The Boy in the Woods

The boy in the woods

THE BOY IN THE WOODS follows the true story of Max (Jett Klyne), a Jewish boy escaping Nazi persecution in Eastern Europe. After he is separated from his family, Max finds refuge with a Christian peasant Jasko (Richard Armitage) who hides him in plain site until a tense stand-off with some Nazi police. Afraid for his own family’s life, Jasko sends Max to live in the woods where he learns to survive alone.

With echoes of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, Max’s experience is both terrifying and magical. He inhabits a landscape crawling with Jew-hunters, partisans and haunted by ghosts. Then everything changes when he meets another boy in hiding, Yanek (David Kohlsmith). Their extraordinary adventure culminates in the heroic rescue of a baby girl, but it comes at a tragic price. Based on the best-selling memoir by Canadian Holocaust survivor Maxwell Smart and inspired by the award-winning documentary Cheating Hitler: Surviving The Holocaust.

Director Q&A with Rebecca Snow

Rebecca Snow is a director, writer and producer specializing in history and social issue documentaries and feature films. She won the 2018 Canadian Screen Award for best direction in a documentary program.

Born and raised in London England, Rebecca’s early career was spent working at the BBC in the documentary Arts and History units. She moved to Toronto in 2010. In North America her documentary writing/directing broadcast credits include CBC’s NATURE OF THINGS and History Channel’s REAL VIKINGS, MUSEUM SECRETS, and PERFECT STORMS. She spent three seasons in Los Angeles working on NBC’s Emmy Award nominated celebrity genealogy show WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Rebecca’s feature-length documentaries include CHEATING HITLER: SURVIVING THE HOLOCAUST which made world headlines, airing on History Channel on Remembrance Day 2019 (nominated for a RealScreen award, a Rockie Award and six Canadian Screen Awards), and PANDORA’S BOX: LIFTING THE LID ON MENSTRUATION which won a Special Jury Award at Whistler Film Festival from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and had its US premiere at Santa Barbara Film Festival in January 2020.

Rebecca’s first narrative feature titled THE BOY IN THE WOODS screened at Toronto International Film Festival as an Industry Selects, Atlantic Film Festival, Cinefest, and Whistler Film Fest amongst others.

Screening With:

Jerry Rigged

Canadian Short Showcase

Jerry (Glen Gould) is an Indigenous, former army medic and Afghan war vet,  suffering from PTSD, living in a decommissioned missile silo in the cold war Bomarc missile site in North Bay. He suffers the full gamut of trauma – anxiety, depression, insomnia, anger and a host of mood disorders. He’s also got cancer, but refuses to leave the safety of his bunker for any reason. The job of delivering his chemo treatment falls to aging, dyspeptic doctor Gerald Slate (Eric Peterson) who’s going blind. The two men come together in the bunker and minister to each others injuries, but the rush of the chemo treatment brings Jerry’s war home.

10 mins
Canada, 2023
Dir. Derek Dino Diorio
Language: English

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