“The film avoids clichés and in rare honesty presents a complex female character that courageously thrives to her truth”.
(Best film award, DocAviv film festival, 2013)
On her way to the Netherlands to represent Israel at the European Pole Dancing Championship, Neta Lee Levy stops by her grandmother’s house to get her blessing. The older traditional Moroccan grandmother reminds her not to push herself to the limits, but Neta is just that kind of woman - since she was a child, Neta Lee Levy challenged the world she came from no less then she challenges the would she lives in now. Neta (33), who was first exposed to strip clubs in Japan in her 20s, is the founder of Israel’s first pole dancing studio- the fastest growing fitness-dance trend among woman around the world. This erotic sport may have started in strip clubs, but during the last few years is slowly wining international recognition as an art form and a means of empowering women. In his fifth film, award winning controversial Israeli documentary filmmaker Isri Halpern takes us on a filmed journey in which he redefines the traditional relationship between filmmaker and subject. Delving into the soul and life of a true modern woman who is funny, out-spoken, and a painfully frank woman, taking on both chauvinist and feminist ideas about a woman’s place in the world. She is a unique dancer, artist and athlete who demonstrates that at the dawn of the twenty-first century a woman in a bikini and high heels may also be the stuff that champions are made of.
“The film avoids clichés and in rare honesty presents a complex female character that courageously thrives to her truth”.
(Best film award, DocAviv film festival, 2013)
On her way to the Netherlands to represent Israel at the European Pole Dancing Championship, Neta Lee Levy stops by her grandmother’s house to get her blessing. The older traditional Moroccan grandmother reminds her not to push herself to the limits, but Neta is just that kind of woman - since she was a child, Neta Lee Levy challenged the world she came from no less then she challenges the would she lives in now. Neta (33), who was...
This feature-length film by the irascible and confrontational director, Isri (Israel) Halpern is quite the eye-opener. Since the early 1980s, the pole and pole dancing have become synonymous with seedy strip clubs as popularized in music videos such as Motley Crew’s “Girls, Girls, Girls.” However, within the past 10 years, the pole is gaining notoriety as a tool for endurance training, exercise, increasing flexibility and strength. Pole dancing is a form of art which encompasses athleticism, acrobatic maneuvers, ballet, jazz, pop, and more. This video diary documents Neta Lee Levy’s journey as she prepares to train, enter, and win the 2011 European Pole Dance Championship in Vught, Netherlands. Highly recommended. For the entire review in EMRO, check: http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/emro/emroDetail.asp?Number=5440
DocAviv's Jury Verdict for POLE, DANCE, MOVIE
Taking its audience and protagonist on an unexpected journey and introducing an uncompromising hero, this film sucesfully avoids cliches and presents in outstanding honesty a woman that courageously strives to find her own truth. The jury is proud to award the Best Film Prize to POLE, DANCER, MOVIE.