2008 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival

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Festival Pass:
$130.00 Excludes Opening and Closing Night Films & Galas.
Festival Screening Membership Card included.
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Premiere Pass:
$170.00. Includes Opening and Closing Night Films & Galas.
Festival Screening Membership Card included.
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Festival Screening Membership Card is required to see the films. For more info please refer to the Box Offrice page


888-GO-KOSHER
Short Documentary, 2007
Country: United States
Language: English
Run Time: 11 min

Need your kitchen koshered? Now? Rabbi Sholtiel Lebovic is your man.  888-Go-Kosher follows a day in the life of New York’s only  rapid- response kitchen koshering service. Operating out of his office in Brooklyn, Rabbi Lebovic helps those in need, answering calls and snapping into action with his full-service team to kosher kitchens across the New York area. 888-Go-Kosher offers a light-hearted portrait of this unique service, and demonstrates the relationship of kashrut to Jewish identity.
Director: Lauren Shweder Biel

SUN MAR 30, 1.00 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>> 
WED  APRIL 2, 2:00 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>

A HEBREW LESSON
Documentary, 2006
Country: Israel
Language: English/Hebrew/Chinese/Russian/Spanish/German with  English subtitles
Run Time: 123 min
 
”Learning Hebrew has been central to establishing one’s personal identity and sense of collective belonging. Language transcends political, religious and ideological divisions; it is what unites and coalesces the different parts of society”. (The Jewish Agency pamphlet for Hebrew Ulpan teachers).
A Hebrew Lesson, gives us a delightful and thought-provoking look at the problems of  several foreign students at a Hebrew language Ulpan. Here their personal stories meld with the complexities of Israeli reality. The immense effort of learning a new language is revealed through their encounters with this strange new culture and unfamiliar environment. But beyond the obvious differences, the human common denominator of longing and love triumphs time and again.
Director: David Ofek 
 
Best Documentary Director Award - Jerusalem International Film Festival
Best Editor Award - Jerusalem International Film Festival 2006
International Film Festival Rotterdam (#8 Audience Award)
Göteborg International Film Festival
Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival
The Bermuda International Film Festival
 
TUES APRIL 1, 9.00 pm NRT - BUY TICKETS>> 

A LOVE TO HIDE / Un amour à Taire
Drama, 2005
Country: France
Language: French with English subtitles
Run Time: 102 min

A sweeping epic about gay life in Vichy France. Jean ( Jeremie Rainier) and his lover Phillipe ( Bruno Tedeschi) take in Jean’s Jewish friend Sara ( Louise Minot) after her family are murdered by the Gestapo. Despite the ever present danger of discovery the trio do their best to lead a normal life as a “family” until Jean’s brother Jacques ( Nicholas Gob) , a Nazi collaborator is released from prison. This film by Christian Faure won the audience award as Best Feature at the Miami, Toronto, Philadelphia and Chicago LGBT Film Festivals. A deeply powerful film and a must see for those interested in gay holocaust history.
Director: Christian Faure
Cast: Jeremie Rainier, Bruno Tedeschi, Louise Minot

Winner: Showcase Award - Inside Out Toronto Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Winner: Audience Favorite Film - Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival

MON, MARCH 31, 9:30 pm, FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


A TICKLE IN THE HEART 
Documentary-Music, 1996
Country:  Germany
Language:  German with English subtitles
Run Time: 84 min

A Tickle in the Heart is the story of Max, Willie and Julie Epstein, three brothers who began playing Klezmer music sixty years ago in New York.  Back then, they were the kings of Klezmer.  But the times changed, Klezmer all but died out and the Epsteins retired to Florida to play for friends and relatives at senior citizen’s centers and simchas.  But when the octogenarian Epstein brothers are invited to play a series of concerts in Germany, they are astonished to find themselves peforming to packed houses.  The crowds are young and old, Jewish and Gentile, all of them responding to the infectious, honest emotion that Klezmer music inspires.
Director:  Stefan Schwietert

FRI MARCH 28, 12:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>> 

AIMEE & JAGUAR
Drama, 1999
Country:  Germany
Language:  German with English subtitles
Run Time:  125 min
In 1943, while bombs are falling on Berlin and the Gestapo is purging the city of Jews, a dangerous love affair blossoms between two women.  One of them, Lily Wust (Juliane Kohler), married to a German soldier on active duty and mother of four sons, is the perfect German hausfrau.  At first fascinated and confused, she is slowly seduced by Felice Schragenheim (Maria Schrader), a Jewish member of the Underground.  But Lily knows little about the enigmatic Felice, who disappears for days at a time without satisfactory explanation.  The truth might bring them closer together or tear them apart.  Based on a true story.
Director: Max Färberböck
Cast: Juliane Kohler, Johanna Wokalek, Maria Schrader

