Screening and Q&A with Jerusalemite Director – Thurs June 11
Jerusalemite director Mihal Brezis will be in Toronto for a special screening of Dead Language at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival on Thursday, June 11 at 8:15 p.m. Following the screening, Brezis will take part in a Q&A, offering audiences a rare opportunity to hear directly from the filmmaker about her creative process, artistic collaboration, and the ideas behind the film.
Dead Language is a tender meditation on longing, connection, and chance, exploring the fragile and unexpected ways lives intersect. First premiering at the Tribeca Festival and nominated for 12 Ophir Awards, the film begins with a chance encounter at an airport: while waiting for her husband, Aya impulsively pretends to be the chauffeur assigned to pick up a visitor arriving from Denmark. Their brief encounter stirs an unexpected longing that destabilizes Aya’s carefully ordered life.
Co-written with Tom Shoval (A Letter to David) and Amital Stern, the film unfolds as a nuanced meditation on intimacy, desire, and coincidence—tracing how a single misstep can quietly unravel the boundaries of a life that once felt secure. Anchored by luminous performances from Sarah Adler (The Cakemaker) and Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration), the film has been praised for its emotional restraint and its sensitivity to the unspoken currents between people.
Brezis, together with her creative partner Oded Binnun, has built an acclaimed body of work recognized internationally for its emotional precision and cinematic subtlety. Their Oscar-nominated short AYA, which inspired Dead Language, was widely celebrated and marked a breakthrough in bringing short-form storytelling into wider theatrical release, earning global recognition and multiple awards.
In Hebrew, Czech and English, with English subtitles.
Tickets are available with student and senior rates of $15 per ticket. Visit https://tjff.com/films/dead-language/.
It promises to be a meaningful evening of film and conversation – hope to see you there!
