First Cousin Once Removed

“Heartbreaking, haunting, and unexpectedly heartening…a fusion of subject and filmmaker that is transcendent!”—Los Angeles Times

We’re thrilled to welcome acclaimed documentarian Alan Berliner to the Wexner Center as part of the 2014 Columbus Jewish Film Festival. First Cousin Once Removed is a deeply personal portrait of the filmmaker’s cousin and mentor, the poet and translator Edwin Honig. Berliner artfully and compassionately documents Honig’s journey through the ravages of memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. But even in this fragile mental state, Honig retains an enduring sense of play, a charming sense of humor, a sublime musicality, and the essential bearings of a poetic soul. A rare documentary that’s both devastatingly moving and masterfully directed. (79 mins., DCP)

Copresented with the Columbus Jewish Film Festival, Leventhal Visiting Artists Fund, Columbus Jewish Foundation, Ohio State Film Studies Program, and OSU Hillel.

Support for this screening provided by the Adrienne and Sidney Chafetz Wexner Center for the Arts Endowment Fund of the Columbus Jewish Foundation.