A holocaust survivor simultaneously battles the past and present in filmmaker Nicholas Paskhover’s short, Dance with Me. Running fifteen minutes long, this emotionally-charged drama explores the complicated layers of memory. Inspired by the filmmaker’s personal experience, Dance With Me tells a tender story of hope and the everlasting power of music.

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On

Sasha (Elya Baskin), a Holocaust survivor, cannot escape his past. His dementia causes him to struggle in his ability to distinguish memory from reality, including vivid flashbacks to his traumatic childhood in 1941. His wife, Anya (Laraine Newman), does her best to bring Sasha back to the present moment, but his rapidly declining condition proves challenging. Sasha’s increase in confusion results in one particularly terrifying situation, when he mistakes Anya for an enemy and draws a gun in self-defense.

However, Anya is a patient woman and sees the light behind Sasha’s eyes, confident that he is not lost for good. To spark his memory and bring him back to reality, Anya plays music from their past. Her idea works; cutting through the noise and confusion from his dementia, Sasha–without hesitation–begins to dance with his wife of many decades.

Watch a Teaser of Dance With Me here

Bringing the script to life are the phenomenal performances from the co-leads. Elya Baskin evokes such a sympathetic reaction, while Laraine Newman’s resilience acts as a nice counterweight. Their chemistry rings authentic and deeply real. Filmmaker Nicholas Paskhover crafts a haunting story that encourages audience introspection. Remembrance and identity are core themes that Paskhover is able to effortlessly articulate throughout the film, especially in the script. A project that is so personal to him, there is an extra layer of vulnerability that you can viscerally feel.

Director’s Statement

“When my grandfather Boris was nine, he was sent to the concentration camp at Pechora, in Romanian-occupied Ukraine. He said goodbye to his mother and his sisters and never saw them again. Most of the people who died there died of hunger. He escaped with his father and his brother, and the three of them were separated soon after. He rarely talked about any of it.

The dementia brought those traumatic yet formative childhood memories back, fueling episodes and nights he’d wake up screaming. My grandmother Maya was married to him for more than fifty years. They went through so much together and my grandfather loved to spoil her rotten. When the disease took over, she had to watch him forget her while he drifted in and out of his traumatic past. I wondered what that must have been like, both for him and for her. Dance with Me became my way of honoring them both.” – Nicholas Paskhover

Takeaway

Difficult subject matter often makes for compelling stories, and this is true in Dance With Me. The film recently premiered at the 2026 LA Shorts International Film Festival.