San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Giraffe, The

Screening with 2007 SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award: Dani Levy

Director in person in San Francisco

By the mid-1990s, SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award winner Dani Levy, not yet 40, had made a successful transition from actor to comedy director; The Giraffe was his breakout film as a dramatic director. From a script that Levy co-wrote with actress Maria Schrader, and starring himself and Schrader in the leads, The Giraffe is a sexy, taut and psychologically penetrating thriller that weaves together events happening 50 years apart in Germany and America.

An elderly Jewish woman is found dead in the corridor of a New York hotel. Her son, David (Levy), meets a young set designer, Lena Katz (Schrader), who appears to be involved in the mysterious circumstances of his mother's death. In the course of their investigation, a mutual attraction grows, but suspicions that lead directly to Lena's family threaten to undermine their relationship.

A gripping political crime story in the Marathon Man vein, the film was shot primarily in New York but moves between America and Germany and between two generations, one protective of its secrets and the other eager to uncover them. Originally released in Europe with the German title Meschugge (Yiddish for "crazy"), The Giraffe received its U. S. premiere at the 1999 SFJFF.

Principal cast: Maria Schrader, Dani Levy, David Strathairn.

Director will be in attendance in San Francisco.

Co-presented by the Goethe-Institut