Casting

To cast the French Oscar-winning films MADAME JACQUES SUR LA CROISETTE and VOYAGES (both featured at the 2000 SFJFF), director Emmanuel Finkiel printed an ad: “Yiddish speakers, 65-90 yrs. old, wanted for fiction film.” He was flooded with responses and obtained some of the best acting performances we’ve seen. One day, he got a call from a woman whose father had recently died. She wanted a tape of her father’s audition. While searching through hours of rushes, Finkiel realized that each of the men and women he’d interviewed were worthy of a documentary. "CASTING traces the astonishing portrait of a generation haunted by the past, but overflowing with life, with stories, and bristling with energy. Funny and intimate, mocking but tender . . . this parade of eccentric and powerful personalities renews our connection to a way of being that will soon disappear..." Catherine Humblot, Le Monde

Between 1979 and 1996, director Emmanuel Finkiel was assistant director to renowned filmmakers Krysztof Kieslowski (thee Colors Trilogy: Blue, White, Red), Christian de Chalogne, Bertrand Tavernier (L'Appât), Jean Luc Godard (Nouvelle Vague) and others.