“Because all great men are Jewish: Woody Allen is Jewish, Spielberg is Jewish, Einstein is Jewish, Jean-Jacques Goldman is Jewish!”
After his divorce, Benjamin’s dad doesn’t want to leave his house without reminding his son of his true origins. His mother is a catholic, yes, but his father insists that the blood of the Jewish flows through his veins. From that moment on, Benjamin, who is still a child, assumes this new quality as if it were a superpower. Slowly he will realize that being a Jew is not as good as he imagined. And Benjamin, like Superman, tries to discover the origin of this supernatural quality.
This is a comedy about unfounded prejudices, the importance of choosing a religion or inheriting one, the weight of family tradition and, overall, respecting differences through the eyes of a child and how this will influence his growing up. The film has a delightful script, where Jimmy Bemon, director of this ironic and fun medium-length film, gives a twist to dialogues and events based on historical clichés.
The idea for Superman isn’t Jewish (… and I am, a bit) (Superman n’est pas juif (… et moi un peau)) originated from a graphic novel of the same name, published in 2013, that Bemon wrote in collaboration with illustrator Émilie Boudet. Bemon (1977) is a director and scriptwriter for film and television. Having studied at the Centre Européen d’Écriture Audiovisuelle (CEEA) in Paris, he directed his first short-film, L’espri touvert, in 2004. April fool’s death (Poisond’avril, 2006), his second film, received several awards in numerous festivals. Bemon is also the co-founder of the director and scriptwriter collective La Squadra.
Superman isn’t Jewish (… and I am, a bit), is the first medium-length film where Bemon, using some autobiographical references, laughs at serious matters… which might end up not being so serious after all.
This 30-minute-length is part of the Official Section of the 8th Edition of the International Medium-Length Film Festival La Cabina that will take place in November at the Filmoteca de Valencia.
SUPERMAN ISN’T JEWISH (… AND I AM, A BIT) | Jimmy Bemon · France · 2014 · 30 min