The Memory Thief

Description

Winner of Digital Feature Award Edmonton International Film Festival
Grand Jury Prize Red Rock Film Festival

“Morally audacious and intriguingly original..”-The New York Times

“Kofman includes real-life Holocaust survivors in his cast, a bold and unsettling stroke in a fictional story that’s more challenging than most documentaries about the subject.” -Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

“Heartbreaking” -Chicago Tribune

“Captivating” -Denver Westword

Synopsis

THE MEMORY THIEF is the story of Lukas – an aimless, young man in contemporary L.A. who buries thoughts of his own past in the humdrum routine of a tollbooth clerk. A chance encounter with a Holocaust survivor suddenly brings into focus a world and an identity he embraces with frightening intensity – the victimized Jews of World War II. As he begins to enthusiastically act out his newfound obsession, Lukas, a non-Jew, discovers that survivor’s guilt isn’t just for the Jews anymore. THE MEMORY THIEF, starring Mark Webber, is a mesmerizing, audacious psychological thriller in the tradition of TAXI DRIVER.

Director

Gil Kofman

Gil Kofman was born in Nigeria and raised in Kenya, Israel, and NYC, Gil Kofman studied physics at Cornell before attending NYU Graduate Film School, and later getting an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama.

Kofman’s play American Magic, a dark political satire, was produced in NY, LA, and London with music by Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth and Richard Foreman playing the part of the President. His other plays Entrivista 187 won a Dramalogue award in LA and was later produced at the Dallas Theater Center. His other plays The Report and Pharmacopeia were produced at the Evidence Room in LA. Other plays were produced at CBGBs, Workhouse Theater, Adobe Theater in NYC plus other theaters in Canada and Chicago.

Gil has also published short fiction in Gordon Lish’s The Quarterly and helped produce, edit and shoot the Sundance award Winning documentary “DERRIDA”.

THE MEMORY THIEF is his first narrative feature. It won the Digital Feature Award at the 21st Edmonton Int’l Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at the Red Rock Film Festival. It was also one of 5 finalists for the Emerging Filmmakers Award at the Starz 30th Denver Int’l Film Festival where it sold out at all its screenings. MEMORY THIEF also played in competition at the Seattle Int’l Film Festival, St. Louis Int’l Film Fest, Philadelphia Int’l Film Fest, Minneapolis/St.Paul Int’l Film Fest, Calgary Film Fest, Cambridge UK, 2007 Indie World Film Festival in Brazil, Sydney Australia, Washington DC Jewish Film Fest, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, the prestigious 38th Int’l Film Festival of India, plus several others.