Houston Jewish Film Festival MARCH 8-22, 2015

Home , Football in Israel, Joseph Green (actor), The Frisco Kid

EVELYN RUBENSTEIN JCC HOUSTON Houston Jewish Film Festival MARCH 8-22, 2015

erjcchouston.org/filmfest

Run Boy Run Festival at a Glance Letter from the Film Chair

3 | Letter from the Film Chair 19 | A Place in Heaven Welcome to the 11th Houston Jewish Film Festival presented by the 4 | Ticket Info and Venues Mamele The Green Prince Evelyn Rubenstein JCC with our venue partners, the Museum of Fine Arts, 5 | Opening Night: Run Boy Run Houston and the Holocaust Museum Houston. 20 | Closing Night: Is That You? 6 | Blumenthal The 26 films you will see during the next 15 days represent the works of a Magic Men 21 | Community Wide Teen Screening: Beneath the Helmet: From High group of outstanding producers and directors from many countries including Transit School to the Home Front the United States, Israel, France, Germany, Poland, Argentina, the Philippines,

7 | Short Film Night 22 | Committee Members and Staff and Uruguay. They have been selected by a dedicated team of film buffs who spent countless hours reviewing and debating the merits of various comedies, 8 | Above and Beyond 23 | Sponsors and Community Partners dramas, documentaries, films about the Holocaust, about Israel, and films of Ida 24 | Arts & Culture Events historical as well as current significance. My thanks to all of the volunteers 9 | The Last Mentsch who provided their time, toil, and talent to make this year’s Festival possible. 26 | Center for Jewish Living & Learning The Art Dealer Events God’s Slave My thanks also to Festival founders Doreen Joffe and Sharon Kagan who had the imagination and wisdom necessary to create and implement the Festival;

10 | Touchdown Israel they continue to lend their expertise and experience to the committee. A The Outrageous Sophie Tucker special thanks to my Co-Chair John Dreyfus, for his diligence, enthusiasm, and 11 | Zero Motivation encyclopedic knowledge of films. Amy Rahmani, the Arts & Culture Program Coordinator at the J has kept me and the entire committee on track, on time, Arabani and on focus. Thank you. 12 | Women’s Night: Orange People Shtisel Finally, the Festival would not be possible without the financial support of our Patrons of the Arts, underwriters, community and corporate sponsors. 13 | Chair’s Choice: The Frisco Kid We appreciate your commitment and dedication to bringing the finest of 14 | HJFF Calendar programs to the J. Every movie ticket from the J 16 | Get Cultured: Hanna’s Journey gets you 10% off at This year, we have decided to institute a Chair’s Choice film. My selection is a Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Laykie’s Gourmet Café at the J Sholom Aleichem 1979 comedy, The Frisco Kid starring Gene Wilder as a rabbi who ventures across the country to take a position at a San Francisco synagogue. He meets con men,

17 | 24 Days a bank robber, and Indians among others. Chased by a posse, he nevertheless Operation Sunflower will not ride his horse on Shabbat. Threatened by fire, he will not give up his 18 | Mr. Kaplan Torah. Wilder’s performance is funny, touching, and not to be missed. A Borrowed Identity Hours During Film Festival See you at the movies! Mon-Thurs: 9:00 AM – 7:30 PM Friday: 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM Helen Wils Sunday: Hours Vary Film Committee Chair Call the J for more information

2 3 Ticket Information

$8 Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Member/Patron of the Arts/ INDIVIDUAL MFAH Film Buff/MFAH Member/HMH Member/ TICKETS Students/Seniors 60+ $10 Public All 5:00 PM Movies at the J are $5

$60 Member FESTIVAL $80 Public PASS $10 discount for Students and Seniors 60+ Festival and Patron Passes provide entry for films only at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC

To purchase tickets and passes, visit erjcchouston.org/filmfest.

Get member pricing to HJFF plus programs throughout the year! Membership starts as low as $180/year! For more detailed information on membership categories and rates, please visit us online at erjcchouston.org/join or call 713.729.3200.

