City Cinema: The Optimist

Drama. 14A, violence, mature themes.
Dir: Finn Taylor, US, 2026, 102 min.
Stephen Lang, Elsie Fisher, Luke David Blumm.

Audience Award Winner, Spokane International Film Festival.

Beautiful performances from Stephen Lang and Elsie Fisher anchor a tale of personal strength and sacrifice inspired by true events about a man harboring a haunting secret as a Holocaust survivor. Set in locations as disparate as Terezín, Prague, and the Avenue of the Giants drive in California’s Humboldt Redwoods State Park, this is an inspiring story about the transformative power of friendship and healing. For more than 50 years, Auschwitz survivor Herbert Heller kept his memories of the Holocaust secret — even from his wife and children. But when he meets Abbey, a troubled teen dealing with her own unspoken pain, Herbert decides it’s time to talk and finally open his heart. Through sharing their personal traumas, Herbert and Abbey become the unlikeliest of friends, allies in healing whose bond brings them a previously undiscovered sense of purpose. With stunning reenactments of Herbert’s struggles to survive during WWII, this touching film demonstrates that hope and redemption can come from anywhere if we’re open to it.