His allegorical, dense and at times discomforting sophomore film received a Special Screening slot during Cannes Film Fest’s 2014 Critics’ Week (see our video coverage below), and to my surprise was bypassed during film festival season with no-shows at TIFF and NYFF. He might only be two features in, but Nadav Lapid is batting 1000 and the Kino Lorber folks agree. IndieWIRE reports that The Kindergarten Teacher has been picked up and has been set up with a July 31st date at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City, before a national expansion in August and September.
Gist: A teacher discovers in a five year-old child a prodigious gift for poetry. Amazed and inspired by this young boy, she decides to protect his talent in spite of everyone.
Worth Noting: Lapid studied cinema at the Sam Spiegel school in Jerusalem and saw his first film receive early support via the Cinefondation Residence and presented at L’Atelier de Cannes 2008 before winning at Locarno.
Do We Care?: Following in the footsteps of his stellar debut, Policeman (which was held out theatrically for close to four full years) this features a rather sturdy performance from thesp Sarit Larry in a character of a complex mold. This is a must see if you’re at all curious about the growing pains of Israel.
