Tell Me Everything, a new film by Moshe Rosenthal

Tell Me Everything  עצמאות is a new Israeli film, directed by Moshe Rosenthal, who also directed the highly acclaimed film Karaoke. This new film won acclaim at the Sundance Festival, and has been chosen to be the opening film (to be screened at the Sultan’s Pool) at the upcoming Jerusalem International Film Festival next month!

This somewhat artsy and complex film is about homosexuality in Israel during the 1980s when men were still closeted and hiding in unhappy marriages.  This is the time of the AIDS epidemic, when much was still unknown and there were irrational fears about the spreading of the disease.

The story revolves around Boaz at two different times in his life.  The first half of the film is about Boaz at the age of 13, preparing for and up to his Bar Mitzvah party.  He discovers that his father, Meir, is gay, and he becomes afraid that his father has AIDS and will give it to his mother.  Then he tells his two older sisters, and eventually Meir is outed to his mother.  The second half of the film is about Boaz’s developing guilt over what he did to his father, his relationship with his friends, and with his lonely mother. In everything he does, you see images of the younger Boaz’s face and eyes.  Eventually, we realize that Boaz is burdened by his love of family – he needs to be released from his mother’s hold on him, today, and he needs to be released from the feelings of guilt for having ruined his father’s life, back when he was an adolescent.

I went to see the film at the Israel Film Center Festival at the JCC of the Upper West Side in Manhattan. Following the screening, the filmmaker was interviewed on stage by Isaac Zablocki, the director of the Israel Film Center.  Rosenthal talked about how this film is largely autobiographical.  He explained that although his life story has been very different, “the texture and the family dynamic are the same”. In writing the script, he said, you take a story and then you change something crucial so that it isn’t your own story.   In real life, he explained, he isn’t the Boaz character.  Rather, “I am the one who came out. If I had lived earlier, I would be married and I would be Meir, the gay father.”

Tell Me Everything is about family dynamics---father-son relations and mother-son relations.  The film has very high aesthetic and artistic elements, including and especially the Bar Mitzvah scene, and makes wonderful use of music. Highly recommended!

 

 

A Family Comedy

The Big League (ליגה של גדולים), directed by Yaniv Berman, is a feel-good, family comedy for those who enjoy soccer! 

This week, during the war against Iran and against Hizbollah, I went with my grandkids to see a family movie.  The movie theaters are mostly underground at Yes Planet in Jerusalem, so they are considered relatively safe.  We all enjoyed ourselves and came out with a smile on our faces.  Don’t expect too much depth from this one!

Our hero, played by Yisrael Attias (who we know from the TV hit, HaShababnikim), is a professional soccer coach who has a problem with anger management.  After an incident in which he attacks the referee, he is sent as punishment to the periphery of the country where he is meant to coach a junior high team.

Of course, he is antagonistic to the whole enterprise and, at first, refuses to even attempt to make this work.  But eventually the kids, the team spirit, one particular woman, and the smalltown lifestyle of this northern town, all contribute to his becoming committed to his newfound role.

At a time when Hizbollah rockets and Iranian missiles are falling in the north of Israel, this film, partially about the lure of living in the Galilee, proved to be especially poignant.

The Big League is produced by Transfax and distributed by United King.

Three More Feature Films from the Jerusalem Film Festival repertoire

I just want to mention three more Israeli features that I saw last week at the Jerusalem Film Festival --

Mama, directed by Or Sinai, is a film about the loneliness of a Polish woman, working in Israel. Mila (beautifully portrayed by Evgenia Dodina) is employed as a housekeeper/chef for a wealthy family. Her loneliness has driven her into the embrace of the family’s African gardener.  When cleaning the ceiling fans, Mila falls off the ladder and breaks her arm.  This leads her to a well-needed vacation back home in Poland, where she rediscovers her husband who is having an affair, her daughter is pregnant, and her home is crumbling.  Mila has to decide where she belongs.

Mama is available from Intramovies geremia@intramovies.com

Cuz You’re Ugly, directed by Sharon Engelhart, is a film about a young woman soldier, her problems with her own self-image and her relationship with her teenage sister. Although the film contains too much vulgarity and is lacking in depth of character, it tries to evoke pathos and empathy by providing an intimate look at the two sisters. One sister is obsessed with obtaining an abortion and the other with getting laid.