OPENING NIGHT Venues Run Boy Run (Lauf Junge Lauf) Sunday, March 8 | 7:30 PM Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Houston 5601 South Braeswood . Houston, TX 77096 Wednesday, March 18 | 5:00 PM 713.551.7255 . erjcchouston.org/filmfest Evelyn Rubenstein JCC

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston A saga of courage and compassion, Run Boy Run tells 1001 Bissonnet Street . Houston, TX 77005 the true story of a nine-year old Polish boy adrift in Directed by Pepe Danquart 713.639.7515 . Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.org/film France/Germany, 2013, 108 min Nazi-occupied Poland dependent upon the kindness of German, Polish, Russian strangers to outlast the Nazi occupation and preserve with English subtitles his Jewish faith. An escapee from the Warsaw Ghetto, Houston Premiere he learns to hide from SS patrols, forage for food, find Drama Holocaust Museum Houston shelter and an occasional job, and temporary refuge with Morgan Family Center the wife and mother of partisans who teaches him what he needs to know to pass as Catholic. . 5401 Caroline Street Houston, TX 77004 His ultimate choice is whether to assimilate or assume his Jewish heritage. 713.942.8000 . hmh.org Patron Sponsors: Helen Wils and Leonard Goldstein

4 5 Blumenthal Short Film Night Monday, March 9 | 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 10 | 7:30 PM Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Evelyn Rubenstein JCC In this zany comedy, the renowned New York playwright Deserted Blumenthal (Brian Cox) is dead, having succumbed to Directed by Yoav Hornung cardiac arrest while laughing at his own jokes. No one Israel, 2013, 25 min is particularly distraught: not his estranged and jealous On the final assignment of their course as officer candidates in the brother Saul, a constipated college professor of English; Israeli army, two women trek through a harsh desert landscape not Saul’s wife, who seeks solace in the arms of the dog when one suddenly remembers she’s forgotten something crucial. walker who supplements his income by providing non- Directed by Seth Fisher dog-walking services to others; and not Blumenthal’s son, USA, 2013, 86 min a pharmaceutical rep who doesn’t want his non-Jewish English Elijah the Prophet Directed by James Cooper Houston Premiere girlfriend to convert because then she’ll be “enthusiastic.” Canada, 2013, 9 min Comedy Blumenthal is sure to delight audiences with its witty dialogue, jazzy soundtrack, and Manhattan scenes. Elijah the Prophet tells the comedic story of Elijah, the pious, chummy and alcoholic prophet, whose yearly antics have graced Jewish households for ages as part of the Passover celebration. Magic Men (Ha-Ben Shel Elohim) Monday, March 9 | 7:30 PM Audition Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Directed by Udo Prinsen The Netherlands, 2011, 6 min The father: a 78-year old Greek Holocaust survivor, Inspired by drawings of Auschwitz prisoners, Audition depicts adventurer, and magician contemptuous of religion. a young trumpet player trying out for the camp’s orchestra to The son: a devout, insecure Hassidic musician. In this improve his chances for survival. Israeli film, Avraham wants to go to Greece to find the boy who gave him shelter during WWII. Much to Avraham’s dismay, his family insists that his son Yehuda join him Auschwitz On My Mind Directed by Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor on the journey. The two meet Maria, a Greek prostitute; Directed by Assaf Machnes Israel, 2013, 100 min the unlikely trio attempts to locate Avraham’s childhood Israel/Poland/UK, 2013, 16 min Hebrew with English subtitles friend. This is an ambitious and poignant portrait of Houston Premiere An Israeli teenager tries to win the affection of a girl in his class Comedy/Drama family relationships, the divide between religious and while on a school trip to a concentration camp. secular worlds, and the coming together of cultures.

The Funeral Directed by Nick Green Transit UK, 2013, 15 min Tuesday, March 10 | 5:00 PM Arnold is being pulled in two different directions by his mother and Evelyn Rubenstein JCC wife about his son’s Bar Mitzvah. But when a family tragedy brings Transit, Philippines’ entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar, everyone together, it has consequences no one quite expects. examines the lives of Filipino domestic workers in Israel. It is told from the points of view of several of the characters: The Walk Janet, a domestic worker and mother to Yael, a teenager Directed by Aaron Wolf born in Israel of an Israeli father; Janet’s boyfriend Moises USA, 2014, 20 min Directed by Hannah Espia who takes care of a disabled Israeli and is attempting to The kindness of a stranger, played by Peter Riegert, profoundly Philippines, 2013, 92 min keep his 4-year old son Joshua from being deported; and affects a young Brooklyn boy who is grieving over the death of English, Hebrew, Tagalog with English subtitles Tina, a recently arrived Philippino maid. The film examines his father. Houston Premiere the social and economic struggles facing displaced people Drama across the globe and how immigration laws affect human relationships.

