Kai Balin grew up largely secular, though a deep inner love for Israel and Judaism was always within him.
“As a six year old kid, there’s even a video of me wearing a dress shirt and tie and kippah, holding a mic and saying, ‘I used to play for the Israel soccer team, but it was hard for me,’” Kai laughs. “I’d also play Shabbat services at home — pretending to be a rabbi, leading prayers — sometimes imagining I was hiding from the Nazis. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, so maybe that’s where it came from. I was actually the one who convinced my parents to send me to Jewish school starting in second grade.”
Over time, Kai became increasingly disconnected from his Jewish identity, especially through university, where he studied Kinesiology. Yet, it was during that time that he discovered one of his true passions — filmmaking.
“I started getting involved in community life on campus — organizing fundraisers and events for local charities. We’d host fun bar nights and donate all profits to charity. I made recap videos for those events, which led me to film projects for other campus organizations — sports, fashion, culture and business. That’s when I realized filmmaking was something I really loved.”
At one point, he directed a commercial for a bikini company but quickly realized that wasn’t his path.
“I wanted to make a documentary about my father, who worked as a leadership development coach in the nonprofit world, and film some of his clients in East Africa. But first, I decided to make a short stop in Israel.”
That visit changed everything.
“I loved it and wanted to stay longer. That’s how I found Project TEN — during COVID in 2020. I stayed in the Negev and even decided I wanted to be a farmer instead of a filmmaker,” he laughs.
Kai remained in Mitzpe Ramon for the the first 4 months of Covid, and then later moved to a farm in Tzofit, and even hiked the Israel National Trail. Eventually, he returned to Canada and the U.S. to continue working in agriculture.
But after October 7th, something shifted.
“I went through a kind of spiritual awakening — a reconnection to my Jewish identity. I’m a very sensitive person, and I started following the news obsessively, which only confused me more. I felt I needed to go deeper — into Jewish texts, prayer, and history. I spent hours studying on my own and even considered becoming more religious, leaning toward Orthodoxy. I felt my role was to become a kind of spiritual Jewish warrior.”
At the time of October 7th, Kai was living in Nashville, Tennessee. Shortly after, he returned to Vancouver to visit family and attended an Orthodox synagogue with his father one night.
“I half-jokingly told my mom she should come too, but she said, ‘Why would I go to a synagogue that doesn’t accept me as a Jew?’ — because according to Orthodoxy, we aren’t considered Jewish since my maternal grandmother converted through the Conservative movement. That really shook me. It hurt. What do I do with this information?”
Still wrestling with questions of belonging, Kai began working on a documentary titled Son of a Seeker — a personal exploration of Jewish identity, faith, and the struggle of not being recognized as Jewish by Orthodoxy. The film also parallels his father’s own journey of spiritual searching.
The documentary explores profound questions about Judaism, family, and identity. It has been selected as an official entry at the 2026 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival and has had successful screenings in two of Canada’s major cities: Vancouver and Toronto. A Jerusalem premiere is set for Thursday, December 4th at the Cinematheque.
“The questions never really end,” says Balin. “But I came out of the process feeling grounded and accepting who I am. It gave me strength. I’ve developed a deep passion for Jewish storytelling — being open, vulnerable, and real. Kai is in the gestation phase of his next idea, trying to be patient as each day unfolds.