Avigail is a soldier in the IDF. She is very overweight and she seems to have a chip on her shoulder. The external face that she shows everyone around her is a bit wild with a short fuse. Her army commander, although with some misgivings, has offered her to go to officer training and she is proud of that. When she goes home to Jerusalem for the weekend, we meet her 15-year-old sister, Naomi, and her dysfunctional mother.  As soon as she learns that Naomi is pregnant, Avigail gets right on the case, trying to figure out how to take care of the problem.

Avigail is still a virgin and she wants to change that.  Not until she meets a boy who, in an intimate moment, tells her that she’s beautiful, do we realize how important it is for her to have someone appreciate her for who she is.

Cuz You’re Ugly is available from the producer, Galit Cahlon, galia13@gmail.com

Houses is a debut film by Veronica Nicole Tetelbaum.

Sasha came to Israel as a child, during the immigration from the Former Soviet Union in the 1990s.  He decides to return to Tsfat, to the houses that his family lived in, in order to revisit his childhood, collect memories, and come to terms with past traumas.  At the premiere screening at the Jerusalem Film Festival, the filmmaker said, “This film is a journey into the past so that the present will appear to be more possible.”

This is a minimalist film, mostly in B&W, with color used only for the childhood memories which show Sasha as a little girl.  Today, Sasha prefers to be referred to as “he” and still corrects his mother when she insists on calling him “you” in the feminine.  “After all, I was there when you were born,” his mother says.

Houses is a film about loneliness, about relations with his mother, about wanting to shed the memories of childhood. The film is available from Marker Films, festivals@markerfilms.com

 

 

A Gem of a Film About Boys at Risk in Tel Aviv

Children of Nobody, directed by Erez Tadmor, just opened in Israeli cinemas.  I rushed to see it because the filmmaker, Erez Tadmor, is a well-known award-winning director/scriptwriter, known for A Matter of Size (co-directed with Sharon Maymon, 2009) and Strangers (co-directed with Guy Nattiv, 2007, and previously reviewed on this blog).

The film is a surprising gem.  Why surprising?  Because I had clearly unfounded expectations from a film about youth at risk in Tel Aviv.  I expected it to be gritty and filled with violence.  But I was happily surprised to discover a story of charm and grace.

Margalit (played by Tikki Dayan) runs a shelter for boys at risk in the Neve Tzedek area of south Tel Aviv.  The shelter is built on a plot of land which developers are chomping at the bit to get their hands on.  The gentrification of the old neighborhood becomes an issue in the film, and we see how it impacts on the poor and especially the boys, who have nowhere else to call home.

Although Margalit is a loving figure and runs the place like a home, she is worried about the welfare of her more than a dozen boys, and is strict when necessary.  The boys range in age from Benny, who is still wetting his bed, to Yossi, who is turning 18, and hoping to be drafted soon. Their stories are sad stories, including Roman’s – he says his mother put out cigarettes on his arm and he describes it as a railroad track. As a result, he has become a petty thief, which adds tension to the film, every time the police show up to look for him.

Margalit is assisted in running the shelter by Jacky, the handyman, who himself grew up there and has never left.  One day Jacky discovers that the place is in danger of closing, and he decides to take radical steps to prevent that from happening.  He is assisted in his shenanigans, unwittingly, by a lovely French social worker and an aging lawyer, both responsible in different ways, for the shelter. 

The film actually focuses on Jacky, who isn’t the sharpest tool in the box, but turns out to be an intriguing and compelling character.  I highly recommend this film! 

New Film by Matan Yair - A Room of His Own

 A Room of His Own, directed and written by Matan Yair, premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last night. It is a wonderful coming-of-age film about a teenager learning to handle the expectations of others and the difficulties of maturing.  This is Matan Yair’s third feature film.  His debut film was Scaffolding, an award-winning film which was reviewed on this blog.

Similar to Scaffolding, this film is also about a 17-year-old high school senior who has trouble understanding how to curb his impulsiveness and his enthusiasm for sharing what he is thinking, even if it is not terribly socially polite or correct. 

In A Room of His Own, Uri is an awkward and socially inept teenager, who has only one friend, and has a unique perspective on the world. Since his parents are going through a separation, his mother has moved into his bedroom.  They hug and share tender moments each night before going to sleep.  In his pre-army interview, Uri mentions that he shares a room with his mother, and suddenly he realizes that perhaps this is something that should have been kept secret.

The film touches on many subjects such as dealing with divorce, awakening sexuality, and how to handle his relationship with his sister who is in the army and only comes home on the weekends. Much of the film, however, is about Uri’s desire for a relationship with his disappearing and clueless father, and, on the other hand, his strong relationship with the sports teacher at his school.  It is also about the crude way that comments based on the Holocaust, on memory, on the terror of the Nazis, and about Goebbels and Goring, creep into his conversation.

According to the remarks by the filmmaker at the screening last night, this film has autobiographical details and is about “the period that my mother and my siblings tried to keep our heads above water.” His mother, weary and suffering from the separation from the father, is portrayed in a wonderful way, as a woman working hard to move ahead in her job, and as a loving figure to her son and her daughter.

This is not a film with a lot of action.  Rather, Matan Yair provides us with insight into the high school years which can be so difficult for young people. He is a talented filmmaker, with a subtlety and preciseness as he casts his gaze on a particuilar period or situation. 

A New TV Series about the High School Trips to Poland

Memory Forest, directed by Roman Shumunov, is a new prizewinning TV series, made for Israel TV Kan. The series tells the story of a journey to Poland of a group of Israeli high school students. 

The story is about 2 sets of friends – Shani and Lilush from Carmiel and Kobi and Omri from Herzliyah.  There is plenty of flirting between the girls and boys, and it seems that Shani is having trouble connecting to the subject matter and Omri seems to be a real jerk at the beginning.  But things even out, as we get to know them, and as their anxieties become clear.  Episode #1 is about Warsaw. Episode #2 takes place at Treblinka. Episode no. 3 is at Lublin and episode no. 4 is in the forest. 

I sit on the committee of the Film and Media Collaborative (made up of representatives of three funds: Gesher, Maimonides, and AviChai) which funded this series.  Honestly, we were all a bit apprehensive that the program might turn out to be too much of a teaching unit and also a bit formulaic.  I was thrilled to have a chance to preview the entire series this week and it was great!  The script, the acting, the historical teaching moments all were superb and I am proud to have been a small part of this project!

This series offers a mix between telling the story of the Shoah, on the one hand, and the experience as seen through the eyes of the young people, on the other.  There are many moving scenes, including the one at Treblinka, where we learn about the 17,000 stones in memory of the children and adults who were murdered there – every single day.  There is the nationalistic argument as seen through the expression of one boy who reacts with anger, saying that having ceremonies isn’t the only way to commemorate.  There are the moments when they are trying desperately to understand the meaning of the trip, the meaning of being survivors, the importance of how this trip reflects on their Jewishness, all so that the victims will not have died in vain.  There is the teenage girl who doesn’t want to spend any money in Poland because everyone there is anti-semitic but she is surprised to learn that Rivka, their accompanying survivor, wants to go take advantage of the shopping. We watch as these young people grow and slowly begin to understand so much about their own place within this story of memory.

Memory Forest is a TV series made up of 4 episodes, each approximately 30 minutes. 

A Coming-of-Age Film

 An adolescent boy, a recent Ukrainian immigrant mother, and a Chabad shaliach, are all in the same room...  This could be the beginning of a great joke!

Rather, it is the beginning of a compelling film, More than I Deserve, directed by Pini Tavger.  The film tells the story of a single mother, recently arrived from the Ukraine, her adolescent son and their encounter with a Chabad representative. All three main characters are complex characters who offer authentic portrayals. 

Tamara and her son, Pinchas, live in Haifa, in a shabby apartment.  Tamara works as a night cleaning lady in the hospital and she is lonely, depressed, poorly paid, and drinks too much.  She is having an affair with a married man, whom she is pressing to leave his wife.  We know the chances of that happening.

Pinchas is a bit of an outcast with the other boys in his grade. When he sees that they are all going for bar mitzvah lessons with the Chabad representative in the neighborhood, he wants to be part of that.  His mother, at first, is adamantly opposed to anything having to do with Chabad and forbids her son to participate.  Pinchas, however, begins lessons behind her back, and eventually his Chabad teacher, Shimon, becomes an integral part of their lives. 

The presence of Shimon, who himself had been a drug addict before Chabad saved him, changes things for the family.  He becomes close to Pinchas, sort of a father replacement, and eventually becomes close to Tamara too. 