6 7 Above and Beyond The Last Mentsch Wednesday, March 11 | 7:30 PM (Der Letzte Mentsch)* Friday, March 13 | 1:00 PM Thursday, March 12 | 7:30 PM Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Holocaust Museum Houston Producer Nancy Spielberg in Attendance March 11 Marcus Schwarz has denied his Jewish heritage all his life. Days before the establishment of Israel, it became Having survived the horrors of Auschwitz, he tries to forget obvious that the new state would have to protect by creating a new identity for himself in Germany. But when itself from invasion by its neighbors. Thus began the Marcus decides he wants to be buried in a Jewish cemetery, birth of what would become the Israeli Air Force. WWII and the rabbis don’t believe he’s Jewish, he is forced to pilots, Jewish and non-Jewish, were recruited at great Directed by Peirre-Henry Salfati return to his childhood Hungarian village to prove his risk to their lives, and for the American volunteers, Germany, 2014, 90 min identity. With all his family gone and no remaining records— their freedom and citizenship. Some were looking for German with English subtitles except the faded tattoo on his forearm—Marcus enlists a adventure; others were committed to the survival of Houston Premiere Drama young Turkish woman to drive him to his village, resulting in Israel; all were heroic. This band of brothers recounts its a journey that will change them both forever. story in this remarkable true-life adventure film directed by Roberta Grossman (Hava Nagila: The Movie; Blessed is the Match) and produced by Nancy Spielberg. The Art Dealer (L’antiquaire)* Sponsored by June and Leonard Goldberg Saturday, March 14| 6:00 PM Directed by Roberta Grossman USA, 2014, 89 min Patron Sponsors: Joanne and Bruce Levy Thursday, March 19 | 1:00 PM English Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Houston Premiere Nancy Spielberg’s visit generously underwritten by Documentary Moira Morris, Calli Saitowitz, and Simone Berry This chic Parisian thriller is set in the world of Nazi-looted In honor of Smoky Simon art. A persistent young journalist finds herself caught up in a web of betrayal and complicity as she investigates stolen family paintings and uncovers a story that has been carefully buried for decades. Anna Sigalevitch delivers a captivating Directed by Francois Margolin performance as a desperate woman searching for truth in France, 2014, 95 min Ida French with English subtitles a past shrouded in mystery. The cast also includes Michel Thursday, March 12 | 5:00 PM Houston Premiere Bouquet, who starred in the biopic, Renoir. Director François Drama Margolin layers the drama with intrigue and touches of Sunday, March 15 | 11:00 AM humor, enhanced by the captivating setting of Paris. Evelyn Rubenstein JCC * Poland, 1962. Ida, orphaned as an infant and brought God’s Slave (Esclavo De Dios) up in a convent, is about to take her vows. But before she does, the mother superior wants Ida to meet Saturday, March 14 | 8:00 PM Wanda, an unknown aunt. At their first meeting, Wanda Museum of Fine Arts, Houston tells a shocked Ida “You’re Jewish.” The two, pure A drama based on the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing, God’s believer (Ida) and the free-living atheist (Wanda), then Slave follows Ahmed, assigned to a suicide mission, and embark upon a quest to discover what happened to Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski David, a fiercely determined Israeli special agent seeking Poland, 2013, 80 min Ida’s parents, a combination road trip, detective tale, to prevent the attack. Ahmed poses as a doctor who Polish with English subtitles and ultimate melding of black and white worlds to lives happily with his wife and young son; though David’s Drama shades of grey. Ida has been nominated for Oscars in Directed by Joel Novoa Argentina/Uruguay/USA/Venezuela, marriage is on the rocks, he remains devoted to his wife Best Foreign Language film and Best Cinematography. 