



The First Lady
Israeli transgender pioneer Efrat Tilma had to flee the country as a teenager. Now in her seventies and a celebrated activist, she must fight for her rights once again, while the country spirals into political and social regression.
Efrat Tilma, a trailblazing transgender woman, was forced to flee Israel as a teenager in the 1960s, after a police officer threatened to kill her if he ever saw her again walking the streets of Tel Aviv in women’s clothing. Today, at 75, she is a prominent LGBTQ+ activist and the first transgender volunteer in the Israeli police force. As the country descends into an unprecedented social and political crisis, Efrat confronts the traumas that shaped her life and once again fights for her place in the world.
FESTIVALS

TECHNICAL DETAILS
Israel / Germany / USA
Release year 2025
Runtime 82 min
PARTNERS










TEAM
Directors Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein
Producers Christian Beetz, Georg Tschurtschenthaler, Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein
DOP Uriel Sinai, Daniel Binsted
PITCHING EVENTS
CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, 2022
Copro, Tel-Aviv, 2022
Cologne Film Festival, 2022
HotDocs, Toronto, 2023
Copro Impact Lab, Tel-Aviv, 2023-24.
Agora Docs, Thessaloniki, 2024
JFI residency, San Francisco, 2024