The title of the film refers to something Shimon says to Tamara when she asks him why he’s not married, after all, he is a religious man and not so young.  He explains about the drug addiction in his past, and he says, “I want more than I deserve,” referring to the fact that he is damaged goods and they are setting him up with girls who are also apparently not so perfect. 

There is an inherent criticism of Chabad due to its tradition of arranged marriages, even in this day and age, and Shimon himself is caught up in his rabbi’s insistence that he marry the girl who has been chosen for him. 

More than I Deserve premiered at the 2021 Jerusalem Film Festival where it won the prize for best screenplay. The filmmaker should be congratulated for his nuanced look at the hardships facing new immigrants.

Issues of Family, Gender and the Workplace

Love Trilogy: Chained עיניים שלי  , directed by Yaron Shani (who co-directed the Oscar nominee, Ajami), is an award-winning psychogical profile of a man who loses his work, his status, and control over his own life.  

Rashi is a respected but tough-guy Tel Aviv cop, a man who knows how to defuse a difficult situation, and how to handle himself in tough spots.  His step-daughter is a rebellious 13-year-old, who has an uneasy relationship with her step-dad's strict demands. Rafi is a doting and loving husband as the couple is undergoing fertility treatments. We watch as his life unravels before our eyes. 

After a report of attempted drug sales in a park in Tel Aviv, Rashi and his partner shake down a group of teenage boys who are hanging out in the park.  As they are being searched, the kids are humiliated by the need to pull down their pants, and a few days later, two of the boys put in a complaint that they were sexually harassed by the police officer. With this wrongful accusation and the resulting suspension, Rashi’s life is thrown into disarray. The tragic ending is inevitable.

I think I prefer the hebrew title of the film  עיניים שלי  which means literally my eyes but is used in modern slang to mean my love. 

The other two films in this trilogy are Stripped and Reborn. 

As in the film Ajami, Shani works here with a cast of non-professional actors and uses improvisation to create the script, thus building an authentic and compelling feeling. Of course, there are disadvantages to using non-actors and improv – especially the fact that the look of the film is lacking in polish.  However, the overall effect is a good one and the resultant film is quite hard-hitting.

The film is produced by Black Sheep Film ProductionsLtd.  Take a look at the trailer.

Transgender

Life is complicated for transgender folks.  And I can only imagine how terribly complicated it must be to be a transgender teen.  It can be traumatic, at the same time that it is a journey of self-identity.

In Transkids, a sensitive and surprisingly heartwarming documentary directed by Hilla Medalia, we meet four Israeli trans teenagers, all of whom are articulate and willing to open themselves up to the camera and let us into their lives.

Romy, born as a boy, is a stunning young woman, learning to be a model. 

There are three teens who were born as girls, but are now young men. Ofri, facing breast removal surgery, admits that he defines himself as trans, not as a man per se.  Liron is going for egg retrieval before he begins the irreversible gender reassignment process. Noam, growing up in a religious family, was born as a girl, but according to his father, he was “born as a boy in the body of a girl”.  Now that the father has endeared himself to us, he admits, in a startling moment that they would not have had him if they had known in advance that he would be trans.  As I gasped, I could only imagine how difficult a moment that must have been for Noam.

These four teenagers share their feelings, what it’s like to have to behave in society in a way that you feel is not really you.  They talk about sexuality, self-identity, how they are treated by their families, how they are coping.  And we learn how the parents are coping too.

 

In most ways these kids are typical adolescents.  But they have the added layer of gender issues.   They have to deal with questions such as whether the military framework is appropriate for them, whether they will be able to have families of their own later in life, and whether or not religious identity is impacted by the choices they have made for themselves.

In Transkids (documentary, 103 minutes), you might be surprised to see the acceptance these kids receive from the world around them.  It is a beautifully photographed film about four teenagers, grappling with their gender identity, and growing up to be wonderful young adults. This is such an important issue and the film treats it sensitively and the young people are each charming in their own way.  Highly recommended.  The film is available from Docs forEducation.  Watch the trailer here.

A Disturbing Film about the Dysfunctional Family

Noble Savage, directed by Marco Carmel, and based on a novel by Dudu Busi, is a new Israeli feature film about a teenage boy living his life within the context of a tough reality in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv known as "Shechunat HaArgazim", "the neighborhood of boxes" where the inhabitants live in very poor and highly improvised physical conditions, with lots of crates and boxes in the back yard.

