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Brawny, square-jawed Boaz (Yoav Reuveni) is the object of desire to seemingly all who encounter him, from the women in his university classes to the hunky swimmer at the pool. It is the sweltering summer of 1989 in Tel Aviv, the linguistics student leads a rather subdued existence with his accommodating girlfriend, Noa (Moran Rosenblatt). But when intimate letters from a secret male admirer appear, a long-buried part of Boaz is ignited, and memories spring forth in lush, intimate flashbacks. Riddled with guilt, shame and a deeply internalized homophobia, Boaz both wildly anticipates and dreads his daily trips to the post office. As the letters mount, and Noa begins to suspect, Boaz’s frustration bubbles to the surface, and small acts of violence grow in director Yariv Mozer’s masterful first narrative feature. Mozer’s documentary features have won international acclaim, and he deftly makes the transition to the narrative form by focusing intimately on the unique experiences of gay men in Israel. At its core,
Snails in the Rain is the tale of two men, one onscreen and one accessible only through his aching prose, who live in a constant state of panic, anguish and joy as they battle their yearnings in a time and place that Mozer adeptly captures.
-Alexis Whitman
Note: Mature Content
California Premiere
Co-sponsored by Frederick Hertz and by the Israel Center of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund