“A captivating, deeply moving father-son story.” (The Sundance Film Festival) Filmmaker Moshe Rosenthal (Karaoke) crafts a powerful drama centring on 12-year-old Boaz, whose discovery of a painful secret about his father shatters his idealised view of him. As he nears his bar mitzvah, Boaz grapples with questions of masculinity, identity, and family while confronting feelings of shame, confusion, and anger. Spanning several years, his journey reflects a deep longing to repair their fractured relationship and understand his father more fully. Through intimate storytelling and rich period detail, framing the story during the late 1980s as paranoia regarding HIV was rampant, the film becomes a poignant coming-of-age tale about loss, acceptance, and the challenge of truly seeing a parent beyond illusion.

Part of the NextGen Series sponsored by The Canadian Jewish News.