Boichik Bagels’ College Avenue location in Berkeley is the setting for a new short film about Alzheimer’s. “Lox” takes place as bagel-lovers greet each other and schmooze in a slow-moving morning bagel line. What appears to be a chance encounter between two strangers in line is slowly revealed to be something more.

“Lox” will be shown on the opening night of the East Bay International Jewish Film Festival on March 7 at 7 p.m. at the Century 16 theater in Pleasant Hill. It will screen alongside the festival’s opening feature film, “The Ring.”

“Lox” has already shown at 30 film festivals and won several awards, including best short film at the Bay Area & Sacramento Short Films Festival. It was originally staged as a one-act play at the 2023 Young Playwrights Festival in Los Angeles and was written by Leo Eigen, then 15, a student at Ramaz, the Jewish day school in New York City. 

The director is Dan Pavlik of Fremont, who is not Jewish but has filmed enough bar mitzvahs to feel confident with Jewish material. “This is a quintessential Jewish story, mostly because it’s about family and tradition — and also bagels,” he said, according to a press release from the EBIJFF. “But the issue, Alzheimer’s, also makes this film universal.”

In the film, a man encounters an elderly woman, seemingly a stranger, while waiting in line and strikes up a conversation with her. The woman, Ruth, is played by Bettina Devin, 74, who also produced “Lox.” When she saw the 13-minute film at another festival, “it was the only one that got any laughs, as well as tears,” she is quoted in the press release.

As the line inches forward, it becomes clear that Ruth is having memory problems. Eventually, the other shoe drops. (No spoilers!)

This year’s East Bay International Jewish Film Festival will feature 22 feature-length films, running from March 7 to 12 at the Century 16 in Pleasant Hill and at Vine Cinema in Livermore on March 22. An online component will be available from March 15 to 25. 

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