The 17th annual Pride Festival Tel Aviv took place last week with the participation of an estimated 180,000 revelers, including 30,000 gay tourists from around the world. Held under the slogan “Tel Aviv Loves all Genders,” the 2015 event put special emphasis on transgender rights.
The Tel Aviv municipal website notes that over the past year, Israel’s transgender community has attained significant achievements in the legal arena, parliament, the public eye as well as within the LGBT community, “for example: agreements over the rights of transgender soldiers in the army, the establishment of two new organizations within the transgender community for their benefit”.
The Tel Aviv municipality invests resources, thought and creativity in the city’s gay community and is rightly proud of being named one of the world’s most gay-friendly cities. To commemorate this year’s Pride Parade, they commissioned Basti Hansen, a cinematographer and photographer based in Tel Aviv, Israel and Köln, Germany, to document the parade and beach party at Charles Clore Park.
The result is an exuberant, fast-paced take of the colorful celebration. Hansen said the event was “a blast” and has asked readers to share the video link “with everyone who has a crush on TLV”.
He’s also shared a link to his video from the 2014 parade.
Here’s the photographer-eye’s view of the event.
Hansen specializes in adventure based, promotional and lifestyle films and photography for a client base that includes Universal Music, Eshet Tours, Sesame Enable and, most recently, fashion model Bar Refaeli who just opened the first international retail location for her Urbanica clothing line. The new Berlin store features large LED screens that loop Hansen’s homage to the city every 10 minutes.
The Tel Aviv municipality supports the LGBT Community Center which acts as the base for the Transition organization, and by encouraging gay tourism. In addition the Tel Aviv municipality helps finance temporary housing for transgenders and a project for encouraging the integration of transgender youths and young adults into the work market.
For more information about Basti Hansen, visit his website, Facebook page, YouTube channel and follow his Instagram feed.
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