 Eli is an 11^th grade Jewish boy, who is grossly overweight, bullied by the other kids, and a loner.  In addition, he has a totally unstable family life, which is far from normative, even though his mother likes to try to imagine that it is at least somewhat "normative", which is hardly the case. He lives with his divorced mother and her lover, both of whom are recovering drug addicts, obsessed with trying to live a "mainstream" existence, which is actually impossible.  His father, who lives nearby in the same poverty neighborhood, is an alcoholic, an artist, and obsessed with the Holocaust, which complicates the family dynamics even more, and hampers him from relating in a meaningful way to his son, who reaches out to him over and over again throughout the film.

Eli works hard to try to reunite his divorced parents.  At the same time, he is trying to live a regular life, escaping the disastrous and dysfunctional reality that his parents have created for him.  He befriends an attractive new Russian girl in the neighborhood named Anna and together they try to cope with their lives, but Eli is drowning in the complexities and malfunctions of life that surround him, with which he tries to cope.  Throughout the film, Eli must cope with his mother’s fragility of being a recovering drug addict, the abusive nature of the mother’s lover, as well as the poverty, the vulgarity, the violence of this very tough neighborhood, where so many people lead meaningless and lonely lives.

Noble Savage is a hard-hitting film with excellent acting — both from young new actors and veteran stars such as Alon Aboutboul -- which offers a devastating look at what growing up in such surroundings can do to a young man and his severely challenged family.   

New Student Films

I always enjoy student shorts which reflect in many ways the issues which are affecting the up-and-coming generation of filmmakers.  I would like to share with you three compelling short films from the past year at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem. 

212, directed by Boaz Frankel (drama, 20 minutes), is a glimpse at a day in the work of the director of an old age home (played by Moshe Ivgi).  It’s a rainy morning, and the first thing that the director has to take care of is the death of the resident in room 212. It is obvious that deaths are a common occurrence and there is a complete protocol for how to handle it, and it doesn’t seem to truly affect anyone.  In fact, the other residents just want to get on with their breakfast, and the director is more concerned with the fact that someone parked in his parking space on this rainy day.

Big Sister, directed by Michal Gassner (drama, 13 minutes), is about gender issues and rape.  A young woman, who has taught herself to be tough when it comes to how men treat her, is entrusted with the care of her teenage brother when their parents are abroad.  She tries to teach him a lesson about how to treat women.

The Bride’s Tree, directed by Shadi Habib Allah (documentary, 17 minutes), is about a Palestinian adolescent boy.  Under the branches of a big and ancient tree, he spends his days, playing with friends, watching out for the Israeli army, preparing for wedding parties and helping his father with their small grocery store. This film is a bit lyrical in style, which makes it very special.

These films can be obtained from Cara Saposnik, the Director of International Relations – cara@jsfs.co.il

Bulgarian Rhapsody

Bulgarian Rhapsody is a World War II period drama directed by Ivan Nitchev.  Although not an Israeli film per se, I have chosen to write about it since it is a co-production with Israel, and also due to its subject matter, and due to the fact that the film stars Israel's Moni Moshonov (who is himself of Bulgarian descent).

A few words about historical context -- the Bulgarian government cooperated and sided with the Nazis and enacted many anti-Jewish laws during the period of World War II.  Their leading church figures, however, did not permit the Jewish community to be rounded up and sent to be slaughtered.   This was a unique phenomenon in all of Europe, but the Jews of the neighboring Greek and Macedonian towns were not so lucky.

Based on a true family story, the drama focuses on the friendship between two boys -- Moni is a shy Jewish teenager.  His best friend, Giorgio (not Jewish), has more success with the girls.  When Moni's family sends him together with his sister and  grandmother to visit family friends in a neighboring Greek seaport town, he falls madly in love with Shelly.  Shortly thereafter, Shelly and her family come to Sofia for Moni's sister's wedding, and Giorgio decides to pursue her, creating a love triangle, which is the basis for the narrative construct of the film.  

The narrative includes additional interesting elements of the period -- the young couple who depart for Palestine, the unrequited love affair of the grandparents, the good relations between Jews and non-Jews, and the brute anti-Semitism of Giorgio's father.  

