In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Assi Azar, well-known Israeli TV personality who co-hosts the Israeli version of the Big Brother TV show with Erez Tal. In 2005 Azar came out as an openly gay man. In 2009 he was chosen by OUT Magazine as one of the top 100 most influential gay people around the world. In 2010 he starred in the 45 minute documentary, “Mom and Dad, I Have Something to Tell You” where he shares his personal coming out experience. This fascinating Israeli documentary explores coming out from the parent’s perspective as well as from members of our LGBT community in Israel. “Mom and Dad, I Have Something to Tell You” was screened on November 6th at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge by the Boston LGBT Film Festival in celebration of OUT in Israel Month. Congressman Barney Frank was in attendance.
When asked what his inspiration was for making the film, Azar stated, “Actually this production company approached me about making a movie about coming out. At the beginning I said no because I really didn’t see a reason to, but then, I don’t know if you heard of it, but this guy with a mask got inside a youth center where gay and lesbian kids play and shot all over and killed two kids. After that those kids were hospitalized in several hospitals and those parents found out their kids are gay just from the incident. They actually found out their kid was injured and gay at the same time. And I remember that one of the parents did not come to see his kid in the hospital because of his gay lifestyle. And I told my mom, ‘What kind of a parent doesn’t come to see his injured son?’ And she told me you cannot understand what is going on in a parent’s mind after he finds out his son is gay. And that immediately made me feel, God I really don’t know what happened to my mom and dad when I told them. That was the point when I decided to make this film.”
Over the next few weeks Azar will be visiting the United States showing his 45 minute documentary “Mom and Dad, I Have Something to Tell You”. He is pleased to speak about his experience as a popular media broadcaster in the Middle East, as well as what it was like for him to come out openly as a gay man in his field and with media scrutiny upon him and his family.
Assi Azar will be in Atlanta 11/8 to 11/10, NYC 11/11 to 11/13, San Francisco 11/13 to 11/15, Washington DC 11/16 to 11/17,
Philadelphia 11/18 to 11/20 & Miami 11/21 to 11/25.
For More Info: outinIsraelmonth.com
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