New York Jewish Film Festival 2014
Join us for the 23rd annual New York Jewish Film Festival, a preeminent showcase for world cinema exploring the Jewish experience, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum. This year’s edition includes world, U.S., and New York premieres of films from around the globe, plus a number of “beyond the screen” programs including a symposium, a master class, and exhibitions of the posters and title sequences of the great Saul Bass.
Acknowledgments
Nicola Galliner, Berlin JFF; Stuart Hands, Toronto JFF; Eliza Heitzman, Intern; Annette Insdorf, Columbia University; Judy Ironside, UK Jewish Film; Marlene Josephs, Volunteer; Aviva Kempner; Lexi Leban, Jay Rosenblatt, Owen Levin, San Francisco JFF; Linda Lipson, Volunteer; Ira Resnick, Motion Picture Arts Gallery; Sharon Rivo, Lisa Rivo, National Center for Jewish Film; Ilya Tovbis, Washington JFF; Isaac Zablocki, JCC in Manhattan.
Main Slate
Friends from France
Opening Night! U.S. Premiere!
Directors Philippe Kotlarski and Anne Weil in person for Q&A!
Soko (Augustine, RDV ‘13) delivers a spellbinding performance in this story of French cousins in 1979 Odessa who spend their days seeing sights and their nights in the underground world of the refuseniks.
Ida
Closing Night! New York Premiere!
Director Pawel Pawlikowski in person for Q&A!
In this stunning black and white drama from Pawel Pawlikowski, an orphan brought up in a Polish convent makes a startling discovery when she visits her only living relative on the eve of taking her vows.
Ain’t Misbehavin’
U.S. Premiere!
Marcel Ophüls returns to filmmaking with this personal stroll through cinema history, touching on his own work and that of his father, the great Max Ophüls, who fled to Hollywood following the Nazis’ rise to power.
Amy Winehouse: The Day She Came to Dingle
First Lesson In Love director Tomer Werechson in person for Q&A!
This charming and unexpected snapshot of singer Amy Winehouse shows her unplugged set at a tiny church in a remote Irish town and a relaxed chat with the late singer about her music and influences.
Screening with: First Lesson In Love (Tomer Werechson, 8m)
Ana Arabia
NYC Premiere!
Director Amos Gitai in person for Q&A!
Filmed in one virtuosic sequence shot, the latest from acclaimed director Amos Gitai depicts a small community of Jews and Arabs living together near Jaffa in a forgotten enclave surrounded by mass public housing.
Before the Revolution
New York Premiere!
Director Dan Shadur and producer Barak Heymann in person for Q&A!
Before the Revolution explores the special relationship Tehran’s Israeli community had with the Shah’s dictatorship before their “Iranian Paradise” turned into hell.
Screening with: Pur (Anat Vovnoboy, 13m)
Bethlehem
Sneak Preview!
Israel’s submission for the Foreign Language Oscar tells the story of the unlikely bond between Razi, an Israeli secret service officer, and Sanfur, a teenage Palestinian informant.
The Congress
New York Premiere!
Robin Wright plays an aging actress who signs away the right to her digital image (and perhaps more) in this mix of live action and psychedelic animation from the director of the Oscar-nominated Waltz with Bashir.
Cupcakes
New York Premiere!
Unfortunately, director Eytan Fox will no longer attend the January 13 screening.
A motley group of friends in 1970s Tel Aviv write a song to cheer up one of their ranks and find themselves on an unexpected trip when it is secretly submitted as Israel’s entry to a Eurovision-style contest.
For a Woman
U.S. Premiere!
Inspired by her own family history, Diane Kurys’s handsome drama moves between post-WWII France and the 1980s, where a novelist explores the past through recently-discovered letters and photos.
The Jewish Cardinal
New York Premiere!
Director Ilan Duran Cohen in person for Q&A on January 11 + 14!
The Jewish Cardinal tells the amazing true story of Jean-Marie Lustiger, who maintained his cultural identity as a Jew even after converting to Catholicism and rising through the ranks of the priesthood.
Lonely Planet
Director Edan Zeira in person for Q&A!
A film crew embarks on a quest via trans-Siberian rail to find the legendary Mischka, who spent three years of his childhood hiding among wolves in the vast Belarus forests during WWII.
Regina
U.S. Premiere!
Director Diana Groó in person for Q&A!
