Daniel Finkelman is a director, producer and founder of
Sparks Next, a boutique production house based in New York.
Daniel has produced and directed a variety of feature length films,
shorts, Music Videos, documentaries, and commercials.
He has received industry wide recognition in the Best
First Film category at the Independent Spirit Awards
for producing “Menashe,” which premiered at the Sundance and
Berlinale film festivals in 2017.
Daniel’s latest film “The Vigil,” which he Executive Produced, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2019.
Director Statement
Cecelia Margulis, a musician and composer, met Benaya’s mother a few years after her sons passing. Having lost so many of her own family to the Holocaust as well as being the proud grandmother to an IDF soldier, Cecelia was deeply moved and inspired by the writings of this young soldier.
Resolved, Cecelia dedicated her own creative talents to memorialize Benaya in song and film.
This artistic play of light, shadow, and dance, set to an original composition is a living tribute to Benaya and the young heroes of the IDF who proudly embody the Jewish legacy of survival and thriving in their homeland unto the present.
Experimental Film & Music Video Festival 
