Son of a Seeker follows Kai Balin\u2019s search for where he fits within Judaism and Jewish community. <\/i>(still from Son of a Seeker)<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/i>Kai Balin\u2019s documentary Son of a Seeker<\/i>, which screened to a sold-out Rothstein Theatre last month,\u00a0is an official selection of the 2026 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, which will take place next April.<\/p>\n
The very personal work that follows Balin\u2019s search for where he fits within Judaism and Jewish community will be thought-provoking for viewers, generating questions about what religion, family and belonging mean to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my mother, sister and even my brother have a more innate sense of security in who they are and in who they are as Jews,\u201d Balin told the Independent<\/i>. \u201cMy dad and I, on the other hand, have a more complex identity. It makes it harder to fully \ufb01t in or feel completely rooted. However, I see it \u2013 and I know my dad does too \u2013 as a kind of blessing. It\u2019s ultimately who we are. And, while it comes with plenty of challenges, being a seeker is also a beautiful way to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balin dedicates the documentary to his grandparents, who survived the Holocaust. \u201cBut survival is not the same as security,\u201d he narrates in the film. \u201cMy father and I have spent our lives trying to understand what it means to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having grown up in a Jewish but not religious home, where his deeper questions were not answered, Balin\u2019s father, Jeffrey, began looking for answers elsewhere, notably, in Buddhism. And, while Balin\u2019s mother, Jennifer Shecter, grew up in a traditional Jewish family and attended Jewish school, \u201cbringing a strong sense of Judaism into the home wasn\u2019t a priority, but I knew I was a Jew,\u201d says Kai Balin in the film. \u201cAnd I got to create a version of Judaism that I owned and I loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The home video clips in the film highlight this love. As a child, Balin plays at being a rabbi, wants to be one when he grows up. But, over the years, he loses this connection, just as his father begins to return to Judaism. How the father and son negotiate their respective paths, while being respectful of the other\u2019s journey, is a key aspect of the documentary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I \ufb01rst started making Son of a Seeker, I had no idea what the title would be, or even what the story really was,\u201d said Kai Balin. \u201cI knew I wanted to explore Judaism and what it means to be Jewish, but I didn\u2019t expect it to become so personal. Early on, I interviewed a few dozen Jewish people from across the spectrum on camera. But, in the end, I realized I wanted this \ufb01lm to be something much more intimate.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad initially thought he\u2019d just be one of many voices in the \ufb01lm. He didn\u2019t expect to become such a central \ufb01gure in the story. It pushed him far beyond his comfort zone, but he ultimately believed in the project and gave me his full blessing to be a part of my documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balin\u2019s sister, Justine, and brother, Jackson, are also in the film, his brother in the background, while his sister is featured more prominently.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister was my right-hand woman throughout the entire process \u2013 I truly couldn\u2019t have made this \ufb01lm without her,\u201d said Balin. \u201cShe \ufb01lmed what\u2019s arguably the most important scene in the movie, when I\u2019m walking through the town where our grandfather was born and raised until he was sent away to a forced labour camp and had everything taken from him and his family. My sister also spent countless hours in the editing room, helping make the tough calls about what to cut and what to keep. Without her input, the \ufb01lm would\u2019ve easily been two hours long and a lot less focused.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy whole family really stood behind me on this project,\u201d he said. \u201cThey gave me the strength, courage and con\ufb01dence to see it through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balin came to filmmaking somewhat organically.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was studying kinesiology at Western University. After my second year, I worked on an indie \ufb01lm, Volition<\/i>, as part of the swing crew, helping with lighting and grip. Later that summer, I was the program director at Camp Hatikvah (2017), where the videographer\/photographer, Denis Lipman, brought some super cool gear\u2026. Right before my third year, I bought a camera \u2013 and, from then on, I started dedicating less and less time to what I was actually studying, and more time learning how to shoot and edit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was running a nonpro\ufb01t at school that threw club and bar events for local charities, and the \ufb01rst video I ever made was a recap of one of those nights,\u201d said Balin. \u201cI started getting more involved on campus and around the city (London, Ont.), looking for any chance to shoot videos.<\/p>\n \u201cMy \ufb01rst paid gig was \ufb01lming a club event that featured a guy in a robot suit on stilts. I was also on the rugby team, so I made a few hype-up videos for them whenever I was injured (which was quite a bit). Over the last two years at my time in university, I got more invested in videography and less focused on kinesiology. I ended up shooting videos for all sorts of events and student clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduating, Balin pursued videography full time. Not wanting to make corporate videos, he started making a documentary about his dad\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a leadership development coach working mostly with heads of NGOs and social enterprises,\u201d explained Balin. \u201cI lined up a plan to travel to different countries, mostly in East Africa and India, to \ufb01lm these organizations and their leaders. I started shooting, but I didn\u2019t have a clear direction. Eventually, I lost the passion for the project \u2013 and for \ufb01lmmaking altogether. I just wanted to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n It would be almost five years before Balin made another video.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took about three months to put My 5 Year Video Project<\/i> together \u2013 I wasn\u2019t working any other job at the time \u2013 and we held a small premiere in August 2024 with around 70 people,\u201d he said about the film, which can be seen on YouTube.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t expect people to be so moved by what I had created,\u201d he said. \u201cThat experience gave me the con\ufb01dence to pursue my next \ufb01lm project. At the time, it was just a rough idea, and I had no clue it would eventually become something so personal \u2013 and so deeply centred around my father\u2019s story as well.\u201d<\/p>\n But, for Balin, it\u2019s the personal aspects of art, films and books that draw him in, \u201ceven if I can\u2019t directly relate to what the creator is going through,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember hearing years ago, from a few directors I really respect, that you ultimately have to make the \ufb01lm for yourself \u2013 something you\u2019d enjoy watching a hundred times over, and something that excites you to work on every day.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, that excitement comes from sharing something personal. It\u2019s my life, my questions, my struggles, and I \ufb01nd them interesting. So maybe others will too.\u201d<\/p>\n As for what comes next, Balin said, \u201cOne side of me just wants to let the river \ufb02ow, follow life as it comes without getting too attached to any future outcomes. But the other side of me dreams of being a famous, successful \ufb01lmmaker making big-budget movies. There\u2019s still something in me that maybe wants to be a rabbi one day as well.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI know my relationship with Judaism will continue to evolve, but, for now, I\u2019ve found a sense of peace. I feel like I have a steady relationship with it, and I\u2019m much more secure in who I am as a Jew than I was when I started this \ufb01lm.<\/p>\n \u201cThese days,\u201d Balin said, \u201cI \ufb01nd myself seeking something else: my soulmate. That might even be the focus of my next documentary \u2013 exploring the journey to \ufb01nd \u2018the one\u2019 \u2013 if that concept even exists.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Son of a Seeker follows Kai Balin\u2019s search for where he fits within Judaism and Jewish community. (still from Son of a Seeker) Kai Balin\u2019s documentary Son of a Seeker, which screened to a sold-out Rothstein Theatre last month,\u00a0is an official selection of the 2026 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, which will take place next April. 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