This Sunday, the Jewish Film Festival will screen the multi-award-winning film “Home,” which won three Ophir awards, (Israeli Oscars) including Best Actor (Roy Nik) and Best Supporting Actor (Dror Keren), garnering nine nominations in total, including Best Film.
Written and directed by Benny Fredman and based on his own experience in 2008-2009, “Home” tells the harrowing story of a young Haredi man’s attempt to put his Torah studies on hold to open a modern electronics shop in Jerusalem’s main ultra-Orthodox shopping district, Geula.
Yair, the young husband, who is supported financially by his in-laws in order to pursue yeshiva studies, dreams of being able to support his wife and young son on his own. To this end, he decides, with a close friend, to open a modern electronics store in the ultra-orthodox neighborhood, since he knows there’s a Haredi market for phones, tablets, computers and other devices. As with any business in the Haredi community, Yair has to get approval from the “Neighborhood Committee.” The Committee reluctantly agrees, on the conditions that Yair not sell any electronics with radios or access to the internet, and that he pays a pretty steep recurring fee to an “inspector” whose job it is to make sure the electronics on sale comply with the agreement.
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