Israeli film about star-crossed lovers wins awards, acclaim

Gay Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox's last film, Walk on Water, was the top-grossing film of all time in Israel, so when political upheaval in that country pretty much tanked the box office changes of his latest film, The Bubble, it was a bitter blow. This year's looking a lot sweeter, though, as the film is winning awards, critical acclaim, and a distribution deal on the international and gay film festival circuits.

"The bubble" refers to the trendy urban neighborhood where Noam (Ohad Knoller), an Israeli, lives with a straight female friend, Lulu (Daniella Wircer) and a gay male friend, Yali (Alon Friedmann). He meets Ashraf (Yousef "Joe" Sweid), a Palestinian, at a checkpoint one day, and they end up falling in love. Ashraf joins the three friends in their bubble, and for a time, everyone's happy.

Of course, as the title implies, the bubble does eventually burst. This is, after all, Israel and Palestine, and like all Romeo and Juliet stories, it was never going to have a happy ending.

The Bubble picked up a $5000 prize for the HBO juried award for the best fiction feature at last week's Miami Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, as well as the prestigious International Confederation of Art Cinemas Award (CICAE) at the Berlin International Film Festival in February.

The film will show on May 17 at the Boston Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and will begin its US theatrical release in late summer. Check out the trailer after the jump for more.