Debut feature director Jay Berman steers cast and crew through a typically tumultuous independent film "Home for Purim," an intimate period drama about a Jewish family's turbulent reunion on the occasion of the dying matriarch's favorite holiday. When Internet-generated rumors begin circulating that three of the film's stars--faded luminary Marilyn Hack, journeyman actor and former hot dog pitchman Victor Allan Miller, and ing?nue Callie Webb--may be perpetrating Award-worthy performances, a rumble of excitement rattles the cast. Once "Hollywood Now" anchors Chuck Porter and Cindy Martin pick up the buzz, Award fever infects the entire production. Unit publicist Corey Taft, talent agent Morley Orfkin, and producer Whitney Taylor Brown all smell the sudden potential for a sleeper hit. As does Sunfish Classics President Martin Gibb, who suggests some last-minute changes that he feels will broaden the film's appeal. Meanwhile, "Purim's" screenwriters, Lane Iverson and Philip Koontz, grow steadily more horrified as they watch the first film adaptation of their work diverge from their original story. As the hopeful "Purim" team careens toward the end of production and the upcoming Award season, tenuous relationships and brittle dreams play out in unexpected ways.

release year: 2006

star(s): Claire Forlani