Watching: World to Come

Overview

A nightmarish premonition prompts the sudden return of a man named Doveed to his hometown where he confronts the neglect of its past and his own spiritual crisis. In the wake of a childhood friend’s suicide, he re-enters a religious community that is locked in a lingering standstill, ruined by the brutality of repression, and lost in the shadows of collective guilt. Ten years in the making, this film is loosely based on the tragic events that rocked Winnipeg’s Jewish community in the late ‘80s and ‘90s when the principal of prominent Jewish academy denied allegations of sexual abuse. This film is dedicated to Daniel Levin, one of the alleged victims who came forward with accusations, and who later committed suicide at the age of 17.