DAVID
Narrative | 80 min | USA | 2011 | Directed and written by Joel Fendelman & Patrick Daly
Synopsis
As the son of the Imam of the local Brooklyn mosque, eleven year-old Daud has to juggle the high expectations of his Father (Maz Jobrani) and his feelings of isolation and difference– even from his peers in the Muslim community. Through an innocent act of good faith, Daud inadvertently befriends a group of Jewish boys who mistake him as a fellow classmate at their orthodox school, in the neighboring Jewish community. A genuine friendship grows between Daud and Yoav, one of the Jewish boys, and his family. Unable to resist the joy of a camaraderie that he has never felt before, David, as he is known to the kids, is drawn into a complicated dilemma inspired by youthful deceit and the best of intentions.
DAVID is first and foremost a story of friendship between two boys. The film questions the boundaries of our cultures and religions, and looks at how static and yet fluid these boundaries can be. The film is not our attempt to provide answers to issues of prejudice, culture or religion – as they run far deeper than the scope of a film - but rather to raise questions in a different tone; ones we hope can help us better understand a little bit about each other, and ourselves.
“Bridging one of the world’s defining sociopolitical rifts one 11-year-old at a time…”