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Yes, indeedy! At least that's what The Tel Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival is swearing, and who are we to disagree? The Fest also notes with steadfast certainty that The Binding's director, Eyal Kantor, is "without a doubt the most prolific queer independent filmmaker in Israel at the moment" with six shorts and three features listed on IMDB alone.

The still active Eytan Fox, the Israeli director of such daring worldwide hits as Yossi (2012), Walk on Water (2006)and The Bubble (2007), might tut, tut, tut at that. The latter a Romeo-and-Romeo romance between an Israeli reservist assigned to a checkpoint and a closeted young Palestinian, might be considered even more triggering nowadays than upon its initial release. However, The Binding is also quite timely, way more graphic, and "electrically" perverse.

The film opens with its blindfolded hero, Binyamin (Yoav Keren), handcuffed to a wall while being body-slapped upon a scarlet-sheeted mattress. It takes a few seconds to realize this is a consensual S&M exchange. After some choking, a bit of on-screen stylus

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