Yankele Bride, a mysterious Shoah survivor with a scarred face, is a matchmaker specializing in hard-to-match clients. A teenaged prank gone wrong brings him to 16-year-old Arik's apartment, where the teen is chagrined to discover that Yankele and his father were childhood friends back in Romania. Impressed with Arik's ability at trickery, Yankele hires him as an assistant. Set in Haifa in the summer of 1968, The Matchmaker is a tender story of love, loss and survival in the aftermath of the Second World War, told through the eyes of a teenage boy. Director Avi Nesher plumbs a pivotal time in Israeli history, where an embryonic society still reeling from the memory of trauma is beset by the cultural-sexual upheaval of the sixties. More than just an exploration of a fledgling country finding its feet, The Matchmaker is an enchanting coming-of-age story about the manifold incarnations of friendship and love.
Awards and nominations: Nominated Best Feature at 2010 Israeli Film Academy Awards.Won Best Actor and Best Actress at 2010 Israeli Film Academy Awards.