Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life

Year: 2018
Country: Israel, Germany
Director: Tomer Heymann
Genre: documentary
Runtime: 106 min.
Age: 18+
34-year-old Jonathan Agassi is backstage with his penis out. He then comes onstage and takes part in a hardcore porn show. Jonathan talks on camera with documentary filmmaker  Tomer Heymann (the author of the successful documentary Mr. Gaga about Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin) about his father, who left the family and went to Berlin, and now seeks contact with his son - and suddenly falls asleep like a narcoleptic. It is his protective response to the dark memories. Another thing that saves Jonathan is his screen image - Agassi - which has made him famous as one of the most successful actors of gay pornography in the world.

But what interests director Tomer Heymann, who values working with restless souls, is not the naked male body (although gay sex does make it on screen) but the inner world of his subject. Agassi travels to Israel and shows his award-winning films to his mother, but stops them when they reach the sex part. Then he poses for her wearing female lace underwear with stockings and garters. In his life, there were periods of working as a male escort, taking drugs, and harbouring thoughts about transitioning, but the traumas of the past haven’t healed, and even when Jonathan comes to porn auditions, he still tells partners about his father.

Awards & Festivals:

Jerusalem Film Festival – Wolgin Award (Best Israeli Documentary), Yoram Golan Award (Best Editing)
Atlanta Film Festival – Special Jury Award (Best Documentary Feature)
Outview Film Festival – Best Documentary Feature
Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival – participation