage of protests during Jerusalem's small gay rights parades illustrate the heated opposition faced from religious groups; also seen here are Orthodox Jews on the Jerusalem city council casually insulting Netanel, who closed his club in 2007 and chose not to run for re-election. An Israeli-Palestinian lesbian couple in Tel Aviv work through their differences over having children and the underlying tension of being Israeli and Arab, with the implication being that commitment to their relationship symbolizes the possibility of peace between Israel and Palestine. Although at times depressing and discouraging, City of Borders ends on a hopeful note as interviewees pledge to live openly while waiting for legal equality. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (M. Puffer-Rothenberg)