Impression of the second rehearsal of Izabo.

Israeli broadcaster IBA selected the group Izabo to represent them in the 2012 edition of Europe’s Favourite TV Show. The alternative band will perform the Ran Shem-Tov and Shiri Hadar song Time in Baku.

Izabo are best described as a brilliant, action packed combination of Psychadelic Rock, Disco, Punk flavoured with Arabic spices. They secured a spot as one of Israel’s most successful alternative pop bands with the 2003 release of their debut album The Fun Makers.

From there Izabo went on to sign with Sony BMG, and in the same year released “The Morning Hero EP” in the UK and began to take their funky sounds to an international audience. In January of 2005 The Fun Makers was released in the Benelux countries via the label Rough Trade NL, and in 2006 it was released in France via Roymusic/ Discograph. Since 2006, Izabo have been busy touring Europe constantly and showcasing their catchy disco beats at a variety of festivals including Trans Musicales, The Paleo Festival, and Eurosonic.

Their second album Superlight was released in Israel and France in 2008 with Roymusic/ Discograph to rave reviews. In October 2011 Izabo signed with the English Label 100% Records, who signed artists among Gossip, Moby and Placebo. Izabo’s first three Track EP has been released in the United Kingdom this July, with their brand new album due to be released by the end of the year, in the UK, Europe & Israel.

To check out the official clip for Israel’s entry + Behind the scenes of the making of music video click here

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Madonna will be performing in Israel in two weeks, and yesterday a list of demands of Queen M during her stay in the Holy Land were leaked to the Israeli media. The list indicates that Madonna has no intention of leaving Ramat Gan Stadium where her show is going to be held on May 31st.

Madonna’s list includes a Spa & treatment room with a personal masseur, 34 rooms to serve as her staff’s offices. Madonna also requested a 350 sq feet children’s room the entrance to which will be only through her personal room.

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Water Wells – Saturday May 26th @ 5:15pm

TIFF BELL Lightbox CINEMA 2

Water Wells is a forbidden love story between a teacher, Lea, and her female student, Inka, set in 1940s Israel. As time goes by, Inka yearns to push more boundaries, while Lea’s fears of beingrevealed begin to surface.

Melting away – Monday May 21st @ 6:45pm

TIFF BELL Lightbox CINEMA 2

Melting Away is a thoroughly engrossing and heartfelt examination of a family drawn into crisis, which marks the first time in Israeli cinema a film has dealt with parents coming to terms with having a transgender child.

When Schlomo and Galya discover girls’ clothing hidden under the bed of their teenage son Assaf, they lock him out in the rain to teach him a lesson. Distraught by his parent’s reaction, Assaf decides to flee home and begin a new life.Years later when Schlomo is hospitalized with cancer, Galya hires a private detective to track down Assaf. The detective discovers Assaf is now living as Anna, a cabaret singer who works at Maxim Club, the local gay bar. Informed about her father’s worsening condition, Anna decides to visit her dad in the hospital but she panics at the last minute and tells him she’s a nurse sent by the insurance company.

The film follows Anna’s juggling act as she avoids her suspicious mother, counsels her closeted gay friend, Schimi, and tries to crack her father’s tough shell.

Grounded by a captivating performance by Israeli model Hen Yani as Anna, director Doron Eran created this meditation on family and acceptance after hearing about parents who refused to visit their children following the violent attack at the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Community Center in 2009. Melting Away serves as the perfect response from a community looking for new ways to foster understanding and compassion.

Toronto Premiere

For more information and full festival schedule click here

Famous Mash Up artist ‘Noy Alooshe’ put together a little something something to showcase what to expect in Israel this summer…

Including: Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chris Cornell, Morrissey, The Afghan Whigs, Rufus Wainwright, CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

by Ricardo Geromel

I visited P&G office in Tel Aviv. Lital Asher-Dotan, who established Procter & Gamble first R&D hub in Israel called “P&G Israel House of Innovation”, explained why P&G calls Israel a “startup nation.”

In the entry lobby of P&G office, which is 20 minutes away from Google’s office in Tel Aviv, there are a few samples of different products sold by P&G in Israel. Among the usual health and beauty brands (Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Oral B, Gillette, Tampax, Pampers …) and brands of household cleaners (Ariel, Lenor, Swiffer, Tide …) there were also different prizes and trophies P&G Israel has received for the development of innovative products. However, what surprised me the most was that besides all these products and prizes there was a copy of the acclaimed book Startup nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer.

Procter & Gamble takes Research and Development seriously: it invests $2.8 Billion annually and has 9,300 employees in R&D worldwide. The Israel House of Innovation (IHI) was created five years ago by CEO Bob McDonald and one of the key goals is to create alliances between P&G and Israeli innovators.

