Long Island Jewish
Film Festival
ONCE UPON MY MOTHER
Friday, April 17th at 7 PM
& Sunday, April 19th at 1 PM
$20 Public | $13 Members
Programmed by David Schwartz, Independent Curator & Writer
“God
couldn’t be everywhere, so he created mothers,” wrote Rudyard Kipling. Add the
word “Jewish” before mothers, and you’ll get a taste of Once Upon My Mother,
Ken Scott’s vibrant new adaptation of Roland Perez’s memoir about his childhood
and coming of age with a clubfoot, and the miraculous care he received from his
mother Esther, determined against everyone’s advice that Roland will lead
an extraordinary life. A lively and moving period set in Paris in the world of
a Sephardic family from the 1960s to the 2010s, the film tells an incredibly
true story that surprisingly focuses on Roland’s obsession with the singer and
actress Sylvie Vartan. (France/Canada, 2025,
102 mins, French with English subtitles | Dir. Ken Scott)
“The movie belongs to Leïla Bekhti, a young actress who
truly captures the essence of this kind of over-the-top but caring
matriarch…her Esther Perez truly belongs in the pantheon of on-screen Jewish
mothers.” -Hannah Brown, The Jerusalem Post
