February 16, 2020 - The Cakemaker - (Israel 2017)

Tomas (Tim Kalhof), a talented pastry chef, leads a simple and solitary life running a small Berlin café. His daily routine goes on uninterrupted until Oren (Roy Miller), an international businessman from Israel, begins frequenting his café whenever he’s waylaid in Berlin for work. The two strangers begin a casual romance that quickly morphs into a whirlwind affair, punctuated by Oren’s frequent trips home to spend time with his wife and son. But after their latest tryst, Tomas finds himself unable to reach Oren. Growing more anxious, Tomas visits Oren’s Berlin office, where he learns from his former secretary that Oren was killed in a car crash. Unable to accept the loss of his lover, Tomas resolves to keep Oren in his life the only way he can: by traveling to Israel and insinuating himself into the lives of Oren’s widow, Anat (Sarah Adler), and her son, Itai (Tamir Ben Yehuda). 

Concealing his identity, Tomas seeks solace in his work for Anat, who reluctantly hires him to help out in her struggling café in Jerusalem. As business flourishes with Tomas’ kitchen talents, the bereaved pair forges a bond that blurs lines of nationality, religion and sexuality. Privately, he proves himself to be a reliable confidant and buffer for Anat, who, as a non-religious widowed mother, finds herself the subject of much scrutiny from her orthodox brother-in-law. Through Anat, Tomas glimpses a life he never could have imagined for himself, one filled with companionship, love, and family. As the grieving pair continues to grow closer, the lines dividing longing and loneliness, and of right and wrong, begin to blur. The film provides a complex view on the deepest human need for connection. 

German and Hebrew languages. Running time 104 minutes.