The Lucky Star

TJFF—in partnership with the UK Jewish Film Festival—presents a long-lost Canadian film about a boy’s journey during World War II.

Amsterdam, 1940. Bar Mitzvah boy David Goldberg is obsessed with American westerns and dreams of becoming a sheriff. His fantasy about fighting off bandits in the Wild West comes nearly true when he captures a high ranking Nazi officer and is determined to bring him to justice. David knows the time has come for the ultimate showdown with those who have taken his parents away. Long before Jojo Rabbit, this original mix of western, war film and childhood fantasy--co-written by the late English playwright Jack Rosenthal (Bar Mitzvah Boy) and based on a story by French illustrator and author Roland Topor (The Tenant)--shows the power of imagination to conquer our darkest fears.  Out of circulation for several decades, this large-scale Canadian production boasts winning performances by its star Brett Marx (The Bad News Bears), Rod Steiger and Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and Isabelle Mejias (The Bay Boy), while Lou Jacobi plays a Jewish cabaret artist performing original comic songs that he wrote himself.

“The appearance of Max Fischer’s The Lucky Star comes as a welcome and shining example of the potential of the Canadian movie industry with the right combination of script, direction and performance.” (The Canadian Jewish News, 1980)

Featuring a pre-recorded Zoom Q&A with stars Brett Marx and Isabelle Mejias Fox; Producer Pieter Kroonenburg; Production manager Suzana Fischer; and Dame Maureen Lipman, widow of screenwriter Jack Rosenthal