Lies My Father Told Me

Our very special Q&A guests this week, Hila and Gerry Feil, have spent much of their last four years, rescuing that treasure, Lies My Father Told Me from celluloid ravages of age and neglect. And will tell us how they went about this ressurection.

The project began in 2005, when producer Harry Gulkin screened a 35mm theatrical print of "Lies My Father Told Me for Gerald and Hila. Even with the best projection facilities, the image and sound had badly deteriorated. And so began a four year effort. Although the Feils are not film restorers, with a combination of experience and skills, they set to work, Hila as a film researcher, writer, Gerry as a director- cinematographer.


Celluloid disintegrates. Nitrate movies are particularly threatened (in 1967, the entire NFBs nitrate collection spontaneously combusted in the middle of he night. In 1980, the Cinématheque in Paris lost an entire warehouse as well). Most of the film stock from the silent period has disintegrated, and hundreds of original prints have been lost.

A Very Brief Introduction to our Guests:

GERALD FEIL joined the New York Filmmakers group in 1959 (Robert Drew, Richard Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker, the Maysles and Mitch Bogdanowicz) -- the group responsible for revolutionary camera and sound techniques for the Cinema Verite" documentaries.
In 1961 Gerry worked with Brook as "independent second director," cinematographer, film editor, sound designer and associate producer on "Lord of the Flies" He was Director of Filmed Sequences and Director of Photography for the ABC Network “”AFRICA” (Emmy and Peabody awards.) In 1999 he supervised the photographic restoration and telecine transfer for the Criterion Collection DVD of then deteriorated "Lord of the Flies." Gerald Feil is a Life Member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, an active member of the American Society of Cinematographers the Directors Guild of America and the International Cinematographers Guild.

HILA FEIL began her film career in 1962 as a negative matcher and a film researcher. At CBS she was a assistant film editor for "The 20th Century" series with Walter Cronkite. She has written four books of fiction for young adults, translated Shel Silverstein’s classic “The Giving Tree” into French. Together, Hila and Gerry collaborated on a nine month long film expedition into unexplored regions of Papua New Guinea, aired as a prime time special on the NBC .

Lies My Father Told Me (1975, Canada, 104 mins) Directed by Ján Kadár

This heart-warming film set in the 1920’s Montreal is seen primarily through the eyes of David, a grandson who lives with his Canadian-born parents, his Grandfather Zaida, a junk peddler (who emigrated from Russia), and Zaida’s aging horse, Ferdeleh. David’s father, a man of science, dreams of striking it rich by designing unique inventions. Zaida, on the other hand, works hard for his living. Intuitively, David responds to his Zaida's love, travels the back alleys of author Ted Allan’s Montreal with Zaida and his horse Ferdeleh and carriage. Zaida answers all of David’s questions about the world in terms of the Creator and the miracles that he performs. But this winter there are no miracles to spare David the pains of growing up.

The film’s screenplay, by eminent Montreal writer/playwright Ted Allan, is based on his autobiographical short story, ‘Lies My Father Told Me’. The film was directed by Czech filmmaker Ján Kadár (winner of the 1965 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film for ‘The Shop on Main Street’). ‘Lies My Father Told Me’ was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, won the 1976 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Jeffrey Lynas who played young David was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor. It won six Canadian Film Awards (today’s Genies) in 1976. The film stars Yossi Yadin as Zaida, Jeffrey Lynas as David, Len Birman as David’s father and Marilyn Lightstone as David’s mother, with screenwriter Ted Allan playing the role of the revolutionary tailor, Mr. Baumgarten.























Ted Allan & Harry Gulkin

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Ce film touchant se déroule dans la communauté des immigrants juifs des années 1920, passe principalement par le regard de David, le petit-fils. Ce dernier vit avec secs parents nés au Canada, son grand-père Zaïda, un brocanteur venu de Russie, et le vieux cheval de ce dernier, Ferdeleh. Le père de David est l’homme de son époque: matérialiste et moderne, il rêve de devenir riche en signant des inventions originales. Par contre, Zaïda est un homme modeste qui trime dur, tout en attendant patiemment l’arrivée du Messie. David répond spontanément á l’amour de son grand-père. Ensemble, tous les dimanches, ils écument les ruelles de Montréal dans la charrette tirée par Ferdeleh. Zaïda s’ingénie á répondre á toutes les questions que lui pose David sur le monde, son Créateur et ses miracles. Mais, cet hiver-là, nul miracle ne viendra épargner á David la dure réalité du monde des adultes.

Lies My Father Told Me est un classique du cinéma canadien qui réchauffe le cœur. Se déroulant dans le Montréal des années 1920, le film porte un regard sur la vie des immigrants juifs venus s'établir dans la métropole québécoise. Sensible et écrit avec intelligence, le drame s'articule autour de la relation affectueuse qu'entretiennent un jeune garçon de six ans et son grand-père orthodoxe, qui lui raconte de multiples histoires. Conçu par l'éminent auteur et dramaturge Ted Allan, le scénario est une adaptation d'une nouvelle autobiographique écrite par celui-ci, également intitulée Lies My Father Told Me.

Réalisé par le cinéaste tchèque Ján Kadár, lauréat d'un Oscar (Le Miroir aux alouettes), le film a reçu une nomination pour l'Oscar du meilleur scénario original et a gagné en 1976 le Golden Globe du meilleur film étranger. Jeffrey Lynas, qui interprétait le rôle du jeune David, a reçu une nomination pour le Golden Globe accordé à la meilleure performance d'acteur dans un rôle de soutien. Le film a aussi remporté en 1976 six prix du Palmarès du film canadien (prix Génie d'aujourd'hui). La distribution comprend Len Birman, Marilyn Lightstone, Jeffrey Lynas et Yossi Yadin, de même que le scénariste lui-même, dans le rôle d'un tailleur révolutionnaire.
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My thanks to our friends (esp. Ezra) at the Segal Centre for allowing me to borrow their text, pix and translation of Lies.