A magazine advertisement for a book that will reveal the meaning of life "for the low price of $9.99" alters the life of an unemployed 28-year-old who still lives at home, although his unusual neighbors, which include a magician in debt and an old man with his disgruntled guardian angel, are less than impressed.

The plot of this stop-motion animated film, $9.99, is based on the short stories of Israeli author and filmmaker Etgar Keret. The University of North Texas Jewish Studies Program will present a free screening of "$9.99" Oct. 19 (Monday).

Keret will be present to introduce the film. The screening will be followed by a question-and-answer session and book signing with Keret, who co-wrote the film's screenplay with its director, Tatia Rosenthal.

The event begins at 7 p.m. in the Lyceum on the third floor of UNT's University Union, which is located one block of West and Welch Prairie streets. In addition to the Jewish Studies Program, the film screening and Keret's visit to UNT are sponsored by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation; Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County; Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas; M.B. and Edna Zale Foundation; UNT College of Arts and Sciences and Departments of History and Radio, Television and Film; UNT Hillel; and Regent Releasing.

$9.99 features several actors who are well known to American audiences in its voice cast, including Geoffrey Rush and Anthony LaPaglia. The film premiered at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and was released in New York and Los Angeles this past summer.

Keret, a native of Ramat Gan, Israel, often bases his short stories and longer books on his family, which he has said that he regards as a microcosm of Israel. He currently teaches at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva and at Tel Aviv University.

Keret published his first collection of short stories, Pipelines, in 1992. His other books and short story collections include Kneller's Happy Campers; The Nimrod Flip-Out; Gaza Blues; Missing Kissinger, which includes a short story that is part of the curriculum for Israel's high school qualification certificate; The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God & Other Stories; The Girl on the Fridge and I-am-him.

Kneller's Happy Campers, which follows a young man who commits suicide and goes on a quest for love in the afterlife," was adapted into both a graphic novel, Pizzeria Kamikaze, and a feature-length film, Wristcutters: A Love Story, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

Keret is also the author of a children's book, Dad Runs Away with the Circus; several comic books; and several feature screenplays, including Skin Deep, which won the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1997 and took first prize at several international film festivals. Jellyfish, Keret's first movie as a director, won the coveted Camera d'Or prize for best first feature at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Keret is the recipient of several other awards, including the Book Publishers Association's Platinum Prize, the Israeli Prime Minister's Prize and the Israel Ministry of Culture's Cinema Prize.

The above text is based on a UNT News Service news release available on the web at http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=11611.