Golden Globe Nominee, 1999
Silver Bear Awards to both lead actresses
1999 Berlin International Film Festival

SUN  APRIL 1, 9:00 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


ALL I’VE GOT
Drama, 2003
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Run Time: 84 min

A 72-year-old grandmother dies and finds herself on a ferry that will take her across the river to the hereafter. On the ferryboat she meets her first love who was killed in a road accident when they were young. She is presented with a fateful choice: to start life afresh as a 22-year-old-- her age at the time of the accident-- and to relinquish all her memories of the life she has lived with her husband and children; or to remain a 72-year-old woman with all her life's memories intact. If she chooses the second alternative she will get off the boat when it reaches its destination and will never be truly reunited with her beloved, who has been waiting for her on the ferryboat for fifty long years. A thoughtful and contemplative drama.
Director: Keren Margalit

TUES  APRIL 1, 1: 30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>> 

AMEN
Drama, 2001
Country:  France
Language:  English
Run time:  130 min

Newly commissioned SS Lieutenant and respected civilian chemist Kurt Gerstein discovers that the Zyklon B pellets he has developed to disinfect soldiers' drinking water are being used to gas interred Jews by the thousands. Recruited to help streamline the death camp process by a team of SS officers, Gerstein secretly approaches the Swedish Consulate, the German Protestant community, and finally Vatican representatives in the hopes of exposing this unspeakable crime. The only one who listens is Father Ricardo, a young Jesuit priest with deep family connections at the Vatican.  Ricardo promises Gerstein he will alert the Pope to the Jewish genocide in hopes that the pontiff will reveal and denounce the Final Solution to the Christian world. 
Director: Costa-Gavras (Z, Missing, Music Box)
Cast: Ulrich Tukur (Solaris), Mathieu Kassovitz (Amelie), Ulrich Muhe, Michael Duchaussoy.

MON  MARCH 31, 7:00 pm FIFTH AVE  - BUY TICKETS>>

AND ALONG COME TOURISTS /
Am Ende kommen Touristen

Drama, 2007
Country: Germany
Language: German/Polish with English subtitles
Run Time: 85 min 


Sven, a German conscientious objector, is sent to the Polish city Oswiecim “Aushwitz” where he is due to complete his civil service abroad at the International Youth Meeting Center. Sven is assigned to look after Krzeminski, a former concentration camp prisoner. As time goes by Sven begins to discover both Aushwitz and Oswiecim, develops compassion for Krzeminiski and falls in love with a Polish woman. Director Robert Thalheim has said, “In And Along Come Tourists I have attempted to use a fictional story as a means of giving an idea of some of the conflicts and contradictions of present day Oswiecim and how difficult it is to deal with the past. The heart of the film...is a look at the effects of the past on the everyday life of the people who live there.”
Director: Robert Thalheim

SUN APRIL 6, 4:00 pm OAKRIDGE - BUY TICKETS>>


ARRANGED
Drama, 2007
Country: USA
Language: English
Run Time: 90 min
 Produced and directed by Dianne Crespo and Stephan C. Schaefer this film starring Zoe Lister Jones as Rachel, a 22 year old orthodox Jew and Francis Benhamou as Nasira, a Syrian born Muslim, is the story of two devout Brooklyn school teachers who come together after a confrontation with a student in Nasira’s class and find common ground as each sets off down the path to an arranged marriage. “Precise lensing, a strong sense of locale and vibrant, eminently likeable performances enliven Arranged, a Brooklyn fable about the parallel destinies of two female friends...” Variety. “...what binds these two lovely characters is their commitment to their families, ancient tradition and religion while living in a secular, materialistic and modern world that is too often unkind, intolerant and self-righteous. This movie is a love letter to true freedom of choice, the right of each human being to decide which path is theirs and which is not .” RJT - Associated Content
Director: Dianne Gespo, Stephan C. Schaefer
 Winner: Audience Award – Washington Jewish Film Festival
 

FRI  APRIL 4, 4:30 pm OAKRIDGE - BUY TICKETS>>


AVIVA MY LOVE / Aviva Ahuvati
Drama, 2006
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew w/ English subtitles 
Run Time: 107 min.

From the writer/director of Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi comes a delightful, richly layered story about one woman’s struggle to find her own voice. Asi Levi stars as Aviva, a working-class woman from Tiberias, who toils overtime to keep her family afloat. Her story unfolds with tears and laughter as she works as a cook in a hotel kitchen to support her unemployed husband while raising her two teenage children, caring for her obstinate, unpredictable mother and counseling her spirited sister through a troubled marriage, while keeping the peace amongst them all. Aviva is on the brink of fulfilling her lifelong dream to become a published author when she finds that her novelist mentor, while recognising her talent, has other plans for her work.
Director: Shemi Zarhin
Principal Cast: Asi Levy, Rotem Abuhav, Dror Keren, Levena Finkelstein


Winner of six Israeli Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Script.  


