The Toronto Jewish Film Festival has announced it will open with A Borrowed Identity (aka Dancing Arabs) on April 10th and close with Mr. Kaplan on May 10th.
A Borrowed Identity is directed by acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis. It centres on Eyad, an Arab-Israeli boy accepted to a prestigious Jewish boarding school in Jerusalem. Understandably, this is a difficult situation for him in terms of language, culture, and his own identity. The story is based on Sayed Kashua’s novel Dancing Arabs.
On a lighter note, the closing night presentation, Mr. Kaplan, is a comedy, though with an underlying seriousness. Uruguayan filmmaker Álvaro Brechner tells the story of 76-year-old Jacob Kaplan, who feels his life drawing to a close and wants to achieve something great before the end comes. His “opportunity” presents itself as a local tavern owner nicknamed “the Nazi.” Mr. Kaplan sets out to capture the Nazi, but the results of his quest are more comic than heroic.
Find out more about the TJFF here at its official site.
In other Canadian Jewish film news today (how often does anyone get to write that?), the Canadian Jewish News blog takes a look at Max Beer’s upcoming documentary, Nobody was Interested. Nobody Asked: The Holocaust, the Montreal Jewish Community and the Survivors. Beer, who has financed the film himself, expects to release it this summer. You can watch a short clip on Vimeo, here, and read more about Beer and his project at the CJN blog here.