SEPHARDIC SPOTLIGHT FILM
In Person: March 23
Virtual: Streaming: March 31 – April 13
Special Event: Sephardic coffee chat (echar lashon) reception with coffee, tea, and Sephardic biscochos cookies.
Passionate filmmaker Antoine, fair and Jewish, travels to his birthplace, Algiers, with his young son to present his latest release: an account of his childhood during the Algeria’s civil war in the 1960s. As he wanders through the city, he immerses us in the moments of happiness, laughter and tears of his youth—at school, with friends, and with his Jewish family. Growing up in Algeria’s colonial period, young Antoine discovers his profound fascination with cinema and starts to understand who he truly is.
The film has been called director Alexandre Arcady’s autobiographical answer to Cinema Paradiso. Like Salvatore in PARADISO, Antoine (like the director) grows up to be an esteemed filmmaker who revisits his hometown after an absence of many years. By contrast, Arcady’s family was forced to pack up and leave Algeria in haste. THE BLOND BOY IN THE CASBAH depicts Arcady’s own bittersweet childhood, filled with both wistful and war-torn memories.
Director Bio: View on IMDB
Alexandre Arcady was born in Algiers in 1947. He is a producer and writer, known for 24 DAYS (2014) and What the Day Owes the Night (2012).
Sponsors: Maureen + Joel Benoliel, Rind Family in memory of Bernice Mossafer Rindz”l
Event Sponsors: Dancing Goats Coffee, Sholom Tea
Community Sponsors: Samis Foundation, Seattle Sephardic Network