SAT MARCH 29, 8:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


BAD FAITH / Mauvaise foi
Comedic Drama, 2006
Country: France
Language: French with English subtitles
Run Time: 88 min 

“Ismael ( Roschdy Zem , also the director of this film) and Clara ( Cecile De France - French winner of the Etoile D’Or for Best Actress and nominated for a Cesar for her highly acclaimed role in Avenue Montaigne) are two French thirty something happily enjoying their four year romance. It means nothing to them that Ismael is Muslim and Clara a Jewess because both are non-practicing. The issue of their inter-faith relationship rears its head when the couple learns that Clara is pregnant. As anticipated, after facing the daunting and difficult task of telling their parents about their relationship, neither family takes well to the news. Zem’s directorial debut is a comedic look at a realistic account of the concerns that arise between two people of different faiths and their future as a family. While both Clara and Ismael take a sudden interest in their faiths after bringing the news to their families, ultimately their love and connection proves stronger than either faith.” Washington Jewish Film Festival.
Director: Roschdy ZemCast: Cécile De France, Roschdy Zem

Winner: Étoiles d'Or – Best Actress : Cécile De France
  


WED  APRIL 2, 9:40 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


BYE-BYE LOVE
Narrative Feature, 2006
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew, with English subtitles,
Run Time: 83 min

Sophie, a video-artist, decides to dedicate her new project to the moment when love died. In order to cast her new work, she publishes an ad in the newspaper seeking 25 to 35 year-old women - divorcees and mothers. She chooses seven women from among all those who respond to her ad.  All of them are mothers who have separated from their children's fathers.  She then invites them to an elegant dinner, inspired by the Red Table of Sophie Calle, (a well-know French artist), where the women participate in a video performance in which the issue of the death of love and the disintegration of the nuclear family are explored. Terms such as happiness, loneliness, belonging and couple-life are used as seven heart-breaking personal stories unfold.
For the film, seven beautiful, strong, talented actresses, who had indeed surrendered their own dreams of preserving the family framework and had opted for a new life, were chosen. The blurred distinction between the authentic and the acted, the personal and the universal, is an important element in Bye -Bye Love arousing a sense of identification.
Director: Ayelet Dekel
Cast: Liat Glick, Avital Dicker, Shiri Heller, Eden Harel, Natali Atiya

WED APRIL 2, 5:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


CHILDREN OF THE SUN 
Documentary, 2007
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew w/ English subtitles
Run Time: 70 min

Children of the first kibbutzim in Israel were born in the early 20th century to youthful parents, full of hope. They have been called "Children of the Sun," because they were considered children of the "Sun of Nations" Revolution in Israel. Born into a utopia, they were destined to become "new citizens" for the common good and a life of equality. Children of the Sun features rare footage shot at the kibbutzim between 1930 and 1970, and rare recordings and conversations with family and friends. Director Ran Tal weaves an amazing tapestry that is both a very personal and very public story -- a meta-narrative about the fascinating and founding myths of the Zionist movement in the Land of Israel.
Director: Ran Tal

MON MARCH 31, 1:00pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


CITIZEN LAMBERT: JOAN OF ARCHITECTURE
Documentary,  2006
Country:   Canada / France 
Language: English/ French with English subtitles
Run Time: 52 min 

A unique glimpse into the world of Phyllis Bronfman Lambert, renowned Canadian architect, urban activist, patron, and founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. Citizen Lambert: Joan of Architecture presents a candid portrait of Phyllis Lambert, a member of the prominent Bronfman family, known for her aloofness and rigidity, a woman who has made a significant contribution to cultural heritage and architecture in Canada and abroad. In this vibrant portrait we see not only the public image, but also the private persona of a figure so often presented one-dimensionally in the press.
Director: Teri Wehn-Damisch

MON MARCH 31, 7:00 pm NRT  - BUY TICKETS>>


DEAR MR. WALDMAN / Michtavim Le America
Drama, 2006
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Run Time: 86 min

This touching story about the son of Holocaust survivors is written and directed by the son of survivors and set in Tel Aviv in the early 1960's. Ten year old Hilik  knows he and his brother's goal in life - to make his parents happy and compensate for the grief they both suffered in the Holocaust. The fragile equilibrium of the new life Rivka and Moishe have forged for themselves and their sons Hilik and Yonatan in the new state of Israel begins to waiver when Moishe convinces himself that his lost son, from his first marriage, didn't die in Auschwitz but somehow miraculously escaped to America to become President Kennedy's assistant. When Moishe writes a letter to Waldman in America, Hilik takes matters into his own hands.
Director: Hanan Peled

Official Selection: 2007 Palm Springs Film Festival, Israel Academy Award Best Actor, Official Selection: 2007 Munich Film Festival,
Official Selection: 2006 Jerusalem Film Festival.

