Film encourages audiences to tick off bucket list
After receiving a distressing tumour diagnosis, Joshua Belinfante was told to stop, stay inside, and do nothing. Instead, he filmed a documentary. The AJN spoke to the NSW-based filmmaker about The World's Best Film.
Josh Belinfante recognises that storytelling is ingrained in Jewish tradition. Whether it’s stories told around a Pesach seder table or hearing tales from relatives delving into the family history, Belinfante has been enamoured with storytelling since he can remember.
It was his Academy trip to Israel in 2007 that really set the wheels in motion. Borrowing his father’s camcorder, he documented his experience visiting the country, with his film winning a competition and landing Belinfante a ticket to the American Jewish Committee’s Annual conference in Washington DC, where he says he rubbed shoulders with all kinds of world leaders.
But in 2014, at the age of 24, Belinfante received some devastating news, which he vividly recalls with precise detail.
“I remember coughing for weeks, I remember trying to run and not being able to breathe. I remember requesting doctors complete a chest x-ray and being prescribed antibiotics and a pat on the back,” he said. “I remember joking around with the radiographer as I went in for what was thought to be a routine x-ray and listening to the change in her tone of voice when she said ‘We’re going to do a CT scan now.’”
Belinfante was told he would need to have surgery and then matter-of-factly told that there was a chance of death. Despite his mother and father sitting beside him and the doctor in front of him, he said the silence was deafening.
“In that moment all I could hear was ringing in my ears and I was confronted smack bang with my mortality.”
He credits Associate Professor Phillip Spratt, from whom he got a second opinion about his options, for saving his life. And then he promptly took that new life and did amazing things with it.
“It was when I was on the road to recovery that I began to think about what it means to pursue an honest living and to follow your dreams,” he recalled. “My mind wandered to my childhood dreams of being an actor, of being a director … to those thoughts instilled in me from an early age of achieving something great, of being the best that you can be. With my new lease on life, I wanted to take a risk, I wanted to make the world’s best film that I could.”
Eight months after his surgery, Belinfante set out to speak to people all around the world who were striving to be the best at what they chose to do, whether that was town planning or grilling bananas.
The World’s Best Film has since screened at more than 18 festivals around the world and has received several awards.
Filmed over five years across three continents and 10 countries, it features a cast of 13 memorable individuals, each with their own story to share about being the best. When asked about his most memorable moment during filming, Belinfante doesn’t hesitate to answer.
“One moment that jumps out was filming Kurt Fuchs, a 94-year-old survivor of Auschwitz. He was a true larrikin, a wonderful friend and a legend that I am happy we were able to film and document for his family.”
With The World’s Best Film, Belinfante hopes to encourage viewers to follow through on the things they’ve been putting off, no matter how quirky the dream.
“I hope this film is proof that if you have an idea and a passion for something that you can make it possible,” he said. “I made this film for those people, to celebrate the achievements of people we might not usually hear from and about.”
The World’s Best Film is available on SBS on Demand.
In Sydney, a special Q&A screening will take place on February 9 at Randwick Ritz. For tickets: ritzcinemas.com.au
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