2013, 90 min and daughter. As time runs out, David identifies Ahmed Spanish, French, Hebrew, Arabic as the suspect, culminating in violent, if unexpected with English subtitles Houston Premiere consequences. Venezuelan filmmaker Joel Novoa earned * Festival and Patron Passes are not accepted. Drama/Thriller multiple awards for his compelling debut feature and was named one of Variety’s Top 10 Latin American Filmmakers. 8 9 Touchdown Israel Zero Motivation Sunday, March 15 | 2:00 PM (Efes Be-Yachasei Enosh)* Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Sunday, March 15 | 7:00 PM Who would have believed it? American football is now Museum of Fine Arts, Houston being played in Israel. Today, football in Israel is thriving, PRIVATE BENJAMIN meets with 11 teams and over 600 amateur players from a cross- M*A*S*H, speaks Hebrew, section of Israeli society, including Arabs, Christians, Directed by Talya Lavie and keeps kosher. Set in secular and Orthodox Jews—even Palestinians. In this Israel, 2014, 101 min a remote desert military Hebrew with English subtitles Israeli documentary similar to Hard Knocks, sports is base, a platoon of young Houston Premiere the common bond; religion and nationality matter not. women soldiers, all Israeli Comedy Some players wear their helmets over their kippot. conscripts, serve out their Directed by Paul Hirschberger Others daven before the game begins. But all are brought USA/Israel, 2014, 85 min time playing computer games, singing pop songs, and together by the common language of football. In a English conspiring to get transferred to Tel Aviv—while endlessly country where off-the-field rivalries run deep, Touchdown Houston Premiere serving coffee to the men who run the show. Here’s an Documentary Israel celebrates the unifying power of sports amidst the Israeli film filled with funny, quick-witted, zany women broad religious and cultural diversity of Israel. who wield their staple guns like automatic weaponry. If there is a war going on, it’s one against boredom, bad uniforms, dopey rules, and doing everything in triplicate. – Film Forum The Outrageous Sophie Tucker* Sunday, March 15 | 5:00 PM Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Before Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Midler, Madonna Arabani and Lady Gaga, Sophie Tucker was the first woman to Monday, March 16 | 5:00 PM infatuate her audiences with a bold, bawdy, and brassy Evelyn Rubenstein JCC style unlike any previous performer. Using rediscovered scrapbooks from the entertainer known as “The Last of Yusuf, an Israeli Druze, the Red Hot Mamas,” documentary filmmakers Susan and left his village as a Directed by Adi Adwan Lloyd Ecker take you on their seven-year journey retracing young man, married Israel, 2013, 84 min Tucker’s 60-year show business career, focusing on the an Israeli-Jewish Directed by William Gazecki Hebrew, Arabic with English subtitles USA, 2014, 96 min tumultuous early days of this iconic vaudeville superstar woman, and fathered Houston Premiere English who ruled the 1920s Flapper Era in the United States. two children, now Drama Documentary Commentary by cultural historians and admirers including teenagers. Their Tony Bennett round out Sophie’s story. parents have recently divorced, and Yusuf, who hasn’t been back to his village in many years, decides to return with his Jewish children. The children are bewildered by the traditions of village life. Grandma isn’t delighted by her son’s return, having done the Druze equivalent of sitting shiva for him, and she is far from welcoming to her grandchildren. Arabani examines the social, religious, Did you know? and cultural divides separating the two cultures and Every movie ticket at the MFAH gets you 10% off at Café Express offers us a glimpse into Druze life. in the museum. Make it a “dinner and a movie” kind of night! Café Express is open until 7PM on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

