Forbidden love?

A movie about a gay love affair between an Israeli and a Palestinian man was bound to pop someone's bubble. A new feature film from Israel called The Bubble, which depicts such a romance and had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, is doing just that, sparking controversy in the Middle East and abroad--to the chagrin of the creative team, who say they just wanted to foster debate.

Set in Tel Aviv, The Bubble charts the complicated relationship between an Israeli indie record store employee and a Palestinian visitor from the West Bank, whose love for each other is constantly undermined by anti-Arab sentiment, bitchy roommates, familial strains, and suicide bombings.

While many festivalgoers in Toronto thought it was among the strongest queer films screened, The Bubble has faced strong resistance elsewhere. Many European film festivals have reportedly refused to screen any Israeli films in the wake of the country's recent war with Lebanon, and in Israel, where conservatives have railed against the film's "pro-Palestinian" stance, the fighting forced movie theaters to shut down right when The Bubble was being released there. It goes without saying that Arab countries in the region would never screen an Israeli production in the first place.

"The fact is, in some parts of the world they don't want to see something like this, even with a good message," says Gal Uchovsky, who cowrote and produced the film (the director is Eytan Fox, who also helmed Yossi & Jagger). "In Israel they don't like the film too much. That's the way of the world. They don't have a problem with it--they create a problem. It's about the idea. What can you do?"