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THE FIRST LADY

​Israeli transgender pioneer Efrat Tilma had to flee the country
as a teenager. Now in her seventies and a celebrated activist,
she must fight for her rights once again, while the country spirals
into political and social regression.

​Efrat Tilma, a trailblazing transgender woman, was forced to flee Israel as a teenager in the 1960s, after a police officer threatened to kill her if he ever saw her again walking the streets of Tel Aviv in women’s clothing. Today, at 75, she is a prominent LGBTQ+ activist and the first transgender volunteer in the Israeli police force. As the country descends into an unprecedented social and political crisis, Efrat confronts the traumas that shaped her life and once again fights for her
place in the world.

TEAM

Directors > Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein

Produced By > Christian Beetz, Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein

Executive Producer > Georg Tschurtschenthaler

Producer > Lena Raith

Line Producers > Kathrin Isberner, Ofir Merkel

DOP > Uriel Sinai, Daniel Binsted

Original Munic > Adam Maor

Design & Animation > Arik Weiss

Sound Design & Mix Aviv Aldema

Color > Omer Weiss

Community strategist > Roei Hillel

Based on a Book By Efrat Tilma

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Production Countries > Israel / Germany

Release year > 2025
Runtime > 82 min

PITCHING EVENTS

CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, 2022

Copro, Tel-Aviv, 2022

Cologne Film Festival, 2022

HotDocs, Toronto, 2023

Copro Impact Lab, Tel-Aviv, 2023-24

Agora Docs, Thessaloniki, 2024

JFI residency, San Francisco, 2024

THE FILM'S FACEBOOK PAGE

THE FILM'S INSTAGRAM PAGE

GESHER logo
Weil Bloch logo
NFCT logo
JFI logo
Copro logo
Kan logo
Arte logo
NDR logo
Beetz Brothers logo
Albi logo
Gila Project for Trans Empowerment logo
Mifal Hapais logo
DocAviv Laurels
Weil Bloch Award winner laurels

© 2025 uvs films

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uvs films is a Haifa based documentary film production company, run by filmmaker duo Udi Nir and Sagi Bornstein. Their work includes GOLDA (2019), #uploading_holocaust (2016), and Kafka's Last Story (2011). 

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