ABSTRACT
Tel Aviv has gained, over the past two decades, a reputation for being both a top international gay destination and, inside Israel, a ‘bubble’ – a cultural and social sphere whose values are diametrically opposed to those lived by Israelis outside the city. However, the power of Tel Aviv is restricted: as much as it offers relief from homophobia and xenophobia, its refugees and migrant workers, queer or not, are still subjected to the often racist immigration laws made by decision-makers who perceive them as a threat. Three recent Israeli films – Tomer Heymann’s documentary Paper Dolls (2006), Eytan Fox’s The Bubble (2006) and Michael Mayer’s Out in the Dark (2012) – portray a city that serves as a halfway haven: a place where queer migrant workers (in Paper Dolls) and queer Palestinian refugees (in The Bubble and Out in the Dark) are warmly welcomed by the city and its residents but betrayed by the Israeli authorities. In The Bubble, the tragic ending offers little hope. In Paper Dolls and Out in the Dark, hope is finally found, although, as may be expected, not in Tel Aviv but in Europe. Tel Aviv, therefore, is represented as only a temporary, limited solution. In the battle between liberal Tel Aviv and Israel’s intolerance, it is the latter that ultimately counts.
