The Leo Baeck Institute London is delighted to invite you to a special double‑feature online screening from the LBI Film Club, available free of charge for one week beginning Monday, 19 January 2026. Subscribe to be notified about more FREE Film Club films by visiting https://lbilondon.ac.uk/mailing-list/ and selecting LBI Film Club
This latest programme brings together two films that explore Jewish lives and histories in countries not usually associated with Judaism - Algeria and Ireland. Each expands the geographic imagination of Jewish experience, showing how memory, identity, and belonging take root in diverse and unexpected places.
LBI Film Club – Double Feature: The Blond Boy from the Casbah (2023) & Hannah Cohen’s Holy Communion (2013
📅 Screening available: 19–26 January 2026
🎬 Watch on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/7thartreleasing/lbil-bbc?share=copy
The Blond Boy from the Casbah
(Alexandre Arcady, France, 2023)
In this lyrical reflection on childhood and identity, filmmaker Antoine returns to his birthplace, Algiers, with his young son. Retracing his memories amid the city’s winding streets and post‑independence echoes, he reveals the warmth and contradictions of Jewish life on the cusp of Algerian independence. Based on the real-life experience of the film’s director, Alexandre Arcady, this film is a meditation on home, heritage, and the enduring pull of memory which brings to light a world rarely portrayed on screen.
The veteran Filmmaker’s The Blond Boy from The Casbah premiered in 2025 and has since featured to great acclaim in numerous major Jewish film festivals across America.
Director: Alexandre Arcady
Producer: Alexandre Arcady / Diane Kurys
Screenwriter: Alexandre Arcady
Cast: Leo Campion, Marie Gillain, Patrick Mille and many others
Production: Godolphin Films S.A., Alexandre Films, Tunisian International Studios, New Light Films
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Language: French with English sub-titles
Run-time: 2hrs 8mins
🎬 Watch on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/7thartreleasing/lbil-hch?share=copy
Hannah Cohen’s Holy Communion
(Shimmy Marcus, Short Film, Ireland, 2012)
Set in 1970s Dublin, spirited seven‑year‑old Hannah Cohen is determined to make her First Holy Communion—though, as she soon learns, being Jewish comes with its own surprises. Told with humour and gentle insight, this short film offers a touching portrait of Jewish life in Ireland and the universal wish to belong.
Filmmaker Shimmy Marcus’ charming short film was nominated for the Cork International Film Festival Grand Prix Irish in 2013 and was the 2014 winner of the Washington Jewish Film Festival Audience Award.
Director: Shimmy Marcus
Writer: Lana Citron
Cast: Lucy Sky Dunne, Elaine Cassidy, Jim Sheridan, Susie Power.
Music: Brian Byrne
Production: Let’s Not Lose It Productions, Underground Films (Ireland)
Genre: Short Film
Run time: 13 minutes
Language: English
🎬 Watch on Vimeo: Check back here for the link on January 19
Both films will be available to view free of charge for one week.
We are most grateful to Eunice Tan and 7th Art Releasing for their kind support in making this screening possible.
Enjoy the films!
