Caras & Bocas

Jonah, Talia, and their four-year old daughter, Renny, move to Berlin to start over - only to find out that they might be able to escape Israel, but they can't escape themselves. Based on the real-life experiences of series creator, Dana Idisis, "Berlin Blues" is a nuanced comedy about the challenges of moving to a new city and the complexities of Israeli Jews relocating to the country that just decades ago orchestrated their persecution. Jonah - a classical musician and oboe player - has always dreamed of playing with a prestigious world orchestra. But instead, he finds himself nearing forty, working as a private music teacher, and feeling that there's no place for him as an oboe player in Israel. Jonah's sense of professional failure and resulting financial hardships rouse fantasies of relocating to Berlin, a privilege made possible by the German citizenship he inherited from his grandparents. He convinces his wife, Talia, to join him. As a writer, Talia happily embraces Jonah's request to move to Berlin, thinking she will find inspiration for her second book. The relocation is thrilling, and materializes precisely at the right time. But Berlin turns out to be far from what the couple had prophesied; while Jonah flourishes as a member of a German orchestra, Talia struggles to write and feel at home. "Berlin Blues" tackles trials and tribulations of moving to a new city, a new home, and making new friends in a country vastly different from one's own - a never-ending set of hurdles.