I NDEPENDENT STREAK M AGAZI NE Oct ober / Novem ber 2021
Fi l m Rev i ew : " Box ed" By Rachel Gal vin Flipping through pages of a timeworn diary, Leah Stronski (played by Laurel Levey) recalls moments in her life, sharing them with the audience in the short fictional film ?Boxed.? She has overcome a lot in her years, including enduring the horrors of The Holocaust, along with her husband, Dovid (Avi Hoffman). We see the couple cramped in a boxcar with their son, Shlomo (Alex Coren) on their way to a concentration camp. Amid the desolation and trepidation of the moment, there is a spark of hope as Dovid asks Leah to dance. Once professional dancers, now all that seems left of their life is a box with carefully protected dance shoes. Leah is unsure whether this dark space is the right place to engage in such once joyful activity, but Dovid's nudging gets her to change her mind. Hand in hand, despite fear and uncertainty, the couple holds onto what dignity and sense of identity they can, comforted by their connection and love. We see moments showing how they lived a life full of faith and happiness before everything fell apart when the Third Reich tore apart their lives. The story ends on a high note but with a touch of sadness, leaving the audience unsure of exactly what befell the couple. Luckily, the director announced after the film's first screening, that there will be a part two, called ?Escape,? followed by a part three, still unnamed, to tell the rest of the tale. ?Boxed?was shown at Savor Cinema on September 25 to the biggest audience since COVID-19 began, approximately 200 people. As many people congregated on the patio outside, enjoying catered boxed meals by Lenore Ryan Noland, inside, Steffan Zeichner was already playing violin, welcoming people into the theater. Local actress, 1 singer and comedienne Stacey Steele was the night's emcee and
introduced director Alyn Darnay and movie creator and star Laurel Levey, who said a few words. Managing Director of Broward County Film, Hal Axler, who has returned to work at Savor and help operate the other sister theaters ? Cinema Paradiso-Hollywood and Gateway Cinema-- also got up and spoke, marveling on the crowd and how good it was to get together. Before the movie was shown, there was a video of John Lux, from Film Florida, talking about how the film was selected to receive funds from their Emerging Filmmakers Fund, which began this year. Levey's production company, Shemesh Films, was actually the first recipient.In addition, two trailers were shown -- ?Unsaintly Gods,? by Jerome Anthony Larkin, and ?Mob King,? by Ciro Dapagio. Before the film began, Darnay said, "You guys have this wonderful freedom we enjoy in the U.S. But what would happen if it were all taken away from you? Because in Germany in the 1930s, that's exactly what happened. The Jews were preyed upon ... basically because the German economy [was bad] and the people who were in charge of the government had to blame somebody, and they blamed the Jews. They stopped them from being able to have careers. They stopped them from having shops, everything." He added that he does not believe something like that would happen here; we would catch it in time, but adds that it is "a cautionary tale," adding that he wants everyone to understand that "although our story is a fantasy, the actual events did really happen." This is Darnay's second Holocaust film. The first one, "IM.MU.IN.TY," received awards all over the world. Darnay is not only a prolific director, but also actor, author, writer and acting teacher.