SUN MARCH 30, 8:40 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


THE FIRST BASKET
Documentary, 2007
Country: USA
Language: English
Run Time: 90 min

David Vyorst, the executive producer and creator of this documentary, a communications specialist living in Washington, D.C., has worked on two presidential campaigns and is a lifetime New York Knicks fan and a film enthusiast. This film narrated by Peter Riegert (Animal House, Local Hero and Crossing Delancy) tells the story of how Jewish inner-city youth were attracted to and succeeded in basketball from the 1920s to the 1950s and examines the sharp decline in Jewish players in professional and college basketball after 1950. The film is divided into four parts, "The 1946-47 New York Knickerbockers", "Basketball Meant Being American", "The Development of Professional Basketball" and "the 1950s to the 21st Century."
On November 1, 1946 at the inaugural came of the Basketball Association of America (BAA - to become the NBA in 1949) Ossie Schectman scored the opening basket for the New York Knickerbockers against the Toronto Huskies. Full of interesting information and rich archival footage this is a must see for all basketball and sports enthusiasts as well as all those interested in Jewish athletic achievement. 
Director: David Vyorst

WED APRIL 2, 3:30 pm, FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


FOUR WEEKS IN JUNE / Fyra veckor i juni
Drama, 2005
Country: Sweden
Language: Swedish, English, Polish with English subtitles
Run Time: 118 min

Sentenced to four weeks in June doing community service sorting clothes in a remote Swedish factory after being found guilty of stabbing her ex-boyfriend with a pair of scissors, Sandra (Tuva Novotny) just wants to be left alone and do her penance. But Sandra discovers Lilly (Ghita Norby) the cranky old Jewish lady upstairs who plays American swing music on her phonograph. The budding friendship that cautiously develops between this sullen young woman and her eccentric neighbour becomes the heart of this film. Both Novotny and Norby were nominated for Sweden’s equivalent to the Oscar for their performances in this film. Norby won. This film, directed by Henry Meyer, is based on a wartime story told to him by his mother.
Director: Henry Meyer
Cast: Tuva Novotny, Ghita Norby

Winner: Crystal Bear Award -  Berlin International Film Festival

THURS  APRIL 3, 9:00 pm FIFTH AVE
  - BUY TICKETS>>

FROM HELL TO PARADISE OR CHOPIN SAVED ME  / Von der Hölle ins Paradies oder Chopin hat mich gerettet
Documentary, 2006
Country: Germany
Language: German with English subtitles
Run Time: 73 min

This is the amazing and inspiring story of the renowned pianist Alice Sommers now 104 years old and living in London. However, before coming to London, Ms Sommers lived through the major events of the twentieth century. She was brought up in Prague, educated in German culture, lived and worked in Israel for 37 years before moving to London. She experienced and witnessed World War I, World War II, the European inflation, the Holocaust, Liberation, Zionism, Communism, and emigration.  Learn of the most significant events of the twentieth century through the images and words of this interesting artist.
Director: Michael Teutch

FRI  MARCH 28, 11:00 am FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


FROM SHTETL TO SWING
Documentary/Music 2005
Country: USA
Language: English
Run Time:  52 min

Between 1880 and 1924, 2.5 million Jews fled persecution in Russia and Eastern Europe, kissed the shtetl goodbye and migrated to America. Turning a fresh, playful eye to the cultural attitudes and musical styles that proliferated throughout this extraordinarily rich period, from Yiddish theatre to musical extravaganza, from klezmer to ragtime, from symphonic jazz to swing - all the way from the Bowery to Tin Pan Alley to Broadway to Hollywood - From Shetl to Swing recounts the ebullient, screaming-to-be-told story of a musical metamorphosis born in darkest Russia only to blaze across the sky of the Great White Way. 
Director: Fabienne Rousso-Lenoir

SUN MARCH 30, 1:00 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


GDANSKI RAILWAY STATION / Dworzec Gdanski
Documentary, 2007
Country: Poland
Language: Polish with English subtitles
Run Time: 56 min

An attempt to confront the painful events of the year 1968 - the outbreak of anti-Semitic hysteria that resulted in many citizens of Jewish origin leaving Poland. For 20 years emigrants have been meeting in Israeli resort of Ashkelon by the Mediterranean Sea. Forty years have passed since they left, yet Poland is still present in their homes. Gdanski Railway Station - from which they departed - is now the symbol of their exile, the symbol of a turning point that splits their lives in two parts. Contemporary stories are intertwined with unique archive materials.
Director: Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz


