Private Project

The Boy in the Woods

The Boy in the Woods is a Holocaust survival story told through the eyes of Max, a young Jewish artist hiding and being hunted in the mythical, haunting forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. Based on the best-selling memoir by Canadian Holocaust survivor Maxwell Smart and inspired by the award-winning documentary Cheating Hitler: Surviving The Holocaust.

  • Rebecca Snow
    Director
    Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust
  • Rebecca Snow
    Writer
    Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust
  • Jonathan Bronfman
    Producer
    The Kid Detective, The VVitch, Race
  • Robert Budreau
    Producer
    Stockholm, Delia's Gone, Born to Be Blue
  • Andrew Bronfman
    Co-Producer
    My Animal, The Kid Detective
  • Jett Klyne
    Key Cast
    "Max"
    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, WandaVision
  • Richard Armitage
    Key Cast
    "Jasko"
    The Hobbit Series, Captain America: The First Avenger
  • Christopher Heyerdahl
    Key Cast
    "Police Chief Bagan"
    Stockholm, Togo
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 36 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 28, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    2,700,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Toronto International Film Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    September 9, 2023
    TIFF Industry Selects
  • Atlantic International Film Festival
    Halifax
    Canada
    September 19, 2023
  • Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival
    Sudbury
    Canada
    September 22, 2023
  • Forest City Film Festival
    London
    Canada
    October 17, 2023
    Best Feature Film Award Winner & Audience Award Winner
  • Durham Region International Film Festival
    Ajax
    Canada
    October 20, 2023
  • North Bay Film Festival
    North Bay
    Canada
    November 19, 2023
    Audience Choice Winner
  • Whistler Film Festival
    Whistler
    Canada
    December 1, 2023
    Borsos Award for Best Editing in a Feature Film Winner
  • Reel Canadian Film Festival
    Fernie
    Canada
    January 26, 2024
  • Victoria Film Festival
    Victoria
    Canada
    February 4, 2024
  • Toronto Jewish Film Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    June 2, 2024
    Toronto Premiere
  • Winnipeg Jewish Film Festival
    Winnipeg
    Canada
    June 11, 2024
    Mantioba Premiere
  • Oakville Festivals of Film & Art
    Oakville
    Canada
    June 23, 2024
    Oakville Premiere
Distribution Information
  • Photon Films
    Distributor
    Country: Canada
    Rights: All Rights
  • Myriad Pictures
    Sales Agent
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Rebecca Snow

Born in London England, Rebecca caught the film bug while working as researcher and script supervisor on a BBC drama series about ancient Rome. Since then, she has worked in both Los Angeles and Toronto with broadcast writing/directing credits that include NBC’s Emmy-nominated documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? CBC’s Nature of Things, and History Channel’s Hunting Nazi Treasure, Museum Secrets, Perfect Storms, and Hitler’s Last Stand. In 2018 she won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in her documentary Real Vikings: Viking Women. Her feature length documentary Pandora’s Box: Lifting the Lid on Menstruation had its world premiere at Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2020 and won the Alliance of Women Film Journalists Special Jury Award at Whistler Film Festival. Her first narrative feature, ‘The Boy In The Woods’ is based on the memoir of a Canadian Holocaust survivor who appeared in Rebecca’s 2019 feature-length documentary Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust. The documentary made world news and was nominated for 6 Canadian Screen Awards.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In 2019 I wrote and directed a feature-length documentary for History Channel about child survivors of the Holocaust. That is how I came across Montreal-based artist Maxwell Smart’s extraordinary survival story, and it became clear to me that the documentary was just the beginning. Max’s story has echoes of a terrible fairytale - an orphaned boy hiding in the woods, hunted by the darkest of forces. Friendships are forged, sacrifices made, and a childhood is lost. The film is about contrasts – love and hate, abandonment and protection, the beautiful cinematic, mystical forest landscape punctuated by the horrors of war. I was keen to weave in elements of Yiddish folklore and abstract expressionism throughout Max’s journey. The screenplay is adapted from Maxwell’s memoir ’The Boy In The Woods' (Harper Collins, 2021) which became a Canadian best-seller. Maxwell himself (now 92 years old) has been involved in the filmmaking process, and to help bring his story to the big screen has been the honour of a lifetime for me.