Films by Daniel Kremer

Ezer Kenegdo is a feature film that Kremer co-directs and co-stars with San Francisco Bay Area filmmaker Deniz Demirer (Nocturnal Jake, American Mongrel). The film tells the story of a Jew and a Pole who approach the spiritual and creative processes with a decidedly different pair of specs. Yisroel “Izzy” Jonigkeyt, a Brooklyn Lubavitcher Chassid on the threshold of marriage, travels to San Francisco to visit Marek Wisniewski, a Polish Catholic born in Warsaw. They intend to collaborate on a project that examines why art world iconoclast Harry Kierk intends to destroy his entire life’s work. As the visit progresses, Izzy and Marek discover for the first time that historical and cultural baggage is impinging on their curious friendship, which grows more and more tremulous with each passing day. Marek’s fragile relationship with his brusque and bigoted Americanized cousin Irek also begins to further obstruct his relationship with Izzy, as Irek also happens to be their only connection to Kierk. As they delve deeper into their project as a means to distance themselves from their growing interpersonal issues, Izzy and Marek begin to understand, in their own respective ways and through gradually getting a grasp on their own cultural arrogance, why Kierk is driven towards destruction.

100 minutes / 2017 / Color / HD24P with 35mm Adapter / 1.85:1

Written, Produced and and Directed by Deniz Demirer and Daniel Kremer; Directors of Photography Jeff Kao and Gustavo Ochoa

Starring Deniz Demirer (Marek Wisniewski), Daniel Kremer (Yisroel "Izzy" Jonigkeyt), Kris Caltagirone (Irek Stuhr), Rob Nilsson (Harry Kierk), Penny Werner (Minnie), Joshua Safdie (Levi), Menachem Mendel Azoulay (Mendy), Jeff Kao (Preacher Chen), William Cully Allen (Rabbi Spieler), K.J. Linhein (Rabbi Topin)

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About the Filmmaker

Daniel Kremer grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He lives in San Francisco and attended Temple University's film program in Philadelphia. In 2007, he completed his first feature Sophisticated Acquaintance (2007) and was presented with four Best Documentary prizes for Yarns To Be Spun on the Way to the Happy Home (2007), a personal essay film about having grown up with a severe stutter. His second feature A Trip to Swadades (2008), which was shot on black-and-white super-16mm film, won three Best Feature Film awards at international festivals. He then moved to New York City, where he lived for over six years.

He completed his acclaimed follow-up feature, The Idiotmaker's Gravity Tour, in 2011. The film was lensed predominantly in India and is distributed on Fandor. Subsequent to that, he directed Raise Your Kids on Seltzer (2015) and Ezer Kenegdo (2016) in the San Francisco Bay Area, using independent filmmaking icon Rob Nilsson's regular cast and crew. These films respectively feature Sundance Film Festival winner Joshua Safdie (Daddy Longlegs, Heaven Knows What) and cult-favorite actor Barry Newman (Vanishing Point, Petrocelli). Raise Your Kids on Seltzer is scheduled to premiere in New York and Los Angeles theaters in June 2016.

His first book, about the life and career of filmmaker Sidney J. Furie (The Ipcress File, Lady Sings the Blues, The Boys in Company C, The Entity), was published by University Press of Kentucky's Screen Classics Series in November 2015. The book was written with Furie's collaboration, under esteemed editor Patrick McGilligan. In conjunction with this book, he is also directing a full-length biographical documentary about Furie, entitled Sidney J. Furie: Fire Up the Carousel!. He is also in pre-production on a new feature drama called Precious Wheels Above, and is developing another, a musical based on the songs of departed Bay Area artist David Schickele.

His second book, currently being researched, developed and written, is the first to cover filmmaker Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street, Chilly Scenes of Winter, Crossing Delancey). With David Thomson and Tom Luddy, he is assisting in the editing of an anthology of Susan Sontag's writings on cinema.

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About the Filmmaker