Cinema Chats: “The Matchmaker”

In this Cinema Chats, moderator Lucy Shahar and Stuart Weinstock will discuss what makes this film unique, from the plot to the production.

The Matchmaker (2010), directed by Avi Nesher, centers around Arik, a teenage boy growing up in Haifa in 1968, who gets a job working for Yankele Bride, a matchmaker who is a Holocaust survivor. As Arik begins to learn the mysteries of the human heart, he falls in love with Tamara, his best friend’s cousin. Tamara has just returned from America and is full of talk of free love and rock and roll. From here the disparate parts of Arik’s life collide in unexpected ways.

The Matchmaker was nominated for seven Israeli academy awards and won the lead actor and actress awards.

Stuart Weinstock is a filmmaker, a film programmer, and a professor of film. He earned his BA and his MFA from Columbia University. His short films have screened and won awards at film festivals around the world. Stuart has taught Film Studies and Filmmaking courses at Columbia University, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mercy College, Dominican University, and the New York Film Academy. Stuart programs public film events for Columbia’s Institute of Israel and Jewish Studies, and recently joined the JCC MetroWest in West Orange, NJ as their year-round film programmer and the director of the New Jersey Jewish Film Festival.

Please see the Zoom link at the very bottom of your order confirmation email. This program is entirely virtual.

We recommend you watch the film in advance of this lecture. The film can be streamed on Prime Video, Kanopy, Tubi, YouTube, Vudu and Apple TV.