Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis brings A Borrowed Identity to the Art Theatre in Long Beach, set to open tonight at 8:30PM.
A coming-of-age drama set in the early 1990s, the film tells the story of an Arab teenager trying to find his place in Israeli society, written and adapted from two autobiographical novels by Arab-Israeli author and journalist Sayed Kashua (Dancing Arabs, Let It Be Morning, Second Person Singular).
According to The Greatest Living Hebrew Writer is an Arab, a 2013 profile of the filmmaker, Kashua tells complex stories from the perspective of a writer uprooted and torn between tradition and his identity.
It’s a film for anyone at a crossroads, anyone who knows what it’s like to feel lost, assuming we believe there is a place to “fit in” in this world. It’s a love story between two souls who meet and find solace in each other’s company, yet must deal with unsuitable outside circumstances seemingly out of their control.
“This film is a slow dance, perhaps a traditional dance, a dance through life, which we all embark on – and find ourselves either alone on the dance floor, or surrounded by our loved ones. It was shot through the eyes of a boy and yet from the perspective of an adult,” said Riklis in his director’s statement.
Gifted Eyad (Tawfeek Barhom), a Palestinian Israeli Boy, is given the opportunity to go to a prestigious Jewish boarding school in Jerusalem. The film tells the story of a youth desperate to fit in with his Jewish schoolmates and within Israeli society, while finds comfort in a friendship with another outsider, a boy suffering from muscular dystrophy. Eyad eventually becomes a part of the home the boy, Jonathan (Michael Moshonov, Lebanon) shares with his mother Edna (Yael Abecassis, Kadosh, Alila, To Live and Become).
Eyad is faced with a choice after falling in love with Naomi (Daniel Kitsis), a Jewish girl, which spurs him to leave the school when their relationship is discovered. He finds he will have to sacrifice his identity to be accepted. What choice will he make that will change his life forever? You’ll have to watch the film to find out.
To watch the trailer, click here. For showtimes and tickets, click here.