Okay, so I barely had time to recover from Hot Docs because now the Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF) started this past Saturday. TJFF runs until May 15th, so you have plenty of time to catch some interesting films.
Here is my top 5 choices for this year’s festival. But of course, there are many more for you to see.
Synopsis: Set at the beginning of the ruthless military dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983), Fabian Hofman’s semi-autobiographical I Miss You is an intelligent and moving look at the impact of “the Dirty War” on one Jewish family, as seen through the eyes of its youngest member: fifteen-year-old Javier. I Miss You is both an evocative coming-of-age film and an affecting reminder of the thousands of students and youth activists who “disappeared” during “the Dirty War”, a disproportionate number of whom were Jewish.
Five Brothers
Synopsis: It tells the story of a proud Jewish-Algerian family living in Paris. Although they lead very different lives, the brothers feel a strong familial bond. When David, the estranged black sheep of the family, breaks out of prison and is pursued by a gang of drug traffickers, he tests his brothers’ loyalty when he drags them, along with their widowed mother, into a criminal underworld and a web of long-buried family secrets.
Sous un Autre Jour
Synopsis: Irene (Marthe Keller) has two grown children, a happy marriage and a successful legal career, when all her certainties are suddenly shattered: Not only does her husband leave her for a younger woman, but her hospitalized mother reveals that Irene’s real father is not the man who raised her. Her biological father was a young Jewish musician whom her mother fell in love with while in Denmark during the Second World War. Irene travels through France, Israel and Austria, committing herself to finding him.
Synopsis: The first animated feature from China to deal with the Holocaust. Based on the popular graphic novel of the same name, A Jewish Girl in Shanghai tells the story of Rina and her little brother, who have fled to Shanghai and now wait to hear of their parents’ fate in Europe. When Zhou A-Gen, a young Chinese boy, offers penniless Rina a free pancake, a strong friendship forms between these two children. Along with Rina’s brother, they set out on many adventures while trying to fend off Japanese bullies and the German presence in the city.
The Human Resources Manager
Synopsis: When the body of a female foreign worker killed by a suicide bomber is eventually identified as an employee of a large Israeli bakery, the company’s human resources manager is publicly accused of inhumanity for having failed to notice her absence. To make amends, he must accompany the body to her hometown in a remote Eastern European village. Riklis deftly balances the tragic elements of the story with a healthy dose of dark humour, resulting in a quirky road movie in which the central character and his travelling companions rediscover their own humanity, as they honour a woman they never knew but learn to admire.
Other films of interest include Leonard Cohen: Live in London; Acne; and The Making of West Side Story. To see what other films are still screening for the rest of the festival, visit tjff.com.
