Tahara (2020)

Tahara is a miracle of an American indie film, especially a debut one. This tiny film — although not when it comes to its artistic substance — uses the hipster ratio size to show us not even a story, but a reflection following a teenage suicide in a Jewish school in Rochester, New York. Two classmates (one of them played by Rachel Sennott, one of the most exciting young comedians working today, who also starred in another important Jewish film of the year, Shiva Baby), who are friends — or more than just friends — are trying to process what happened. At the same time, their attitude towards the tragedy is quite heartless, for they are way more interested in their own sexual awakening and exploration of their sexuality. This story is also rich in Jewish context — in fact, it feels like one of the most original representations of the contemporary Jewish self-identity on screen. Tahara also uses screenlife and puppet animation sequences. In sum, it is a unique film, which did not appear at major film festivals only by oversight or because of some global injustice — though it was screened at the TIFF New Wave, the spin-off program at the Toronto Film Festival for young audiences.