Tal Granit’s credits include “The Farewell Party,” which won the audience award at the Venice Film Festival and was distributed worldwide, “Summer Vacation,” which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was selected for the Oscars‘ long list for Live Action Short Film, and “To Kill A Bumblebee,” which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and won prizes around the world.

“Flawless” will premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival on April 28. The film is co-directed by Sharon Maymon.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

TG: “Flawless” tells the story of three girls in their journey to becoming women. Tigist and Keshet believe that cosmetic surgeries will make them popular and desirable for the boys at their school, granting them a shiny date to the prom.

They are so eager to be accepted and are willing to sacrifice their bodies for it in a dangerous trip to Ukraine. Eden, the heroine, goes on the trip in order to claim a body that fits her gender.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

TG: The story originated in a news item about two Israeli girls who sold their kidneys in Turkey in exchange for breast augmentation surgery.

My co-director Sharon Maymon and I were so shocked by that story. It intrigued us , and made us want to understand what made them make such an extreme decision. It reminded us of Simone de Beauvoir’s conclusion: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

When we started to examine the images of women’s bodies as they appear in the media and on billboards, it was obvious to us what messages our society sends to girls.

Sharon and I are gay parents living in two gay families—Sharon and his partner raise their son, and I co-parent my daughter with a gay couple. Being part of the LGBTQ community in Israel influenced us to place a transgender character at the center of our story.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

TG: I hope that people will come out of the theater realizing that transgender people are a beautiful and important part of our society, and the people who need to change are the people who have a problem with that.

I also hope that if a transgender kid is sitting in the audience she or he will be empowered by Stav Strashko, the transgender actress who plays Eden.

We also would like to have audience think about the messages about body image that our society sends to young girls and women.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

TG: The biggest challenge was to find Stav Strashko for the role of Eden. The character of Eden is fighting for her inner truth. She is sure of who she is and needs the support of her [community]. It was very clear to us that, for the role of Eden, we needed to find a transgender actress who could express that truth.

For one year, we met with transgender actresses and non-actresses but we didn’t find our Eden. I remember one meeting in which we told our producers and partners that we failed to find our Eden and that we could not shoot the film. That was the most difficult moment for us.

Then came Stav Strashko. Stav came out as a transgender woman in an interview with Teen Vogue that came into our hands, and we knew we had to meet her. I remember the first Skype call with her—she was in New York, and we were in Israel. She read one scene from the script and suddenly everything made sense. Eden was found. It was thrilling.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made. 

TG: In Israel, film financing is a bit different from the United States. The first step is to submit the script to apply for government funds that are financed by taxes. The lion’s share of the budget for “Flawless” comes from the Israel Film Fund.

Israel also has some co-production agreements, mostly with European countries. Our film is a co-production between Israel and Germany that got funded by the MDM Film Commission. We also raised money from our Israeli distributor who invested money in the production as one of the producers, from the Israeli broadcaster Keshet, and from the distributer Beta Films.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

TG: I was a film addict when I was a teenager, and I also participated as an actress in all of my father’s Super 8 short family films that he and my big brother wrote and shot.

I studied acting for two years until I realized that the stories that I was telling as an actress were not my stories. There were good and interesting women characters, but they were always portrayed from a male point of view.

I was puzzled about which direction to go until I met a woman who told me that I should be a movie director — something I didn’t think was possible. Sometimes you just need someone to say that you can.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

TG: My first short film was a dystopian futuristic comedy that tells the story of a couple who live in a regime that makes sure all citizens are sexually satisfied in order to control them. The heroine doesn’t know how to reach an orgasm. She and her sweetheart are is taken to the Advanced Sexuality Institute where experts try to fix her.

Teachers told me that comedy is hard to direct, and if I wanted to create a good portfolio film that would pave my way to the industry, it’d be safer to direct a mainstream drama that deals with relationships in a family. I chose to direct that subversive comedy instead.

Sharon, my co-director and co-writer on “Flawless,” saw that short film and suggested we work together because we both have the same twisted mind. Since then, Sharon and I have written and directed five films together.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors? 

TG: Listen to your heart. Tell the stories you want to tell. Take risks—they might turn out wonderfully. Our voices and our viewpoints are still missing. Our girls need a new viewpoint about the world they live in.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

TG: My favorite film is without a doubt “Antonia’s Line” by Marleen Gorris. I remember how I felt when I first saw it. I was about 26, just before I decided to be a film director.

In “Antonia’s Line,” a line of women, led by Antonia, have no need or fear of men, are strong, master their own destiny, master their own desires, are free to love whoever they want including women, are free to study philosophy, provide for themselves, handle rapists like they deserve to be handled, and most of all support each other and open their home to others who are different.

I was shocked by the direction of this beautiful film. It gave a voice to inner voices that I had in me that were afraid to speak out.

W&H: It’s been a little over a year since the reckoning in Hollywood and the global film industry began. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?

TG: I am very proud to support the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, and I believe they will change the game in film industries around the world. It is already possible to see differences in how women are treated on sets and on stage. Yet these changes are defined by some men as fear of “not knowing” how to treat women nowadays when the rules have changed. I believe that the borders between harassment and healthy courting have always been very clear. Only the ones who take advantage of their power against women need to fear.

We need more women like Emma Thompson, who chose to resign from a project when the studio hired John Lasseter, a man who was accused of sexual misconduct. She understood that the women who will have to work under such man have no power or economic freedom to resign, but she can do it for them, sending a poignant message to all the studios. I hope that more powerful artists will follow her—men too.