For decades, Victor and Raya Frenkel were the ‘golden voices’ of the Soviet film industry, dubbing character voices for all major foreign films in the U.S.S.R. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, they decide to immigrate to Israel to find a better life, like thousands of their fellow Soviet Jews. Trouble is, what can they use their special skill set for, exactly, in this their new homeland?

Somehow, Raya finds her way into a profitable phone sex gig, while Victor gets involved with dubbing American films for the expat Russian community for a shady video piracy operation that soon comes under surveillance of the authorities. Pretty soon, the combination of living in a new country and these shabby, absurd new jobs will test the limits Victor’s and Raya’s longstanding marriage. Can they really integrate into this new world, and can their long marriage keep itself going?

Droll and deadpan, witty and wistful, Golden Voices is an appealing, bittersweet comedy about identity, alienation, the nature of love, and time’s passage. Winner of the Best Script award at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn in 2019.

- Tom McSorley

Screening

Sunday, March 14 - Monday, March 15