This documentary celebrates the work of the iconic cartoonist and creator of Maus, a landmark in the history of comics and in Holocaust literature. Through interviews and archives, we learn how Spiegelman, raised by Holocaust survivors, turns his family trauma into art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, shocked the world with its irreverent treatment of the Shoah. It garnered a special citation by the Pulitzer Prize and has been banned in some school districts. The film also looks at Spiegelman’s other work, including his notable covers for the New Yorker over the years. Talkback with directors to follow.
Shot over 21 years, this film shows how life and selfunderstanding unfold for Amichai Lau-Lavie, an heir to a rabbinic dynasty and a queer activist. We see LauLavie’s quest for authenticity and a vital Jewish spirituality. He is loud and proud as his drag alter ego. He co-founds Lab/shul, an experimental congregation that uses “Storahtelling” to make Torah text more accessible. He becomes a father and a rabbi. He struggles to reconcile the contradictions between his leadership at Lab/shul and his commitments to a more traditional Judaism. Talkback with the director to follow.
This is a taut psychological drama about Holocaust survivors who are rebuilding their lives in a small Israeli community in the ‘50s. When a glamorous seamstress moves into the neighborhood, they all must confront their tormented past. The woman catches the eye of her neighbor, a former Partisan fighter. This poses a threat to the cohesion of the community, as all hell breaks loose when she is identified as a former Kapo in the camps. This is a poignant look at loyalty, family, memory and love.
This film documents the remarkable life of author, teacher, human rights activist, and Nobel Laureate, Elie Wiesel, who bursts into the public consciousness and assumes his role as a moral leader. The f ilm shows Wiesel’s infamous White House visit in 1985 where he called on President Reagan to cancel a planned visit to a German cemetery in which Nazis were buried. The plea was heralded as a classic case of speaking truth to power, and was widely seen as a reflection of Wiesel’s singular moral courage. Talkback with the director to follow.
This drama brings to life the true story of a Finnish businessman and philanthropist who refused to remain idle in the face of growing Gestapo threats to Jews fleeing persecution and seeking refuge in Finland. As Finland is growing more and more dangerous, Alexander Stiller repeatedly defies the authorities and assumes great risk to help protect the refugees. This is a small but compelling film, and a tribute to the difference made by one brave man.
This documentary short explores the intriguing question of how to practice Judaism in space. If a space shuttle takes 90 minutes to orbit the Earth, when do you mark Shabbat? If matzoh has too many crumbs to be in a zero-gravity space, how do you observe Passover? Does Jewish law even support the idea of Jews leaving this planet? These dilemmas and more are explored in interviews with astronauts, rabbis and an astrophysicist, Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
This is a hard-hitting look at how anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism exploded in the wake of October 7, particularly on U.S. college campuses. Through gripping film footage and wide-ranging interviews, critical questions are asked and answered. Director Wendy Sachs carefully documents the long-term planning, strategizing and funding that unleashed the vicious campaign against Israel and the Jews beginning on Oct. 8, even as the onslaught in Israel was still unfolding. This searing portrait of a systematic campaign of hatred and delegitimization is a must-see movie. Talkback to follow.
This is a well-crafted biopic of Brian Epstein, the inspired music entrepreneur who discovered the Beatles. The film traces his life, beginning as the son of Jewish furniture store owners in Liverpool. He joins the family business, branches out to sell records and yearns for more. With no experience in popular music, he spots the Beatles at a local club, sells himself as their manager and fights hard to land them a recording deal. The rest is history. Paul McCartney called him “the 5th Beatle.” Talkback to follow.
Director Alexandre Arcady takes us on a beautifully shot, nostalgic journey through his boyhood in French Algeria. In the film, movie maker Antoine, as part of a film project, takes his own son back to the Casbah. He revisits the experiences and memories that shaped him before he and his family fled the country after the bloody war for independence The result is a memoir of a rich, multicultural life as experienced by a boy who is coming of age, and a tribute to what he terms a “vanished era.”
Pink Lady is a poignant Israeli story of an ultra-Orthodox couple who are terrorized by a blackmailer’s threat to reveal that the husband is gay. The film shows how the prospect of public shame undoes the life of a loving family, in a community where strict conventions, rituals and rules must be observed. Over time, this crisis helps Bati come to understand her own needs. The film defies stereotypes and portrays the couple with sensitivity as they try to navigate this painful challenge to their marriage and reputation.
This is a rollicking, irreverent comedy, bordering on farce, about an interfaith family’s Shabbat dinner where an accidental death causes things to spiral into chaos. The acting is good – Kyra Sedgwick plays the befuddled Jewish mother – and good writing makes this a fun watch. Talkback with the director to follow.
This is a compelling documentary about a campaign to desegregate a merry-go-round at a big amusement park not far from Washington, DC in the early part of the Civil Rights Movement. Archival photos, interviews, and film footage flesh out the story, whose centerpiece really is the relationships that were built between Jews, African Americans, and labor organizers who strategized and protested day after day through the summer of 1960. The group was met with Nazi protests and many activists were arrested. Talkback to follow.
In this award-winning comedy-drama, Omari is a refugee from Eritrea who works as a dishwasher in Tel Aviv. He gets tagged as an illegal-- and is slated for deportation. After he runs from the authorities, he gets mistaken for a Nigerian soccer star who is arriving in Israel to play on a Maccabi team in Netanya. While he doesn’t know much about winning in soccer, he wins over fans and the team owner’s daughter.
In 1947, anti-Semitic riots broke out across the UK
after two British soldiers were kidnapped and murdered in Mandate Palestine. This short and dynamic film captures Louis Scholnick, a Jewish World War II veteran and resident of Liverpool, as he defends his family business in the face of a violent mob that includes friends and neighbors. It is a small but important story about courage in the face of hate and sadly, it is one that resonates today.