BABKA
In Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a newly blind Orthodox Jewish baker forms an unlikely friendship with a Queer Catholic Latino guide dog trainer and his devoted German Shepherd. As he learns to navigate the world anew with his four-legged companion, he embarks on an eye-opening journey to overcome personal and cultural barriers in his quest to reopen his beloved bakery and reconnect with his estranged daughter.
The Anne Frank Gift Shop, All the Empty Rooms, Marshall, Stargirl, Nana
Nana, M.U.B., Welcome, Babka (short), At See
Nana, M.U.B., Welcome, Babka (short), At See
Project Overview
Feature dramedy written and directed by Serena Dykman
Dogs, Jews, gays, and chocolate… What’s not to like?
BABKA is the feature adaptation of Serena Dykman’s Webby- and Humanitas Prize-nominated short film of the same name.
It stars SAUL RUBINEK (Warehouse 13, True Romance, Hunters) and two-time Tony-nominated actress BETSY AIDEM (Prayer for the French Republic, Leopoldstadt, Liberation). It is produced in partnership with Reboot Studios and Oscar-winning producer Jonathan Levin of Sustainable Imagination, with principal photography planned for January 2027 in New York and New Jersey.
The project has built partnerships across several communities, including the Hasidic community and The Seeing Eye, the oldest existing guide dog school in the world.
The short film and the feature screenplay have won numerous awards, played at 25+ film festivals, including Oscar qualifiers, and placed in prominent screenwriting competitions.
In Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Moishe is a stubborn baker in his seventies who is losing his sight and refuses to admit it. After a near-fatal accident, he reluctantly enters guide dog school. There he is paired with Bear, a German Shepherd, a breed with painful associations for many descendants of Holocaust survivors, and trained by Jesus, a loud, closeted Puerto Rican Catholic instructor. As Moishe learns to trust the dog, the trainer and his fellow classmates, he fights to save the babka bakery his mother built and to convince his not-so-dog-friendly community to accept his new two-legged and four-legged friends.
BABKA is a comedy about unlikely friendship and bridging worlds, smothered in chocolate and canine love.
Reach out to info@dyamantpictures.com for short film proof-of-concept screener, full deck, budget, and investment structure.
