Florentene

The festival's hands-down must-see, Eytan Fox's television series Florentene makes me want to go to Israel, and I've never wanted to go to Israel. A prime-time soap opera about a magnetic circle of twentysomethings living in a hip Tel Aviv neighborhood (the festival screens the first six episodes), it's like nothing you will ever see on American TV. Forget Melrose Place -- Florentene glows with expert acting, super-smart and witty writing, fully drawn characters, palpable political agendas, and (because Israel's two-channel system is still too unorganized to censor everything it screens) beautifully shot and refreshingly matter-of-fact depictions of gay love and gay sex. The same flair for juggling the personal with the political that Fox brought to Time Off and Gotta Have Heart makes Florentene an un-Friends, where a young film student can come out to his parents while they watch the Rabin funeral on TV. At the MFA, November 8 at 1:15 p.m.

A Letter Without Words
Human Remains
Rothschild's Violin
Amos Gutman, Filmmaker
Treyf
Florentene
Who's the Caboose?
Pop
Train of Life