Rachel Weisz narrates this artful archival footage documentary that brings to life the story of Regina Jonas, who, in 1935 Berlin, made history by becoming the first woman ordained as a rabbi.
Screening with: Binding (Katarzyna Plazinska & Aaron Ellis, 10m)
Rita Jahan Foruz
New York Premiere!
Director Ayal Goldberg in person for Q&A!
In the face of political tension, Persian-born Israeli superstar Rita Jahan Foruz records her first album in Farsi and receives a warm response that demonstrates music’s unique power to unify.
Rue Mandar (Where We Grew Up)
New York Premiere!
Director Idit Cébula in person for Q&A!
Three siblings debate the fate of their childhood home after their mother’s death, causing memories, rivalries and insecurities to bubble to the surface, in this warm dramedy about family dysfunction.
Screening with: What Do We Have In Our Pockets? (Goran Dukic, 4m)
The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich
New York Premiere!
Director Antonin Svoboda in person for Q&A!
This stirring and handsomely-made biopic stars Klaus Maria Brandauer as Wilhelm Reich—psychiatrist, scientist and inventor of the orgone box—who fled Nazi Germany to the U.S. in 1939.
Ukraine Brides: 13 Years Later
U.S. Premiere!
Director Nili Tal in person for Q&A!
For 13 years, documentarian Nili Tal has followed the sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes mystifying, and always compelling stories of women from Ukraine who married Israeli men.
Up the Wrong Tree
New York Premiere!
Actress Sarah Adler in person for Q&A!
When a young slacker installs himself in an ancient tree across from his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, he finds himself at the center of an environmental battle in this warm and funny Ophir Award nominee.
When Jews Were Funny
U.S. Premiere!
Producer Jeff Glickman in person for Q&A!
This lighthearted documentary explores why so many comics in the 1960s and 1970s were Jewish, featuring interviews with Jack Carter, Shecky Greene, David Steinberg, and many others.
The Women Pioneers
New York Premiere!
Director Michal Aviad in person for Q&A!
The stories of feminist pioneers who emigrated from Europe to Palestine a hundred years ago are brought to vivid life through fascinating archival footage and first-person accounts.
Screening with: I Think This Is the Closest to How the Footage Looked (Yuval Hameiri & Michal Vaknin, 9m)
The Zigzag Kid
A young boy’s visit to a boring uncle becomes a mission to solve the mystery of his deceased mother, featuring a colorful cast of characters that includes a celebrated chanteuse played by Isabella Rossellini.
New Israeli Shorts
Free Screening!
Director Ohad Regev and actress Sarah Adler in person for Q&A!
Four short films let us experience summertime romance in mid-winter. The selection includes First Days (dir. Ohad Regev, 2012, 15m), GentleDog (dir. David Shadi, 2012, 10m) Summer Vacation (dirs. Tal Granit & Sharon Maymon, 2012, 22m) and Aya (dirs. Mihal Brezis & Oded Binun, 2012, 40m), starring Sarah Adler.
Complimentary tickets will be available at the box office on a first-come, first-served basis starting one hour prior to the event. Limit one ticket per person, subject to availability.
Special Presentations
Artist Focus: Yael Bartana
Critic and author J. Hoberman will discuss artist Yael Bartana’sr three-part video piece …And Europe Will be Stunned.
Master Class: Amos Gitai
Free Event! Limited availability: RSVP now!
Join us for an in-depth conversation on filmmaking with award-winning director Amos Gitai, whose new film, Ana Arabia, is included in the festival’s Main Slate, conducted by former Film Society Director of Programming Richard Peña.
Symposium: Talking Movies
RSVPs are now closed. Standby tix will be available the day of the event.
The New York Jewish Film Festival introduces its inaugural symposium, co-presented with Film Comment magazine, featuring two distinguished panel discussions that examine the role of culturally specific and identity-driven film festivals and the blurring line between film genres.
Guest Selects: Wim Wenders
The NYJFF inaugurates an annual “Guest Selects” series, each year showcasing a director who has shaped the course of film history. We begin the series with a special screening of Paris, Texas on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of its release. Acclaimed filmmaker Wim Wenders also chooses two accompanying films that relate to Jewish culture. Wenders is
one of the most important figures to emerge from the “New German Cinema” period in the 1970s. He is director of such films as Wings of Desire and Paris, Texas<,i>, and documentaries Buena Vista Social Club and Pina. His atmospheric auteur films often engage with the themes of memory, time, and movement.
