THE MEMORY THIEF
OREGON PREMIERE!
Directed by Gil Kofman
United States, 95 mins.
Drama
Saturday, 2:25 PM, Salem Cinema
Filmmaker Gil Kofman in Attendance!
For Lukas, the lines between past and present, history and memory, empathy and identity, self and other become irreparably blurred in playwright Gil Kofman’s haunting debut. The Memory Thief tells the story of a young man willing to sacrifice his life to daily humdrum. When a chance encounter with a Holocaust survivor opens his eyes to unimaginable memories, Lukas takes to heart the ways Jewish suffering has defined others, and his burgeoning fascination becomes a full-blown obsession. With frightening intensity, he embarks on an increasingly bizarre and disturbing quest to make himself over in the image of a survivor. Lukas doesn’t foresee that dwelling in the past can have a disastrous impact on the future. Kofman certainly does – the first-time director adeptly handles Lukas’ gradual descent into psychosis, weaving humor into pathos. The remarkable and refreshing sensitivity brought to this mesmerizing psychological thriller is evocative of the fanaticism portrayed in Taxi Driver.
Film Hosted by Salem CinemaFilmography: First Feature
Awards: Edmonton International Film Festival Best Digital Feature; Red Rock Film Festival Grand Jury Prize
Gil Kofman (Director)
Born in Nigeria and raised in Kenya, Israel, and NYC, Gil Kofman studied physics at Cornell before attending NYU Graduate Film School, and later getting an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. Kofman’s play American Magic, a dark political satire, was produced in NY, LA, and London with music by Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth and Richard Foreman playing the part of the President. Other plays were produced at CBGBs, Workhouse Theater, Adobe Theater in NYC plus other theaters in Canada and Chicago. Gil has also published short fiction in Gordon Lish’s The Quarterly and helped produce, edit and shoot the Sundance award Winning documentary Derrida.