FRI MARCH 28, 4:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


GERMAN LULLABY
Short Drama, 2008
Country: UK
Language; English
Run Time: 15 min
German Lullaby was originally written as a stage play and shown in New York about 5 years ago. It is an intense piece about a female couple whose family history back in WW2 comes out and affects their relationship today. Both are American. (Molly) is Jewish, while Anna has German Ancestry
Director: Tess Malone


MON MARCH 31, 5:30 pm FIFTH AVE  - BUY TICKETS>>
TUES APRIL1, 12:00 noon FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


HANUSZKA
Documentary, 2006
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew and Polish with English subtitles
Run Time: 65 min 

A unique story, told here for the first time. Hanna Mandelberger, a 12 year old girl who fled the ghetto, roams the streets of Warsaw looking for something to eat. Out of nowhere, a light is shining; Hanna barely makes it to a doorstep before collapsing. Hanna will eventually tell the Mother Superior she is a Polish Catholic, 15 years old, from the City of Lodz . At that very moment, Hanna Mandelberg no longer exists…
Anna stays in the monastery for a couple of years, and decides, against all odds, to survive. Thus, she erases her childhood memories, and fully identifies with her new role as a Catholic nun. As such, she also serves as an emissary for the Polish underground, risking her life transmitting letters and weapons to different agents throughout Poland. Father Karl Wojtyla, whom she loves and cherishes, placed the Prosphora on her tongue during communion. Forty years later, Hanna Avrutzky travels to the Vatican to meet an old friend: Karl Wojtyla, who, in the meantime, has become Pope John Paul II.
Director: Nurit Kedar 


MON MARCH 31, 5:30 pm FIFTH AVE
- BUY TICKETS>>


HOLOCAUST TOURIST
Short Documentary, 2005
Country: UK
Language: English
Run Time: 10 min
 A wry animated documentary about how Holocaust tourism distorts history. A whistle stop tour from Auschwitz hot-dogs to Krakow’s kitsch Judaica. How is dark tourism changing history?
Director: Jes Benstock
 FRI  MARCH 28, 11:00 am FIFTH AVE  - BUY TICKETS>> 

TUES APRIL 1, 3:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>> 


IN OUR OWN HANDS - The Hidden Story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II
Documentary, 1997
Country:  USA
Language:  English
Run Time: 85 min

It is the final weeks of World War II.  His Majesty's Jewish Brigade - the only all-Jewish fighting unit in the war - goes into combat against the hated Nazis...and comes away victorious.   For three years the Jews of Palestine had asked the British Government for permission to form a Jewish unit.  Finally, in 1944, Churchill overrode the objections of the War Office and within a year, the Brigade was seeing action against the Germans in Italy.  It is after the war, though, that the real story of the Brigade begins. Amidst the chaos of post-war Europe, and under the noses of the occupying Allied armies, the young Jewish soldiers mastermind one clandestine operation after the next: forming secret vengeance squads to assassinate Nazi officers in hiding...engineering the rescue and illegal movement of Holocaust survivors to Palestine.  Later, in 1948, Brigade veterans help organize and lead the fledgling Israel Defense Forces in their new country's War of Independence. From the trenches of Northern Italy to the refugee camps of war-torn Europe, In Our Own Hands unravels the thrilling tale of young Jewish soldiers who carried the weight of a people on their shoulders.
Director:  Chuck Olin

FRI MARCH 28, 2:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


JEWISH LUCK
Silent - Yiddish Film, 1925
Country: Soviet Union
Language: Silent with Yiddish and English subtitles
Run Time: 88 min

This 1925 film directed by Alexis Granowsky was made in the Soviet Union at a time when different cultures were still tolerated in that country despite the racism that existed throughout Europe. This film revolves around Menachem Mendl, a daydreaming entrepreneur who specializes in doomed strike it rich schemes, who, through his perseverance changes from a schlemiel to a hero. This film based on Sholem Aleichem's stories was among the first Yiddish films to be released in America. The original intertitles in this silent film were written by the famed writer, Isaac Babel. Sure to appeal to those who loved Yiddischkeit and the history of film.
Director: Alexis Granowsky

WED  APRIL 2, 5:00 PM NRT - BUY TICKETS>>


KNOWLEDGE IS THE BEGINNING
Documentary 2006
Country: Germany
Language: English/Arabic/German/Hebrew with English subtitles
Run Time:  90 min

