The Optimist (2026)
Overview
Herbert Heller keeps his experience as a teenage boy surviving in Auschwitz hidden from his family. Until he meets Abby, a young teenager whose own brush with pain and death inspires him to open up as well, leading the two of them to exchange their stories as a meaningful and healing friendship is born.
Cast
Stephen Lang
Herbert Heller
Elsie Fisher
Abbey
Luke David Blumm
Young Herbert Heller
Robin Weigert
Ruth
Leah Pipes
Jane
Ben Geurens
Gabe
Ursula Parker
Sabrina
Slavko Sobin
Herbert's Father
Stella Stocker
Herbert's Mother
Oskar Hes
Hein Heller
Stephanie Heiner
Linda
Josh Schell
Cop
Jake Lucas
Centurion (uncredited)Recommendations
The House on Carroll Street
All Together Now
Remember
Gigi & Nate
The Girl in the Book
No One Would Tell
F.I.S.T.
Winged Creatures
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
Conversations with God
Tyson's Run
The Parts You Lose
Wonderstruck
Skin
The Zone of Interest
What Maisie Knew
The Boy in the Woods
Resurrecting the Champ
The Good Lie
The Devil's Arithmetic