Procter & Gamble’s Israel House of Innovation collaborates with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which carries out more than 1/3 of all academic scientific research in Israel; Powermat, which has only 70 employees and is developing wireless battery rechargers. By the way, Jay-Z participates in the JV with Powermat and P&G not only as a spokesperson but also as an investment partner. P&G has also signed on bilateral agreement with Israeli Chief Scientist providing Israeli start ups that collaborate with P&G favorable access to governmental funding.

Present in over 180 countries and with total revenues of about $80 Billion, P&G is the world’s largest Multinational consumer goods company. Procter & Gamble has promised to deliver 3-6 % of growth per year or about extra $5billion in annual revenue. Open innovation is the key to this growth: the giant established in 1837 aims to have 50% of all innovation (not only on new products but also on internal systems) having elements from outside of the company. Jeff Weedman, P&G Vice President, External BD:

“Our JV with TEVA represents the lessons learned that we need better access to Innovation and global abilities while we can provide the in-depth consumer knowhow.”

Lital Asher-Dotan explained why P&G calls Israel a startup nation:

-Israel has the highest density of tech start-ups in the world. Israel has about 80 companies listed on NASDAQ, more than all of Europe, Japan, Korea, India, and China combined.

-Israel is the biggest destination for global venture capital per capita. In recent years, many US based VCs have opened Israeli funds and/or Israeli offices – Sequoia ($580M), Benchmark ($490M). Greylock, Battery Ventures, Bessemer. Main accelerators in Israel are: Microsoft, VentureGeeks, The Junction, TechLoft, DreamIT Ventures,The Hive, UpWestLabs, The Library, and MobileMonday.

- Israel raises 2.5 times as much global venture capital as the U.S., 30 times more than Europe, 80 times more than India, and 350 times more than China.

-Israel has twice the number of engineers per capita than the US and Japan. 34% of its population holds university degrees (24% of the work force).

- Israel has the highest level of R&D spending relative to GDP in the world: 4,9% in 2009. OECD average is 2,3%.

- Israel holds the largest number of Nobel Prize winners this past decade. By the way, I had the chance to meet Dr. Dan Schechtman, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the discovery of quasicrystals,” who told me his views on entrepreneurship.

-In Israel, Military technology is often transferred to other areas. For instance, Based on real-time image processing technology from Rafael’s Missile Division, Dr. Gabi Iddan from Given Imaging developed the PillCam™ capsule endoscope – the first ingestible camera in a pill for detection of GI disorders. The PillCam™ capsule is easily ingested by the patient and transmits high quality color images that enable physicians to directly visualize parts of the GI tract. Capsule endoscopy is the only available ingestible diagnostic tool that allows direct visualization of the small intestine.

I have just outlined the key points why Israel is considered by P&G as a startup Nation. In a post for Techcrunch, Roi Carthy and Daniel Cunha, founders of Initial Capital, suggest what the Brazilian booming startup community could learn from the Israeli case.

Source: Forbes

HAVANA is the name IDAHO takes in Israel. Each year, groups of activists around the country mark the day in various ways, under the impulse of a dedicated team of core IDAHO activists who run the national anti-homophobia HAVANA.org.il website.

The main event will take place at the Tel Aviv Gay Center. An inter organizational committee prepares the evening’s program.

An academic paper contest will take place for the second year running. The minister of education might be present at the awards ceremony.

An academic conference on the subject of transphobia will be held at Tel Aviv-Jaffa College.

“I’m also Gay Friendly”

Mostly in Hebrew… Promo for HAVANA (AKA IDAHO)

Tel Aviv — In the past few years, Tel Aviv has been dubbed a top travel destination for everyone from beach lovers to gays and lesbians, but until relatively recently few overseas tourists traveled to the city specifically to take in its contemporary art scene.

That’s starting to change, thanks to efforts by the Tel Aviv municipality and Israel’s tourism ministry to acquaint the world with the city’s artists, studios and galleries. While the Tel Aviv Museum of Art’s stunning new wing is reason enough to spend a day in the city, it should be just the starting point for those who appreciate a wide variety of art forms.

Launched in March, Tel Aviv Art Year 2012 is offering a dizzying assortment of exhibitions, performances and events in Israel’s cultural capital. It will showcase not only Israeli artists with an international following, but dozens of independent, emerging artists as well.

Just as New York’s artists and gallery owners gravitated to Soho and Chelsea in search of larger, more affordable space, many of Tel Aviv’s artists are moving to the city’s southernmost neighborhoods, on the border of Yafo (Jaffa). Though most of the buildings are quite grungy, the studios and galleries are warm and inviting.

During a tour of Kiryat Hamelacha, the southern neighborhood where some 100 artists now work, Tzachi Rosenfeld, owner of the venerable Rosenfeld Gallery, said he relocated from tony Dizengoff Street in the city center in order to expand, and “to be where the artists are.”