Paris, Texas
30th Anniversary Screening!
This unique road movie follows the mysterious, uncommunicative drifter Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) as he emerges from the desert and tries to reconnect with his young son, his wife (Nastassja Kinski), and his own memory. Screening as part of "Guest Selects: Wim Wenders."
Run Boy Run
U.S. Premiere!
Director Pepe Danquart in person for Q&A!
Run Boy Run tells the true story of a nine year old who escapes from the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 and learns to survive in the nearby woods until the end of the war. Screening as part of "Guest Selects: Wim Wenders."
Broken Wings
The debut feature from the writer of the hit Israeli TV show In Treatment is a sensitive drama about a family rendered dysfunctional by the sudden death of the husband and father. Screening as part of "Guest Selects: Wim Wenders."
Focus on Otto Preminger
The legendary film director and Austrian-Jewish emigré Otto Preminger helped jumpstart Saul Bass’s career as a movie poster and title sequence designer by asking him to design the poster for his film Carmen Jones (1954). Preminger was so impressed that he asked Bass to design the movie titles as well, and the two would go on to have a longstanding professional relationship. In this mini-retrospective, the NYJFF presents three of Preminger’s masterpieces for which Bass designed titles.
Anatomy of a Murder
World Premiere of New Digital Restoration!
Michigan small-town prosecutor turned lackadaisical attorney Paul Biegler (James Stewart) defends Lieutenant Manion (Ben Gazzara), jailed for killing his wife’s assailant. Screening as part of "Focus on Otto Preminger."
Exodus
Introduction by Eric A. Goldman, author of The American Jewish Story through Cinema.
The epic film based on the celebrated Leon Uris novel stars Paul Newman as Ari Ben Canaan, who smuggles 600 Jewish refugees from the island of Cyprus to British Mandate Palestine aboard a stolen cargo vessel. Screening as part of "Focus on Otto Preminger."
The Man with the Golden Arm
When Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra), a heroin addict who cleans up in prison, is released, he encounters old flame Molly (Kim Novak). Screening as part of "Focus on Otto Preminger."
From the Vaults:
Mamele
U.S. Premiere of Restored Version!
This early Yiddish “talkie” set in interwar Poland stars musical queen Molly Picon as mamele, a dutiful daughter with little time for herself until she discovers a handsome violinist across the courtyard.
Oded the Wanderer
Live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin!
Two silent films, one the first feature made in pre-state Israel, the other a magnificent tidbit from pioneer filmmaker George Méliès, bring to screen the Wandering Jew of legend.
Screening with: The Wandering Jew (Georges Méliès, 3m)
Professor Mamlock
Free Screening!
Olga Gershenson, author of The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe, will introduce and discuss the film.
One of the first films to directly tackle Nazi anti-Semitism, Professor Mamlock tells with brutal honesty the story of a Jewish doctor who becomes a victim of the Nazis’ rise to power in 1930s Germany.
Complimentary tickets will be available at the box office on a first-come, first-served basis starting one hour prior to the event. Limit one ticket per person, subject to availability.
Looking at Saul Bass
The New York Jewish Film Festival pays homage to the well-known graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Saul Bass (1920–1996), who designed title sequences and film posters for directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, and Martin Scorsese during his prolific 40-year career.
Phase IV
Midnight Movie! New York Premiere of Reconstituted Ending!
Hyper-intelligent ants take over an Arizona farm town in Saul Bass’s only feature film—a visually striking curiosity that, originally a box office flop, garnered cult status a year after its release. Screening as part of "Looking at Saul Bass."
Screening with: Ambling Alp (Radical Friend, 4m)
Saul Bass: A Selection of Short Films
Together with his wife Elaine, the movie title and poster designer Saul Bass also directed a number of short films, ranging from television ads to science fiction fantasies. Screening as part of "Looking at Saul Bass."
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New York Jewish Film Festival 2014
Join us for the 23rd annual New York Jewish Film Festival, a preeminent showcase for world cinema exploring the Jewish experience. This year’s edition includes premieres of films from around the globe, plus a number of “beyond the screen” programs including a symposium, a master class, and exhibitions of the posters and title sequences of the great Saul Bass. Read More
