... a film about a son and his father
This acclaimed documentary film
is now available in a new 4K Restoration!!
From an early age, Yossi Klein and other children of survivors living in Borough Park, Brooklyn, were preparing for another Holocaust.
What is the film about?
The psychological ramifications of history. The choice between viewing ourselves as perpetual victims or resilient survivors. The search for a Post-Holocaust Judaism. It is the story of the stormy yet loving relationship between recovering Jewish activist Yossi Klein and his father Zoltan, who had survived the Holocaust’s devastation of Hungarian Jewry by hiding in a hole in the ground for six months. Meanwhile his parents perished at Auschwitz.
After the war,
Zoltan didn’t see the point of bringing a Jewish child into the world but his bride-to-be Breindy wouldn’t hear of it. Once Yossi and his sister Karen were born, Zoltan was determined to raise them to be emotionally prepared for another holocaust. The story of his hiding in the forest and the murder of his parents became his children’s bedtime stories.
Breindy tried to compensate by reading them Dr. Seuss books.
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Supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Kaddish originally premiered at New Directors/New Films in 1984, went on to win a Special Jury Award in Documentary at Sundance, and made David Edelstein’s 1985 10 Best Films list in the Village Voice.
The film has received critical accolades ranging from New York Magazine (“a remarkable American documentary”) to the Los Angeles Times (“Superb ... nothing less than a spiritual odyssey”), the Washington Post (“remarkable for its sensitivity and immediacy”), St. Louis Globe-Democrat (“a riveting 90 minutes”), Boston Globe (“deeply felt ... disturbing”), Village Voice (“a stunning profile”), Variety (“an important film of lasting value”).
Our deepest thanks to the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Sundance Institute for funding for this restoration and to the amazing team at IndieCollect for lovingly restoring it.
Kaddish will be soon be available on DVD, including "extras" such as a "30 years later" interview with the film's protagonist, Yossi Klein Halevi, an interview with filmmaker Steve Brand, deleted scenes, the film's original pilot and a 12-page booklet.
Please come back to this page for updates.
We are happy to announce that the new 4K Restoration of this award-winning documentary had its World Premiere at the 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center.