In the early 1990s, a chance meeting between Conductor and pianist, Daniel Barenboim, and the late Palestinian-born writer and Columbia University professor, Edward Said, resulted in a unique friendship that had both political and musical repercussions. Their meeting led to Barenboim's first concert in the West Bank and to the creation of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which involved talented musicians between the ages of 14 and 25 from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia. Based on the notion that "music is the language of peace," Barenboim and Said brought the orchestra to perform in Weimar on the 250th anniversary of the birth of Goethe. Also participating in this bold experiment in 1999 was Yo-Yo Ma. Director Paul Smaczny has followed the orchestra, which has grown to 80 Arab and Israeli musicians, since its inception. The film, an unusual hybrid of a world-class concert movie and a documentary about artistic diplomacy, chronicles all five summer workshops in Weimar and Seville, Barenboim's visit to Ramallah and Jerusalem in May 2004, during which he received the prestigious Wolf Prize at the Knesset, as well as a celebrated concert in Geneva and highlights of the 2005 European Tour. The most moving and indelible scenes are of the students playing together. Said, who felt that the orchestra was one of the most important things he had done in his life, eloquently advocates for young Israelis and Arabs to gain greater mutual understanding, quietly stating," Ignorance is not a strategy for sustainable survival."
Director: Paul Smaczny

Winner: International Emmy Awards - Arts Programming

SUN APRIL 6, 2:15 pm OAKRIDGE - BUY TICKETS>>


KZ
Documentary, 2005
Country: U.K.
Language: English and German with English subtitles
Run Time: 95 min

This powerful documentary examines Mauthausen, Austria as it's residents and visitors come to terms with it's dark past as, first, a men-only forced labor camp for political prisoners, homeless people, homosexuals and other undesirables and later part of the Jewish genocide as women and Jews were added to the mix. This film follows a uninterested high school class as they are introduced to the place and it's history by the dedicated and knowledgeable  guides employed at the Mauthausen Museum. Interviews with local Austrian residents as they retell their stories of the war years and reveal their attitudes fill out the film .
Director: Rex Bloomstein

Nominated: Grand Jury Award - Sundance

MON MARCH 31, 5:00 pm NRT  - BUY TICKETS>>


THE LAST SUSPECT
Crime Thriller, 2006
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Run Time: 81 min

"In this powerful police drama, Danny Breznitz ( played intensely by Smil Ben-Ari) is a detective in the Tel Aviv police. He is hospitalized following a near fatal car accident. His relationship with his mistress, Eva, early 30s, is falling apart, and his obsession with her is pushing her even further away. Breznitz is married to Ruthie, who loves him. Their marriage is childless. They live in the same apartment and try to keep together what's left of their relationship. After his recovery Breznitz is handed an insignificant murder case by his hostile superior. The Shabak ( Israeli FBI) arrests an Arab intellectual who admits to the murder, yet Breznitz doubts the man's guilt and continues to investigate, making a sweep of Israel's low life including a prostitute turned hairdresser, a pimp who poses as a born again Jew and a homosexual artist who is excommunicated by his parents. The investigation goes nowhere - until information arises - a clue that seems impossible to Breznitz leading him to solve the crime whether he likes it or not." Israel Film Festival. 
This film is  based on the novel, Breznitz,  by Haim Lapid.
Directors: Matti Harari, Arik Lubetzky
Cast: Smil Ben-Ari, Orel Timsit, Rothi Navon, Osnat Hchim

WED APRIL 2, 10.00 pm NRT - BUY TICKETS>>


LEAVING PARADISE: THE JEWS OF JAMAICA
Short Documentary, 2006
Country: USA
Language: English
Run Time: 13 min

Through a personal lens, the film explores the Jewish Community of Kingston, Jamaica, their little-known history and the vibrant and diverse characters who remain a part of the congregation today.
Director: Melanie Levy

SUN MARCH 30, 2:45 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


LOVE AND DANCE / Sipur Hatzi-Russi
Drama, 2006
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles
Run Time: 90 min

Love and Dance is an irresistible, multi-layered coming-of-age film about a young boy caught in the clashing crossroads between his Russian-born mother and Israeli father. While strolling the halls of a community center, Chen stumbles upon a ballroom dance class for children and is instantly taken with a beautiful young Russian girl in the class. When infatuation leads him to take ballroom dancing lessons, he quickly learns to love to dance. With a little help from the cha cha and the tango he is able to bridge the culture gap of his fractured family.
Director: Eitan Anner
Guest Artist: Actress Evgenia Dodina

Nominated: Moscow International Film Festival

SAT MARCH 29, 10:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


MAHJONG AND CHICKEN FEET
Documentary, 2008
Country: Canada
Language: English
Run Time: 47 min

