Film Archive

The Cakemaker

Official Selection - Competition 2017 / The Cakemaker / Israel, Germany 2017

After the death of his lover, Thomas heads to Israel – the birthplace of the man he adored. Despite prejudice at his German origins he becomes the pastry chef at a local café owned by the widow of the deceased Oran. Yet she hardly suspects that the unnamed sorrow that connects her to the stranger is for one and the same man.

Synopsis

Business trips can bring a variety of surprises, but not the fact that certain encounters sometimes grow into serious affairs. After several months, however, the affair between Thomas, a pastry chef living in Berlin, and Oran, a married man from Israel, is cut short by a tragic event. Oran is killed in a car crash, and Thomas feels he has no choice but to seek out his lover’s widow, who is now bringing up their son alone. Despite initial mistrust at his German origins, grieving Anat gives the taciturn young man work in her café, unaware that the unnamed sorrow which connects them is for one and the same man. Debuting helmer Ofir Raul Graizer has submitted a feature melodrama whose strength rests in its subtle treatment of the love theme. Delicate and nearly imperceptible emotions are foregrounded, while painful secrets are only gradually revealed. This formally accomplished debut therefore manages to deliver a powerful statement on love that isn’t contingent upon sexual orientation.

Sandra Hezinová

About the film

104 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Ofir Raul Graizer / Screenplay Ofir Raul Graizer / Dir. of Photography Omri Aloni / Music Dominique Charpentier / Editor Michal Oppenheim / Art Director Daniel Kossow, Yael Bibelnik / Producer Itai Tamir, Mathias Schwerbrock / Production Laila Films, Film Base Berlin / Cast Tim Kalkhof, Sarah Adler, Roy Miller / Sales Films Boutique

About the director

Ofir Raul Graizer (b. 1981, Ra’anana, Israel) graduated in film from Sapir Academic College. His first short picture Prayer in January (2007) screened at twenty festivals and later made it into distribution. His graduation movie Dor (2009) earned him his first award and played at Clermont-Ferrand and Katowice, among others. In 2015 he co-directed the short La Discothèque (with Teresita Ugarte), which screened in Cannes’ Critics’ Week. In addition to direction, Graizer also works in video art.