Tickling Leo

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film |name = Tickling Leo |image = Tickling-leo.jpg |caption = Theatrical release poster |director = Jeremy Davidson |producer = Mary Stuart Masterson Steven Weisman Peter C.B. Masterson Paul Schnee Jeremy Davidson |writer = Jeremy Davidson |starring = Lawrence Pressman Daniel Sauli Annie Parisse Eli Wallach Ronald Guttman Victoria Clark |music = Abel Korzeniowski |cinematography = Peter Masterson |released = {{Film date|2009|9|4|U.S. limited}} |runtime = 91 minutes |country = United States |language = English }} '''Tickling Leo''' is a 2009 independent drama film about three generations of a Jewish family whose silence about their past has kept them apart. The film was directed by Jeremy Davidson, and stars Lawrence Pressman, Daniel Sauli, Annie Parisse, Eli Wallach, Ronald Guttman and Victoria Clark.

==Plot== When Zak and his girlfriend Delphina visit his estranged father in the Catskills, they find him suffering from dementia and inadvertently uncover a dark family secret from World War II: an impossible sacrifice Zak's grandfather (Eli Wallach) made to join Rudolph Kasztner's controversial freedom train out of Hungary.

==Cast== *Lawrence Pressman as Warren Pikler *Daniel Sauli as Zak Pikler *Annie Parisse as Delphina Adams *Sarah Wikenczy as Yuth Mother *Sebastian Wikenczy Thomsen as Child *Jonathan Valackas as Reuvan Ben Amir *Ed Setraklan as Oscar Szoras *Gabor Szucs as Oscar's Grandson *Orsoja Simon as Woman in Bar *Alexander Grech III as Bartender *Jack as Yorrie *Grey Rabbit Puett as Young Warren *Ronald Guttman as Robert Pikler *Victoria Clark as Madeline Pikler *Lara Apponyi as Rivka Pikler *Bern Cohen as Yosef Gottlieb

==Release== ''Tickling Leo'' screened at the Stony Brook Film Festival on July 25, 2009 and then opened in Manhattan, Queens and on Long Island Theaters on September 4, 2009 with a simultaneous DVD release. The film continued on to play to audiences in NorthEast, Florida and California.

===Critical reception=== On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 33% based on reviews from 15 critics, with an average rating of 4.5/10.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tickling Leo (2009)|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216820-tickling_leo|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Flixster|accessdate=August 17, 2021}}</ref>

===Awards=== *'''2009 Jury Award for Best Feature'''- 2009 Stony Brook Film Festival<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.stonybrook.edu/newsroom/press-release/general/080509formyfather/|title=Stony Brook Festival Winners 2009|date=5 August 2009 |accessdate=August 17, 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.ticklingleothemovie.net/}} *{{IMDb title|1105519}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tickling Leo}} Category:2009 drama films Category:2009 films Category:American drama films Category:2009 English-language films Category:2009 American films Category:English-language drama films Category:Films scored by Abel Korzeniowski