Eyes Wide Open

A man who acknowledges a side of himself he's kept hidden for decades must decide between love, loyalty, and faith in this drama from filmmaker Haim Tabakman set in Jerusalem. Aaron (Zohar Strauss) is an orthodox Jew in his mid-thirties who helps run a kosher butcher shop opened by his father. Aaron is married to Rivka (Ravit 'Tinkerbell' Rozen) and they have four sons, but he often feels something is missing from his life. One day, a 19-year-old yeshiva student, Ezri (Ran Danker), stops by the shop; when Aaron learns Ezri is homeless, he offers to make the youngster his apprentice and gives him a room. Aaron and Ezri strike up a fast friendship, but in time their feelings become deeper, and during a communal bath they act on the desires that have been growing between them. Aaron finds himself torn between his loyalty to his family and his growing love for Ezri, and his dilemma becomes even more pointed when Rabbi Vaisben (Tzahi Grad) asks him to join him in his 'Purity Police' group, who pay threatening visits to people in the community who are falling short in the eyes of the congregation. EINAYM PKUTOT (aka EYES WIDE OPEN) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.