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Behind the scenes of a Jerusalem café
The Cakemaker, a film by director Ofir Raul Grazier, opens on an ambivalent note. On the one hand – there is an element of Berlin foreignness and on the other, an Israeli protagonist and an innocuous encounter at a patisserie: the smell of coffee and pastry dough, the kneading hand, a Black Forest gateau… but whilst the work is routine, the atmosphere is that of a fateful crossroads. Oren (Roy Miller) is a married Israeli architect and father to a young boy. He meets Thomas (Tim Kalkhof), a single Berliner pastry chef, and the two fall in love; however an unexpected accident puts an abrupt end to their forbidden romance. Oren dies.
Left behind with a gaping hole in his heart, Thomas decides to set off to Israel in search of the life Oren left behind. His widow, Anat (the ever-extraordinary Sarah Adler) is raising their son whilst running a Jerusalem café, all the while trying to come to terms with this new reality. Oren’s religious family (his brother, Motti, played by Zohar Strauss and his mother, Hannah, played by Sandra Sade) meanwhile, are urging her to toe the [traditional] line and obtain a standard orthodox rabbinate kosher certificate for her café.
Then, out of nowhere, comes Thomas who goes for a job at the café – and is hired. And whilst he does not disclose to Anat the truth about his relationship with her late husband, his presence at the café in the meantime becomes increasingly prominent. At the same time, he also starts playing a much greater role in both Anat and her son’s emotional life, and in Oren’s mother’s too. Thomas’s golden touch – with hands so sensitive and attuned to quantities, mixtures, and aromas –pierce right through the screen, whilst at the same time also reaching Anat’s heart. The Jerusalem café is given a major upgrade and in the process, bit by bit, the film’s storyline takes a series of increasingly complex, unlikely turns.
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All rights are reserved to the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israeli Film Archive (RA) and the rights holders of the works. Any use of works on the website for non-individual and non-personal purposes is strictly prohibited without prior, written permission.
For more information about the rights holders, please visit the relevant collection page, or contact the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israeli Film Archive (RA) offices.
We have the utmost respect for all rights holders’ copyright and put great efforts to track down any and all intellectual property owners for the purpose of seeking and obtaining permission to use their materials featured on the website.
Any and all materials are used in accordance with clause 27a of the 2007 Copyright Act. If you believe that your rights as intellectual property and copyright owners of any material featured on this website have been compromised, then you may contact the Israeli Film Archive via email with a cease-and-desist notice, requesting that the material in alleged copyright infringement no longer be used. When contacting the archive, please state the merit to your copyright ownership claim, as well as your full name, email address, and telephone number, with a link to the relevant webpage.
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