An eccentric Hasidic Jewish bachelor, struggling to be matched for marriage, gets tempted by life in the outside world.
Awkward 25-year old Avi lives within a new Hasidic community on Canvey Island, a small seaside resort town in the Thames estuary. Every day is the same. He goes to synagogue, studies the Talmud, works with his dad, and in his spare time, plays keyboard for the community wedding band. He’s in the process of shidduch (the matching up of a man and a woman for marriage) stopping off at different houses and meeting prospective women. Problem is, no one wants to marry him. Women either find him too weird or too scrawny. Eventually he finds a match. But summer on Canvey Island is full of distractions and Avi strains against his roots as a forbidden world opens up for him.
The Team
Jonathan Schey (Writer/Director)
Jonathan is a writer/director based in London. He is a graduate of both the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers and Studio group programmes. His short films have screened at Academy / BAFTA- recognised festivals worldwide including his 2017 short THE ENTERTAINER which starred Toby Jones and was BIFA-nominated for Best British Short and won the Audience Award at Berlin British Shorts. He directed THE COACHES, produced by Warp Films for Sky Comedy. He is directing a BBC comedy pilot later this year and developing an original TV drama series for Kudos.
Website: www.jonathankschey.com
Twitter: @jonschey
You can watch a trailer for THE ENTERTAINER here:
Rachelle Constant (Producer)
Rachelle started at ITV as a Script Editor on ITV1’s Agatha Christie’s series MISS MARPLEand POIROT. She moved to the BBC to work as a Development Producer across Drama for the BBC Writersroom and produced two series of THE BREAK for BBC Three. Her first short film TWO DOSAS was met with critical acclaim, premiering at the BFI London Film Festival, and winning various awards, including Best Comedy at The London Short Film Festival and Oscar®-qualifying film festival, Aspen ShortFest. She also executive produced, Harry Lighton’s short film, WREN BOYS which went on to be BIFA and BAFTA nominated. Rachelle was the first producer selected for the BFI Flare Mentorship and is a recipient of a BFI Vision Award 3.
