Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

It’s an average day at an inner city high school in New York City… and the kids are excited about the auditions for the annual school musical. But everything comes to screeching halt when the tight-ass principal cuts their budget down to zero.  Bernstein, the director, is mortified, and his students are crushed. Until his grandpa comes up with a possible solution: gambling… but of a particular type. Apparently, there’s an underground card game at a secret location in Rego Park, where Chassids run a gambling den devoted to a game called yaniv… the same game Bernstein has played with his grandpa for years. And with the help of fellow teacher, card counter (and compulsive gambler) Jonah, maybe, just maybe, they can earn enough money to put on the play. But to make it work, Jonah will have to dress up like an actual Chassid, complete with fringes and prayer curls. Can they pull off the deception, and win enough money? Or is their downfall spelled Y-A-N-I-V?

Yaniv is also the name of a new film directed by Amnon Carmi and co-written by and starring Ben Ducoff. It’s a fish-out-of-water, madcap, high school comedy thriller — with a hint of romance — all set on the fringes of New York’s insular Chassidic community. Amnon Carmi is a filmmaker, animator and artist. Ben Ducoff is a dramatist, producer and performer. And they both teach at H.E.R.O. High School in the South Bronx.

I spoke to Amnon and Ben in New York City via ZOOM.

The film is having its Canadian Premiere at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, on June 6, at 7:30 pm at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema.