Biography

Photo by Laurent Burst

Yair Hochner was born in Kfar Sava, Israel

With the encouragement of notable directors Keren Yedaya and Tomer Heiman,
Yair set out to direct his script, Good Boys (Yeladim Tovim), which received acclaim as the Winner of OUTstanding Emerging Talent Award Outfest (2005);
Winner of the Showtime Vanguard Award NewFest; Jury Grand Prize – Feature Film image+nation International LGBT Film Festival n Montreal;
Winner of: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Cinematography -Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival;
and Winner, Best Israeli Film, Eilat International Film Festival.
Yair taught cinema to high school students for five years in Netania. Currently he writes fim reviews for Seret (Film), Israel’s leading cinema site.
He has written articles for the Cinematheque Magazine, as well as short stories for the Tel Aviv newspaper and Camera Obscura magazine.

Yair Hochner is the artistic director of the TLVFest, the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival since co-founding it in 2006.
In 2007 he wrote and directed his second feature Antarctica,
distributed by Regent Releasing. In 2008 he co-produced Fucking Different Tel Aviv with Kristian Petersen, the official selection of the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival.

Juries
2020: Kyiv IFF Molodist
2018: The 33rd Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) presents the Premio Maguey Over The Rainbow Jury
2017: Queer Palm – Cannes Film Festival
2015: Torino Gay&Lesbian Film Festival
2014: The Iris Prize – Cardiff’s International lgbt short film prize
2013: Lesbisch Schwulen Hamburg Filmtagen
2011: Mix Copenhagen
2010: Porn Filmfestival Berlin
2010: Skeive Filmer Oslo Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
2009: Crossing Borders – 3rd International Short Film Competition, Goethe-Institut Tel Aviv and the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”.
2008: The 16th Mix Brasil Film and Video Festival of Sexual Diversity.
2008: Icon 2008 – The 12th Annual Science Fiction Fantasy and Role-Playing Festival, Tel Aviv
2008: Iris Prize – Cardiff’s International Gay & Lesbian Short Film Festival
2008: Teddy Jury – Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival

Lectures
2017: TLVFest Short program at Cinema Galeries Brussels, Belgium
The Queer Side Of Tel Aviv by Yair Hochner
2016: TLVFest Short program + participating in panel about sexuality and porn in films. Sziget Festival, Budapest, Hungary
2015: Presenting Israeli LGBT Short Program in Homochrom Film Festival
2009: LGBT Filmmaking and the world of LGBT film festivals.
Film Festival of Sexual Diversity, Montevideo, Uruguay.
2008: Sex In New York After 9/11: An Introduction to “Shortbus” Screening, Herzlya Cinematheque
2007: From Erotica to Pornography in Israeli Cinema – Porn Filmfestival, Berlin