* Festival and Patron Passes are not accepted.

10 11 Join us as the J celebrates women in the month of March! WOMEN’S Make it dinner and a movie with your friends! Bring your NIGHT dinner or buy from Laykie’s Gourmet Café at the J, and we’ll provide the Israeli wine.

Orange People (Anashim Ktumim) Monday, March 16 | 7:30 PM Evelyn Rubenstein JCC

Grandma Zohara, an Israeli immigrant Directed by Hanna Azoulay Hasfari from Morocco, has the Israel/Morocco, 2013, 93 min ability to hold a client’s Hebrew, Arabic object in her hands, fall with English subtitles asleep, and prophesize Houston Premiere Drama CHAIR’S CHOICE the future. Tired of the burden of her mystical powers, Zohara is in search of a female heir to continue The Frisco Kid her work. But who? One daughter, a restaurateur, Tuesday, March 17 | 7:30 PM is not interested even though she has the ability to Evelyn Rubenstein JCC succeed her mother. Another is a gourmet cook in Paris. A granddaughter is interested but does not have the skill. Moving between past and present, Orange People explores the conflicts between generations, modernity and tradition, identity and memory.

RSVP for dinner at [email protected] or call 713.729.3200 ext. 3299 by Thursday, March 12.

Shtisel Tuesday, March 17 | 5:00 PM Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Join us for a classic Jewish film, The Frisco Kid, The new Israeli hit TV series Shtisel – from the producers a favorite of our Film Chair, Helen Wils. of the beloved series Srugim – focuses on a Haredi family living in Jerusalem. Akiva and Shulem Shtisel, father and Avram Belinski (Gene Wilder), a Polish rabbi, is 87th of 88 graduates son, sit on a little balcony overlooking streets of the Geula in his Yeshiva class of 1850. His graduation “gift?” A one way ticket Directed by Robert Aldrich USA, 1979, 114 min neighborhood of Jerusalem. A year has passed since to San Francisco to become the rabbi at a new synagogue. In this ultimate Western comic road trip, Avram falls in with con men, English mother died. All the other children have left the nest, and Drama Directed by Alon Zingman only Shulem and Akiva remain - quarreling, making up, a bank robber, Indians, and Trappist monks as he travels across Israel, 2013, 90 min and laughing. All will change when Akiva meets Elisheva. the country. One critic thought that Wilder “gave one of his very Hebrew with English subtitles best performances” in the film; another wrote that not many actors have been “so willing to Houston Premiere Shtisel is a magical glimpse into an often closed-off world, celebrate their culture and religious convictions as Wilder does here, perhaps…a trait he picked TV Series, Drama overflowing with surprisingly poignant, if restrained, romanticism. We will be showing the first two episodes. up from [Mel] Brooks.”

Patron Sponsors: Doreen and Basil Joffe

12 13 Houston Jewish Film Festival | March 8-22, 2015 Venues Legend Evelyn Rubestein JCC, Kaplan Theatre Holocaust Museum Houston, 5601 South Braeswood . Houston, TX 77096 Albert and Ethel Herzstein Theater 5401 Caroline Street . Houston, TX 77004 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Calendar of Events Brown Auditorium Theater Landmark River Oaks Theatre 1001 Bissonnet Street . Houston, TX 77005 2009 West Gray . Houston, TX 77019

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22 23 24 25 26 27 28 CLOSING DAY 11:00 AM | A Place COMMUNITY WIDE in Heaven TEEN SCREENING 2:00 PM | Mamele 7:00 PM | Beneath the 4:00 PM | The Green Prince Helmet: From High School to 7:30 PM | Is That You? the Homefront Director Dani Menkin Exclusively for teens in Attendance in grades 9-12

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14 15 GET CULTURED: The J’s Arts & Culture Events for People in their 20s and 30s Operation Sunflower Hanna’s Journey (Hanna Reise) Thursday, March 19 | 5:00 PM Exclusively for Ages 21 to Thirty-Something Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Wednesday, March 18 | 7:30 PM When David Ben Gurion returned from visiting a Directed by Avraham Kushnir River Oaks Theatre | 2009 West Gray concentration camp, he Israel, 2014, 105 min $10 | Advanced Purchase Recommended French, English, German recognized the threats to Cash only at the door with English subtitles Israel’s annihilation. The Houston Premiere Ambitious Berliner Hanna decides that if she is going Iranians had missiles and Drama to succeed in business, she will need some volunteer were prepared to launch service work on her resumé. She heads to Israel to work them. Time is of the essence. Against this background, Ben with disabled Jews, cynically explaining, if you’re German, Gurion orders the development of an “insurance policy:” “helping Jews always gets you points, and disabled Jews a nuclear option. The fictional head of the Mossad and count double.” Itay, the Israeli social worker supervising a top nuclear scientist are recruited to develop Israel’s Hanna’s volunteer work, cracks jokes about German guilt nuclear capabilities in a race against time. The mission Directed by Julia von Heinz while openly flirting with her. She resists at first, but soon seems impossible. But working with France and Germany, Germany/Israel, 2013, 100 min finds herself drawn to him. Probing the effects of the they must find a way to protect Israel against its potentially German, Hebrew with English subtitles Holocaust’s looming shadow on third generation Israelis imminent destruction while facing their own moral qualms. Houston Premiere Drama and Germans, the film deftly weaves the personal and the political, illustrating how they are inextricably linked.

Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes 24 Days (24 Jours, La Vérité Sur of Sholom Aleichem Wednesday, March 18 | 7:30 PM L’affaire Ilan Halimi) Friday, March 20 | 1:00 PM Thursday, March 19 | 7:30 PM Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Evelyn Rubenstein JCC

From his childhood in pre-war Vienna, Theodore Bikel was Based on actual events, 24 Days deals with the 2006 Directed by Alexandre Arcady entranced by Sholom Aleichem’s stories. Managing to escape France, 2014, 111 min kidnapping of 23-year old Vienna, his grandmother secretly rescued Sholom Aleichem’s French with English subtitles books. So it was natural that as an actor and singer, Bikel Ilan Halimi, a French Jew. Houston Premiere became one of the foremost interpreters of Sholom Aleichem’s The kidnapping made front- Drama characters, having played Tevye over 2,000 times. The film page news around the world features Bikel’s performance of stories and songs from his and gave rise to a massive police manhunt, oftentimes Courtesy of The National Center for Jewish Film stage shows as well as monologues portraying the most botched and inept. The French police believed the crime famous milkman in musical theater history, and interviews was an attempt to extort money from the Halimi family, with Alan Alda, Fyvush Finkel and granddaughter, Bel Kaufman, not an anti-Semitic act despite all of the evidence to Directed by John Lollos author of Up the Down Staircase, a writer in her own right. the contrary, including an e-mail by the kidnappers that USA, 2014, 75 min reads “We have a Jew.” This disturbing view of recent English Film provided by The National Center for Jewish Film jewishfilm.org Houston Premiere French history also explores the tensions between the Documentary Jewish, Arab, and black communities in France. Patron Sponsors: Lynn and Armand Shapiro Supported by the Rosita and Albert Gaon Lunch and a Movie for Adults 60+ Sephardic Heritage Program Endowment Fund Friday, March 20 | Shabbat Lunch at Noon $8 Member | $12 Public | Price includes film and lunch RSVP REQUIRED by Monday, March 16 to Esther Bethke at 713.595.8186. 16 17 Join us for drinks and dessert in the Joe Frank Theatre of the Arts. Relax in A Place In Heaven between the films: stay late after Mr. Kaplan or come early before A Borrowed Identity. Open 7:45 – 8:45 PM. Your film ticket or pass provides entry. (Makom Be-Gan Eden) Sunday, March 22 | 11:00 AM Evelyn Rubenstein JCC

Mr. Kaplan An odd precept in Jewish law permits a person to sell his place in (Esperando A Míster Kaplan) heaven. But would you strike such a bargain for a month’s worth of omelets? Bambi, a brave, heroic, secular Israeli army officer Wednesday, March 11 | 5:00 PM who recently returned from battle, does just that when he enters Saturday, March 21 | 6:00 PM Directed by Yossi Madmoni into a contract with a religious cook. Years later, when Bambi is on Israel, 2013, 117 min his deathbed, alone and embittered, his ultra-Orthodox estranged Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Hebrew with English subtitles son, Nimrod, tries to repurchase his father’s place in heaven Houston Premiere Seventy-six year old Jacob Drama in this film about father/son relationships, fate, faith, family, Directed by Álvaro Brechner Kaplan believes he hasn’t salvation, military expediency and the inevitable political fallout. Uruguay/Spain/Germany achieved anything in life— 2014, 98 min compared, for example, to Spanish with English subtitles HJFF RESTORATION HIGHLIGHT Winston Churchill. He feels Houston Premiere his life is now restricted: Comedy/Drama Mamele he is retired, has lost his Sunday, March 22 | 2:00 PM driver’s license, is on a no salt diet, and his hearing may Evelyn Rubenstein JCC be failing. Jacob wants to do something for which he will be remembered. Hearing a news report that an 85-year Molly Picon stars as Havche (“Mamele”) in this Cinderella-like old war criminal is in the neighborhood, Jacob and his musical comedy/drama. No one in the family appreciates her: accomplice, a former police officer, begin a search for the neither her ne’er do well father, her two sisters, nor her three alleged Nazi. His search, however, turns up some surprising brothers. She cooks, cleans, washes, sews, rescues her siblings results in this sweetly comic film. The National Center for Jewish Film from disaster, and engages in a little matchmaking, a regular scullery maid in this 1938 restored Polish/Yiddish film. And she shines when she sings many of the old Yiddish favorites A Borrowed Identity Directed by Joseph Green along with her Prince Charming, a violinist who lives across the and Konrad Tom Saturday, March 21 | 8:45 PM courtyard. This picture of pre-war Poland is not to be missed, Poland, 1938, 97 min replete with gangsters, night clubs, sukkahs, and a view of a lost Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Yiddish with new English subtitles world. From award-winning Drama filmmaker Eran Riklis (Lemon Directed by Eran Riklis Film restoration & new English subtitles by Tree; Syrian Bride) comes Israel, 2014, 105 min The National Center for Jewish Film | jewishfilm.org Hebrew with English subtitles his latest entry, A Borrowed Houston Premiere Identity. Eyad, son of an Arab Drama The Green Prince (Hanasich Hayarok) fruit picker whose university career in Jerusalem ended due to his arrest for political Sunday, March 22 | 4:00 PM activity, is a gifted boy from an Arab village. He earns entry Evelyn Rubenstein JCC into a prestigious Jerusalem boarding school; his Hebrew is awkward, he lacks cultural knowledge natural to his Israeli This documentary, based on Mosab Hassan Yousef’s memoir, Son of classmates, and he is isolated until he is befriended by Hamas, relates the story of Yousef’s collaboration with the Shin Bet two of his classmates. Slowly, Eyad sheds his identity as Directed by Nadav Schirman over a 10-year period. As the son of a Hamas leader, he was given the an outsider, makes compromises, and struggles to find his Germany/Israel/UK, 2014, code name “the green prince.” Juxtaposing Yousef’s story with that 99 min of his Shin Bet handler, Gonen Ben Yitzhak, compels the audience to place in the world. Hebrew with English subtitles Houston Premiere examine the decisions each man made, the dangers resulting from Documentary those decisions, and their psychological effect. It is the story of two adversaries embroiled in the clash of history, spy and spymaster, each of whom ultimately places his trust in the other. 18 19 COMMUNITY WIDE TEEN SCREENING Beneath the Helmet: From High School to the Home Front Exclusively for Teens in Grades 9-12 CLOSING NIGHT Wednesday, March 25 | 7:00 PM Evelyn Rubenstein JCC

