It follows a young man who is tasked with keeping vigil over a deceased member of his former Orthodox Jewish community, only to be targeted by a malevolent spirit. The film opens with an unidentified boy forced by a man in a black Nazi uniform to shoot a young woman in a forest. The film then cuts to Yakov Ronen, a man who has left the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. He is struggling with an unspecified traumatic event in his past and with paying his rent. To earn money, he accepts to keep vigil over Rubin Litvak, a Holocaust survivor who had died recently. This is when strange things begin to happen.
Short film/kortfilm: Fem små gefiltes (Sweden, 2026)
När fem nyfikna gefilte-fiskar vågar sig ut från sin burk för att uppleva livet i New York, följs de av sin mammas dundrande ”OY VEY”! Mamma Gefilte är inte glad, men hon har uppfostrat dem väl. Under äventyrets gång visar de sig alla vara en äkta mentsh.
Five curious gefiltes have the chutzpah to leave their jar and explore New York City, trailed by a loud OY VEY! from Mama Gefilte. She isn’t happy — but through their adventures, each sibling proves to be a true mentsh. Adapted from Dave Horowitz’s beloved picture book Five Little Gefiltes, the film is animated and co-directed by Helene Berg and Isabella A Johanson, scored by Swedish klezmer virtuoso Alexander Freudenthal, and translated into Yiddish by Michael Wex, author of Born to Kvetch. It screens in Yiddish with English subtitles — no Yiddish required.
Gefiltlekh finf premiered at BUFF and opened the International Jewish Film Festival, both in Malmö, Sweden. The book behind it, Fem små gefiltes (Dos Nisele Farlag, 2025), is a 2026 Peter Pan Award nominee — Sweden’s foremost prize for children’s literature in translation. Dave Horowitz’s English original was a 2008 Sydney Taylor Notable Book.
Information:
Bring your own snacks, or shop at Teaterbaren which serves a selection of alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and snacks which are allowed into the cinema during the screening. The venue is accessible for all.
The Vigil
(USA, 89 min.) Dir: Keith Thomas, 2019. w/Menashe Lustig
Fem små gefiltes
(Sweden, 2026)Dir. Helene Berg, Isabella A Johanson 7 min. För barn 5-8år
