INTIMATE STRANGER is the story of my grandfather Joseph Cassuto, a Palestinian Jew raised in Egypt whose lifelong passion for Japan created confusion and conflict in his post-World War II Brooklyn home. What emerges is a curious legacy - admiration and love from his Japanese business associates; resentment from his family. Depending on who you ask, my grandfather was either a romantic adventurer or a shirker of family responsibility; a man at the center of historic events or a nobody. INTIMATE STRANGER walks the fine line between sorting the dirty family laundry and polishing the precious family jewel.

Awards: First Prize Blue Ribbon, American Film/Video Festival; First Prize Nonfiction, USA Film Festival; Special Jury Award, Cinema du Reel, Paris; Special Jury Citation, Black Maria Film and Video Festival; Audience Award, SF Int?l Film Festival.

Exhibition: NY; Sundance Film Festival; Cinema du Reel, France; Jerusalem; London; Rotterdam; Yamagata, Japan; Wellington, New Zealand; SF; Miami; Denver; LA; Philadelphia; USA Film Festival, Dallas; Margaret Mead; Black Maria Film and Video Festival; Citylore.