A group of men in a variety store in Harbin, China candidly discuss a foreigner with a camera amongst them, assuming that she doesn't understand Chinese and forgetting that her camera is recording them all the while. Later in Kaifeng, miles to the south, the woman noses her camera into peoples homes, searching for traces of the city's thousand -year old Jewish settlement while her guide attempts to render her questions polite in translation. The director's own Russian Jewish family history in China at the beginning of the 20th century, a story of tiger hunters, poignant deaths and daring rescues, binds together this lively tale of Chinese Jewish encounters then and now.
Director: Jacqueline Levitin

FRI APRIL 4, 12:30 pm OAKRIDGE - BUY TICKETS>>


MAKING TROUBLE
Documentary / Comedy, 2006
Country: USA
Language; English
Run Time: 85 min

Making Trouble spans more than a century of theatre, film and television history beginning with Molly Picon's earliest performances in silent films in 1903, through Fanny Brice's Ziegfield Follies shows, right up to Gilda Radner's astonishing work on Saturday Night Live. Our stars made an indelible impact on the entertainment world, their audiences and the times they lived in. They became important and lasting figures in our culture. Each of the stars brought something new and unique to the world through their talents, but all shared the gift- and the burden- of being funny, being Jewish, and being female.
Our hosts for Making Trouble are four of today's leading Jewish women comedians - Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman, Cory Kahaney and Jessica Kirson - brought together at New York's famed Katz's Delicatessen to gab about these female comic pioneers and guide us through the chronicle of these amazing women.
Director: Rachel Talbot
Cast: Anne Beats, Fanny Brice, Tovah Feldshuh, Fyvush Finkel and more….

TUES APRIL 1, 5:00 pm NRT - BUY TICKETS>>


MAX MINSKY AND ME / Max Minsky und ich
Narrative / Comedy, 2007
Country: Germany
Language: German with English subtitles
Running Time: 94 min

Author Holly-Jane Rahlens based the screenplay for this coming-of-age story on her novel, Prince William, Maximillian Minsky and Me, which received the German Award for Young People's Literature in 2003. Nelly Sue Edelmeister is a skinny 13-year-old living in Berlin with her German Christian father and American Jewish mother. Though her mom pushes her to practice for her fast approaching Bat Mitzvah, Nelly is more fascinated by the mysteries of the cosmos than religion. When a school basketball championship offers her a chance to meet fellow astronomy fan and heartthrob Edouard, Prince of Luxembourg, Nelly turns to school basketball ace, Max Minsky, for help. Navigating her parents' unraveling marriage, boys, basketball and her Bat Mitzvah, the  teenaged Nelly tries to find her place in the world in this heartwarming family comedy from Germany.
Director: Anna Justice
Cast: Zoe Moore, Adriana Altaras,  Jan Josef Liefers, Emil Reinke

Winner: Cinekid Film Award
Winner: Audience Award - Sarejevo Film Festival

THURS APRIL 3, 7:00 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


MY MEXICAN SHIVAH / Morirse Está En Hebreo
Comedy, 2006
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish / Yiddish / Hebrew with  English subtitles 
Run Time: 102 min.

Set in Polanco, the Jewish quarter of Mexico City, this dramatic comedy shows how the death of a man results in the celebration of his life. The seven days of mourning, or shivah, of beloved Jewish-Mexican patriarch Moishe Tartovsky is the occasion for a colorful gathering of family, friends and lovers, capped off by a mariachi band singing "Hava Nagila." The odds are against Moishe from the beginning. Family dysfunction aside, Moishe´s friends are attending his funeral for their own motives. And to make matters worse, while performing his duties, a a member of the Chevra Kadisha is milking the family for all they're worth. Which angel will accompany Moishe's soul in its journey to the Almighty? If the shivah reveals anything, it's that Moishe´s family and friends loved him with all his flaws and mystery- and most of all his spirit. The film is based on a short story by Ilan Stavans, and produced by John Sayles and Maggie Renzi, with an original score by the Klezmatics. 
Director: Alejandro Springall
Cast: Blanca Guerra, Martha Roth, Sergio Kleiner, Guillermo Murray, Isaac Fischer

WED APRIL 2, 7:15 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>> 
THURS APRIL 3, 2:00 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


NOODLE
Closing Gala Film and Party

Comedic Drama, 2007
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew / Mandarin w/ English subtitles
Runtime: 100 min

This touching comic drama centers around Miri, a twice-widowed El Al flight attendant, whose life has been crumbling around her for years. She wants nothing more than to be left alone, but things change when her Chinese housekeeper asks Miri to watch her son for an hour and never comes back. Despite the language barrier, Miri tries to reunite the boy she dubs "Noodle" with his mother. Noodle is a touching, light-hearted story about the importance of family and emotional healing.
Director: Ayelet Menahemi
Principal Cast: Mili Avital, Anat Waxman, Alon Aboutboul, Iftach Klein, Baoqi Chen

