French-Jewish director discusses Jewish identity, October 7, antisemitism and his family’s Holocaust legacy as Colors of Time arrives in Israel, while reflecting on comedy, cinema and Hollywood’s crisisAmir Kaminer, Paris|When French-Jewish director Cédric Klapisch showed his father his debut film, a short based on experiences he had as a student in New York, the first thing his father said was: “This film is so Jewish.” “My father was surprised because, according to him, he had not passed on too many Jewish values to me, so how had my film turned out so Jewish?” Klapisch said when I interviewed him recently in Paris.“In fact, all the directors who influenced me throughout my career were Jewish: Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers, Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch. You realize all these people have one thing in common, and it's strange. You could say the humor in my films is Jewish. 7 View gallery Cédric Klapisch(Photo: Kristy Sparow/2025 Getty Images)"I am not a religious person and I did not grow up in a religious home. My two parents, probably because they hid in France during World War II, became communists, clashed with their own parents and really did not want to be religious, certainly not after the war and its horrors. “So I did not grow up in a religious home, but you know how it is: you are Jewish even if you do not go to synagogue. And that Jewishness finds its way into my films.”How? Give me an example.