Who directed the 1981 film adaptation of Chaim Potok’s novel The Chosen?

Jeremy Kagan directed the 1981 film adaptation of The Chosen.

The film translates Chaim Potok’s novel about Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders to the screen. Its story centers on friendship, Jewish religious life, father-son expectations, and the tension between inherited tradition and modern intellectual interests.

Kagan’s film is sometimes confused with other Jewish coming-of-age productions. Paul Weiland directed Sixty Six, the 2006 comedy about Bernie Rubens, while Joel and Ethan Coen directed A Serious Man, whose story includes a bar mitzvah. These are separate films with different directors and settings.

The 1981 adaptation features Barry Miller as Danny Saunders and Maximilian Schell as Reb Saunders. Knowing the director helps distinguish the production from later adaptations and from films that merely share themes of Jewish family and adolescence.