Grand Jury Prize and Best Screenplay at the Montreal World Film Festival

SUN APRIL 6, 7:00 pm  RIDGE - BUY TICKETS>>


OCHBERG’S ORPHANS
Documentary 2007
Country: UK
Language: English
Run Time:  60 min

1921: In Russia a million children are without parents after six years of war, famine and disease. 300,000 of them have been orphaned by murderous anti-Semitic attacks, their lives hanging by a thread. In South Africa, businessman Isaac Ochberg dreams a dream of saving some of these helpless and lost souls. Filmed in the original locations, together with unique archive footage and testimony from survivors, "Ochberg's Orphans" reveals this unknown story of heroism. Today, in a century dominated by wars, genocides and displaced peoples, Ochberg's legacy is a reminder that a small act can make a big difference.
Director: John Blair

SUN MARCH  30, 2:45 FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


PARPARIM
Short Feature 2007
Country: Netherlands
Language: Dutch with English subtitles
Run Time:  15 min

Simcha decides to have Gideon, an ultra-Orthodox boy from Jerusalem, stay at her house as part of an exchange program at her school. Gideon, however, has no idea that Simcha is a girl.  But Gideon`s religious fervency prevents him from continuing a relationship -- or does it? An honest and entertaining look at how children express their beliefs, desires and how they relate to one another.
Director: Jaap Van Heudsen

TUES APRIL 1, 1:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>> 
SUN APRIL 6, 11:00 am OAKRIDGE - BUY TICKETS>>


PAPER DOLLS
Documentary 2006
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew/ English/ Tagalog w/ English subtitles
Run Time: 84 min

Paper Dolls  explores changing patterns of global immigration and expanding notions of family through the prism of a community of Filipino transvestites who live illegally in Israel. Cast out by their families because of their sexual and gender preferences, they work 6 days a week as live-in, 24 hour a day care givers (and in many cases as surrogate children) for elderly orthodox Jewish men, in order to earn money to send to their families in the Philippines. On their one free night per week, they pursue their own personal dreams as drag performers in the group they call "The Paper Dolls."
Despite the often harsh working conditions, threats by street criminals, fear of terrorist bombings and the constant peril of deportation, The Paper Dolls demonstrate a rare generosity of spirit, humanity and lust for life.
Director: Tomer Heymann

SUN MARCH 30, 4:30 pm FIFTH AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


PRAYING WITH LIOR
Documentary, 2007
Country: USA
Language: English
Duration: 87 min

This engrossing, intimate, often humorous and tender documentary film, introduces Lior Liebling, also called "the little rebbe." Lior has Down syndrome, and has spent his entire life praying with utter abandon. Is he a "spiritual genius" as many around him say, or simply the vessel that contains everyone's unfulfilled wishes and expectations? Lior - whose name means "my light" - lost his mother at age six, and her words and spirit hover over the film. While everyone agrees Lior is closer to God, he's also a burden, a best friend, an inspiration, and an embarrassment, depending on which family member is speaking. As Lior approaches his Bar Mitzvah,  the movie poses difficult questions such as what is "disability" and who really talks to God.
Director: Ilana Trachtman

WED APRIL 2, 7:00 pm NRT - BUY TICKETS>> 
THURS APRIL 3, 4:30 pm Fifth AVE - BUY TICKETS>>


RABIN - PERES: EVERYTHING IS PERSONAL
Documentary, 2007
Country: Israel
Language: English and Hebrew with English subtitles
Run Time: 64 min

Called "Enemies: Not a Love Story" by the Jerusalem Post this Israeli television documentray traces the 60 year public feuding and rivalry  between Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin and their struggles for leadership of the Labor Party of Israel and control of the country. Rabin, a sabra, born into the  labor zionist elite, rose through the ranks of the pre-state Palmach, then the army to the leadership of his party and his country. Peres, a Polish immigrant to Israel as a child, started his career by being noticed by and attracting himself to David Ben Gurion. Rabin, known for simplicity and directness in expression, a man who disliked politics and politicians is contrasted with Peres whose bent is toward intellectualism and poetry.  This film deals with each man allowing the audience to vicariously experience their set backs and successes and to assess how their rivalry affected not only each of them but how it ultimately affected Israel's quest for peace. Although forced to work together due to the political realities of the day, each man retained a supreme dislike of the other which affected many of their decisions. Rabin, who called Peres "the snake" never lost his belief that Peres would ever stop attacking him. This film features never-before seen footage and exclusive interviews.
Director: Arik Henig 

SUN APRIL 6, 12:30 pm, OAKRIDGE - BUY TICKETS>>


ROSENZWEIG’S FREEDOM / Rosenzweig's Freiheit
Drama, 1998