MARCH 6-17, 2019 Naiditch Family Foundation CELEBRATING OUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY 18+ OPENING NIGHT FABULOUS SPECIAL GUESTS FILM MAKER FILMS! JEREMY NEWBERGER BASEBALL PLAYERS RYAN LAVARNWAY DEAN KREMER MARCHJEREMY BLEICH 16-CLOSING2 EVENT1 SPECIAL GUEST EXECUTIVE PRODUCER 20JOHN1 PAULSON5 ANNUAL elcome W We are exceedingly proud to present a premiere line-up of 18 truly outstanding and diverse films that will excite, enlighten and provoke you, our audience. This year, the JFF is celebrating its 10th anniversary. As a special treat, each feature film will be preceded by an animated short created by a student from the Ringling College of Art + Design. The Jewish Film Festival is one of many programs sponsored by The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee in pursuit of its mission: To strengthen Jewish life and identity in our community, provide for Jewish people in need, and promote support for Israel. Jewish Film Festival Founder and Honorary Chair Roz Goldberg 2019 Jewish Film Festival Co-Chairs PLEASE SHARE Fran Braverman and Cheryl Shapiro THE EXCITEMENT WITH US! Event Chairs ? Become a Sponsor! ? Buy Individual Tickets! Opening Night - Bunny Skirboll Closing Event - Gloria Feibus Volunteer Chair Ronnie Riceberg JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING COMMITTEE Roberta Berson, Fran Braverman, Jack Braverman, Geri Drexler, Lenny Drexler, Meredith Ernst, Eric Faerber, Esme Faerber, Helen Glaser, Len Glaser, Barbara Horowitz, Barbara Jacob, Andi Munzer, Bob Munzer, Susan Newmark, Ilene O’Connell, Ronnie Riceberg, Nadia Ritter, Lori Ruland, Cheryl Shapiro, Lois Stulberg, Evans Tilles, Janet Tolbert and Frank Tucciarone ANIMATED SHORTS COMMITTEE Susan Bednarek, Mark Briefman, Jennifer Eisenberg, Marsha Eisenberg, Donna Galvin, Megan Udell 2019 JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL Thank You TO OUR MAJOR SPONSORS FEDERATION TORCH SPONSORS EDIE AND DAVID CHAIFETZ | LEON R. AND MARGARET M. ELLIN DEBBIE AND LARRY HASPEL | NAIDITCH FAMILY FOUNDATION THE ROSENTHAL ROOTS FAMILY FOUNDATION BUNNY AND MORT SKIRBOLL | HADASSAH AND MARTIN STROBEL GOLD SPONSOR SILVER SPONSOR SHELLY AND SY GOLDBLATT BRONZE SPONSORS DR. LOUIS AND MRS. MILLY CHAYKIN CHERYL AND STEVE SHAPIRO MEDIA SPONSORS SPECIAL GUESTS AND EVENTS OPENING NIGHT CLOSING EVENT WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 7PM SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 3PM SARASOTA MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM BEATRICE FRIEDMAN THEATER Our Opening Night Screening will Our Closing Event will feature feature Heading Home: The Tale of a screening of The Mamboniks. Team Israel, a stirring story of sports, Executive Producer John Paulson patriotism and personal growth. will be our special guest along with Mambo inspired music, hors Joining us on Opening Night will be d’oeuvres and drinks. Mr. Paulson filmmaker Jeremy Newberger along is a producer, director, editor with catcher Ryan Lavarnway, pitcher and cinematographer. His recent Dean Kremer (one of two Israelis on production, Mister Rogers: It’s the team) and pitcher Jeremy Bleich. You I Like, aired on PBS and was There will be a question and answer nominated for two Primetime opportunity after the screening with Emmy Awards. Other credits our special guests. include JFK: The Lost Inaugural Sponsor Party at 5:30 pm will be held Gala, the story of the pre- in the tent behind the auditorium. Inauguration Gala for President Join us for a meet and greet with our Kennedy, and the Emmy Award- special guests, and enjoy cocktails winning Les Paul: Chasing Sound, and dinner. a biography of the legendary guitarist and inventor that was part of the PBS American Masters series. The Optimists “Our mission is to turn on the light and conquer the darkness” (Ayelet Eshchar, Kibbutz Ketura, Israel) Narrator: Mandy Patinkin Director: Eliezer Yaari Producer: Irit Ambar www.theoptimists.co.il WEDNESDAY MARCH6 7:00PM OPENING NIGHT SARASOTA MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM TUES., MARCH 12 H11, #7 • 4:00PM 87 minutes English HEADING HOME - THE TALE OF TEAM ISRAEL A stirring story of sports, patriotism and personal growth, Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel charts the underdog journey of Israel’s national baseball team competing for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. After years of defeat, Team Israel is finally ranked among the world’s best in 2017, eligible to compete in the prestigious international tournament. Their line-up included several Jewish American Major League players—Ike Davis, Josh Zeid and ex- Braves catcher Ryan Lavarnway—most with a tenuous relationship to Judaism, let alone having ever set foot in Israel. Their odyssey takes them from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where they are greeted as heroes, to Seoul where they must debunk their has-been, wannabe reputations. With their Mensch on the Bench mascot by their side, the team laughs, cries, and does much soul-searching, discovering the pride of representing Israel on the world stage. Best Documentary of Jewish Arts and Film Festival of Fairfield County, 2018 Audience Award, Philadelphia