Based her grandfather’s boyhood in St. Louis, Yasmin Gorenberg tells a story of the pain passed from refugee parents to their children and the hope that can overcome it. “40 Nickels” captures the image of a generation of immigrants to the United States in the 1920’s and 1930’s and through that spotlights the effects of the 1919 pogroms in Eastern Europe. This is a film about parents and children: how trauma never leaves a family, and how hope and resilience is also passed down. It asks the question: Can a new generation look at the world with wonder rather than fear?
Grayson Taylor
as Norm
Carole Foreman
as Bubbe
Te'ena Klein
as Ethel
Leo Grinberg
as Itzik
Catherine Ashmore Bradley
as Sarah
Kathleen Bernhard
as Street Person
Andy Boxold
as School Boy
Aubin Bradley
as Sarah's Sister
Lucas Cardona
as Ice Cream Man
Keira Coakley
as School Girl
Charles Goldfischer
as Street Person
Blake Goldstein
as Irv
