Waiting for the Messiah

This second feature by a remarkably accomplished 27-year-old director is a semi-autobiographical story about a Buenos Aires Jew in his early twenties who sets out in search of his destiny and of his city. Sick of a well-ordered life of Hebrew club meetings, family shabbat dinners and work at his father’s kosher restaurant, Ariel gets a job on the graveyard shift at a video production company. There he meets an exciting older woman, Laura, who is bisexual and from a Catholic background. She asks Ariel to work with her on a documentary about an unemployed former bank teller named Santamaría, who ekes out a living on the margins of Buenos Aires. While Ariel and Laura follow Santamaría day in and day out, people in the Jewish part of town are getting ready for Hannukah. Everyone misses Ariel, especially Estela, the beautiful young woman he has known all his life. Back at the restaurant, the first Hannukah candle is lit and Ariel’s chair remains empty. "MESSIAH handles ethnicity lightly and affectionately, making Jewishness one of many parallel universes that coexist in a tricky urban environment. - Variety Magazine

Daniel Burman was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on August 29, 1973. In 1993, his short documetary "En Que Estacion Estamos…?" (In Which Station Are We…?) received UNESCO's Honorable Mention Award. In 1994 his script "Ninos Envueltos" was given an award at the Annual Short Subject Film Contest of the Argentine Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute (INCAA) and was filmed during the course of that year. The short was presented in 1995 as part of a feature film in episodes titled "Historias Breves" (Short Stories), which premiered at a film exhibition in the city of Buenos Aires with excellent public and critical acclaim. In 1995, his film "Un Crisantemo Estalla En Cincoesquinas" was presented in numerous international festivals: Sundance Film Festival, Berlinale (Official Selection), San Sebastian, La Habana, Nantes, Russian International Film Festival (FIPRESCI Award) and Le Festival des Films de Monde in Montreal. In 1997 he produced "Plaza de Almas" by Fernando Diaz, multiawarded at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival (Best Latin American Film, Audience Award), OCIC, and Best Film at the Chicago Film Festival. In 1998, Burman produced Mercedes Guevara's "Rio Escondido". In 1999 he was Executive Producer of the film "Garage Olimpo", a French-Italian-Argentine production directed by Marco Bechis, which was invited to Cannes '99 and was a winner of more than 20 international awards. In 2000 he directed "Esperando Al Mesias" (Waiting for the Messiah), his second feature film, which was awarded a special acting prize for Enrique Pineyro at the Novo Cine Festival in Buenos Aires.