JFF, 2018 Audience Award, Washington, DC JFF, 2018 Best10 Documentary, Boca Raton JFF, 2018 5 THURSDAY MARCH7 H11, #5 • 1:00PM MON., MARCH 11 H11, #5 • 1:00PM THURS., MARCH 14 H11, #7 • 7:45PM 54 minutes Hebrew, with English subtitles THE OPTIMISTS The Optimists tells the story of Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, a Palestinian chemist, who relocates with his family to Kibbutz Ketura in the southern Arava, in order to become the Academic Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. The Arava Institute was founded 20 years ago on Kibbutz Ketura to advance cross-border environmental cooperation by bringing together Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and others in an academic program that teaches that “nature knows no borders.” The documentary reveals how the kibbutz manages to maintain the essence of kibbutz life and mutual support, focusing on a few key figures on the kibbutz and in the Arava Institute. It also explores whether the optimistic spirit embodied by this collective kibbutz can survive and thrive in today’s Israeli society, and whether its liberal orientation can absorb Muslim Arab Israelis. Nominee, Best Documentary, Jerusalem Cinematic Hanukkah JFF, 2018 6 THURSDAY 7 MARCH 7 H11, #5 • 3:00PM MON., MARCH 11 H11, #7 • 12:00PM FRI., MARCH 15 H11, #6 • 1:00PM 90 minutes English 93QUEEN 93Queen is set in the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn, where EMS corps have long been the province of men. Though the neighborhood is home to the largest volunteer ambulance corps in the world, known as Hatzolah, that organization has steadfastly banned women from its ranks. This engaging documentary follows a group of tenacious Hasidic women who are smashing the patriarchy in their community by creating Ezras Nashim, the first all- female volunteer ambulance corps in New York City. With unprecedented and insider access, this film follows the formation and launch of Ezras Nashim through the organization’s first year on the ground. It offers up a unique portrayal of empowered women who are taking matters into their own hands to change their own community from within. Nominee, Best Documentary, Jerusalem Cinematic Hanukkah JFF, 2018 Official Selection, Hot Docs, 2018 7 THURSDAY MARCH7 H11, #5 • 7:00PM THURS., MARCH 7 H11, #6 • 7:00PM TUES., MARCH 12 H11, #5 • 12:00PM TUES., MARCH 12 H11, #6 • 12:00PM FRI., MARCH 15 H11, #7 • 3:00PM 93 minutes English, Hebrew, Arabic with English subtitles SHELTER Mossad agent Naomi is called back from sick leave and assigned to a “babysitting” job. Under a new identity, she heads to Germany to protect Mona, a beautiful Lebanese informant, whom special agents have pulled from her country and hidden in a Hamburg safe house while she recovers from plastic surgery. Naomi soon learns that Mona is very close to a top Hezbollah leader, a man she betrayed and who is dead-set on exacting revenge. During the two weeks they spend together, an unexpected bond forms between the two women, forged from shared risks and a deep understanding of loss. But in this high-stakes game of deception, questions of fate may be out of their control. Official Selection, Haifa Film Festival, 2017 Official Selection, Warsaw Film Festival, 2017 Official Selection, Palm Springs International Film Festival, 2018 11 8 THURSDAY 7 MARCH7 H11, #6 • 12:00PM WED., MARCH 13 H11, #6 • 12:00PM FRI., MARCH 15 H11, #5 • 12:00PM 96 minutes Spanish, with English subtitles THE LIGHT OF HOPE This is the harrowingly true story of Elisabeth Eidenbenz, who was awarded the status of Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government in 2002 for her role as founder of the Mothers of Elne, which saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish mothers and children during WWII. In the early 1940’s, European refugees, including countless Jewish women and children, sought shelter as they escaped persecution by the Nazis and Franco’s regime in Spain. Refugee camps were in horrendous condition, leaving women and children dying from malnutrition or disease. An appalled Elisabeth decides to convert an abandoned mansion in Elne into a maternity home, providing the refugees shelter, thus saving them from certain death. Soon however, Gestapo agents grow suspicious and demand she hand over all Jewish refugees and their children or be imprisoned. Elisabeth, the mothers, and their supporters will do everything in their power to prevent it. Best Movie, Gaudi Awards, 2018 Audience Award, Festival de Luchon, 2017 Best Actress Award, Noemie Schmidt Schweizer Fernsehfilmpreis, 2017 9 THURSDAY MARCH H11, #6 • 3:007PM MON., MARCH 11 H11, #6 • 12:00PM TUES., MARCH 12 H11, #6 • 3:00PM 94 minutes English KEEP THE CHANGE David, an upper-class charmer, leads a very comfortable life until he is mandated to attend a support group for adults with disabilities. There, he is forced to come to terms with his own high-functioning autism, despite his resentment towards being singled out as different, or anything other than what he interprets as ‘normal.’ In group, David is paired with Sarah —a quirky and outgoing woman whose optimism initially irks David— and the two take a trip together to the Brooklyn Bridge.