The Dizengoff gallery, which his family established decades ago, “was small and there wasn’t any parking,” Rosenfeld said in his current, spacious downtown space. He was surrounded by the very large oil paintings by Marik Lechner, some of which go for more than $20,000, that were recently on view there.

Yuval Caspi, one of the first artists to purchase a space in the downtown neighborhood, said the flow of so many artists into south Tel Aviv is starting to push up real estate prices.

“I was lucky I bought when I did,” said Caspi, who shares his 600-square-foot studio with artist Ido Shemi. Their cramped workshop is packed with bright papier-mache figures in comic or ironic poses, and innovative 3D posters — many of them depicting New York scenes — that are popular with foreign art collectors.

To defray costs, several artists, or aspiring artists, may share a studio.

“That leads to a lot of collaboration,” said a 20-something children’s book illustrator who works in a cozy studio alongside an equally young costume designer and an artist who sculpts in metal. Many of the materials they use in their work come from their neighbors – small factories that have been in the neighborhood for decades.

During the inaugural weekend of Tel Aviv Art, Caspi and Shemi opened their studio to visitors, who were also given access to dozens of art spaces — many of them ordinarily invisible to the public — taking place in the city. These art tours are run by the Association of Tourism Tel Aviv-Yafo.

While galleries and museums operate day in and day out, Tel Aviv Art Year offers clusters of events several times this year.

The Fresh Paint Contemporary Art Fair (May 14-19) is Israel’s largest, most influential art event. The focus is on the top art galleries, promising emerging galleries and the Greenhouse, which showcases the work of up-and-coming Israeli artists.

The wildly popular Houses from Within (May 18-19) offers rare glimpses inside 100 Tel Aviv homes with special architectural value. The include the homes of some of Israel’s most influential artists, and homes with unique art collections.

The annual White Night (June 28) is an all-night happening that includes 100 events, during which cultural institutions stay open till sunrise.

Loving Art, Making Art  (Sept. 6-8) officially launches Tel Aviv’s new art exhibition season, with the collaboration of 60 museums, galleries and exhibition halls. At the same time, 240 local artists will simultaneously open their studios to the public. There will also be street exhibitions.

Gay Pride Week (June 1-8) includes a number of art-related activities as well as the ultra-colorful annual Gay Pride Parade down the main streets of Tel Aviv.

During warm weather, the Tel Aviv Pixel Hotel (opening Oct. 15) on the Burgrashav Beach is a lifeguard shack. Next winter, as part of a project to repurpose interesting but unused space, it will become a one-room hotel open to the public.

Unrelated to Tel Aviv Art Year 2012, visitors to the city can attend performances of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Opera, and the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, or hit the many performance spaces that feature everything from Israeli folk music to jazz (listings in the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, or Time Out Tel Aviv).

A visit to Tel Aviv isn’t complete without a tour of Tel Aviv’s historic district, which boasts the largest collection of International Style (Bauhaus) buildings in the world. Nine years ago, UNESCO proclaimed the area where these iconic buildings are located The White City. The 4,000-plus structures, with their modern, clean lines, date back to the 1930s and ’40s. They are being lovingly restored, one at a time.

Before hopping into a taxi, consider renting a bike (the municipality recently introduced the park-and-ride system so popular in Europe). The most cycling-friendly city in Israel, Tel Aviv has 60 miles of bike trails including the one that runs parallel to the beach. The city’s mild climate encourages cycling almost any time of the year.

Source: The Jewish Week

LA based Israeli actor Alon Aboutboul was at the center of last night’s season finale of “NCIS: LA”. His Iranian character was part of the mystery, as images of him appeared on screen linking him to the show’s current villain, “The Chameleon”, played by veteran French actor Christopher Lambert. Aboutboul is rumored to continue the storyline at the beginning of the 4th season of the top rated US show come fall. Meanwhile in July you will be able to see him in the highly anticipated Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises”.

Source: Walla

Some screenshots: 

By The Canadian Ginger (AKA D’vora Charness)

So there’s a yearly event in Tel Aviv called The Taste of the City (טעם העיר). It is a week long event taking place in one of the massive parks right by Tel Aviv University.

Tel Aviv’s local restaurants come and set up booths all around the park with their famous dishes at half the cost. The event attracts thousands of people a night who come and taste test all the delicious cuisine Tel Aviv has to offer. Bands are brought in and there are even special activities set up all around the park.

It was a super cool experience. Tons and tons of foods ad desserts, basically anything your heart and tummy desire was there and all at a price your wallet can appreciate!

I think my favorite part of the event was the entrance. I am a HUGE chocolate milk drinker, so to have a taste test of all the different flavors of chocolate milk and ice coffee from Yotvata (an Israeli milk products brand from a kibbutz in the south) was such a treat!

Starving myself all day before going was definitely worth it! Cannot wait for next year!