The film provides an interesting window into the Jewish community of Sofia, with authentic atmosphere of the period, including furniture, clothing, and food.   The film is also authentic in its depiction of the authorities who were not hesitant in complying with Nazi policies, even though this did not lead to mass deportations, as in most of the other countries in Eastern Europe. 

Bulgarian Rhapsody is Nitchev's third installment in a trilogy about the history of Bulgaria's Jewish community. The first two films were  After the End of the World (1999) and The Journey to Jerusalem (2003).

Student Shorts

I love recommending student films because they are a reflection of what issues and subjects are important to young Israelis today.  This collection of short dramas by film students at the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School in Jerusalem is distributed by RuthDiskin. 

• ·         Tateh by Yaniv Linton (short drama, 24 min., 2012)

A touching and intimate tale about the relationship between a grown man and his father.  In this case, the grown man is a Bratslav hassid, driving around in his van, spreading the message of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav.  He receives a phone-call  that sends him on a journey and he goes to reconnect with his father on the kibbutz where he grew up.  A small moment of intimacy and reconciliation provides a strong ending. 

   

• ·         How I Killed Rabin by Michael Alalu (short drama, 17 min., 2012)

A tale about growing up during a period of great national drama.  The story is about an adolescent boy in Jerusalem -- his struggles and angst portrayed on the background of the night of Rabin's assassination.  The film uses an interesting technique of the adolescent talking to himself and it provides insight into how each of us sees an event through our own perspective. We see the boy in his youth movement (HaShomer Hatzair), follow him with the girl that he likes, and learn about his obsessions and fears.  Finally, we travel with him and his family to the big peace demonstration in Tel Aviv, that night in November 1995, when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot.

·      

•           Papercuts by Gilad Deutsch (short drama, 13 min., 2013)

Boy meets girl on the Haifa Carmelite (funicular).  Even though they are both lonely and unhappy souls, a relationship is born.  A compelling story. 

• ·         Tormus by Sari Bisharat (short drama, 14 min., 2013)

A 16-year-old boy from an Arab village wants to earn money. He takes his grandfather's old cart, and with the help of his younger brother, he sets out to try to sell beans which his mother has prepared.  Not having a lot of success in their village, they try to sell at a nearby community where the Jews are willing to pay more for Arab food.  Everything is going well until the city inspector asks for their license.

• ·         Driver by Yehonatan Indursky (short drama, 30 min., 2011)

A touching portrait of three people -- a haredi  (ultra-orthodox) man who drives around two lost souls in an attempt to help them.  The entire film takes place within the car during one evening.  He's driving a man from apartment to apartment, where he's schnoring (begging for) money because the man is dying of a disease and wants to be sure that his seven children will be cared for.  In the back seat is a woman who is obviously having trouble with her husband.  

• ·         Diploma by Yaelle Kayam (short drama, 20 min., 2009)

In Hebron, a young Palestinian woman is graduating from the local college and wants to go to her graduation ceremony.  There is a curfew because it's the Jewish holiday of Purim, so she sets out with her younger brother to accompany her.  Brother and sister go over the rooftops and down narrow alleyways to try to get to their destination.  At first there is tension between them.    But after they are stopped by an Israeli Army patrol and as their dangerous adventure continues, they share a moment of real companionship.

Literary Adaptations based on David Grossman Novels

Although not an Israeli film per se, I want to share info about The Zig Zag Kid, directed by Vincent Bal (2012, The Netherlands), because it is a great adaptation of the David Grossman novel יש ילדים זיג זג , making it the fourth Grossman novel that can be seen on film.  Two of the others, Someone to Run With and Intimate Grammar, have previously been reviewed on this blog.  Another, Smile of the Lamb (directed by Shimon Dotan, 1985), reflects Grossman's political agenda which is critical of the government policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians and the occupation.  

All four are wonderful books -- and also great film adaptations!  

 The Zig Zag Kid is a romp -- and I think it was the most enjoyable film that I saw this summer at the Jerusalem Film Festival!

The story is about a bar mitzvah boy named Nono  who has a great imagination.  We follow him on a secret mission that includes a master criminal who is his father's nemesis and his search for a mysterious woman -- all of this as he enters the world of disguises where no one is what he seems!  This is an adventure film for the entire family!

Watch the trailer