Is That You? Presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC, and BBYO (Haeem Ze Ata?) in cooperation with Houston Congregational Religious and Jewish Day Schools, along with Sunday, March 22 | 7:30 PM Local Jewish Youth Groups. Evelyn Rubenstein JCC This is a coming of age story that highlights five young Israeli Directed by Wayne Kopping high school graduates who are drafted into the army to defend Israel, 2014, 85 min their country. At the age of 18, away from their houses, family, and English, Hebrew with subtitles friends, these young individuals undergo a demanding journey, Houston Premiere revealing the core of who they are and who they want to be. The Documentary Director Dani Menkin in Attendance film illustrates how these young men and women are protecting Ronnie, a 60-year old Israeli film projectionist, has been not only their homes, but the shared values of peace, equality, opportunity, democracy, fired. He travels to the U.S. to visit his brother, owner of religious tolerance and women’s rights. The lessons they learn along the way can be adapted, Directed by Dani Menkin a used car lot. But Ronnie has a quest: he wants to find understood and appreciated by everyone. USA/Israel, 2014, 84 min Rachel, his lost love. Thus begins the ultimate road trip. English, Hebrew with English subtitles On his journey, he meets Myla, a young filmmaker making Houston Premiere Post film talkback led by Israeli Shaliach, Niv Prager a documentary on regrets; Ronnie is a perfect case Comedy/Drama followed by a Mitzvah Project supporting the IDF. study, so Myla decides to join him in his search. The two encounter a variety of colorful characters, including an opera-singing cop and a pot smoking grandma—willing to talk about their lives in this gentle comedy directed by Dani Menkin (Dolphin Boy) about the road not taken.

Patron Sponsors: Ellen and Daniel Trachtenberg Sponsored by Isabelle and Eric Mayer In honor of John Dreyfus

20 21 Committee Members and Staff Sponsors and Community Partners

2014-2015 Film Committee Supporters Helen Wils, Chair Evelyn Rubenstein JCC John Dreyfus, Co-Chair Patrons of the Ats Doreen Joffe and Sharon Kagan, Founding Chairs Official Hotel of the ERJCC

Margie Beegle Jerry Greenspan Sandy Lessig Barbara Bronstein Ellen Hamburg Joanne Levy Nada Chandler Lindy Kahn Beth Nock Director Joyce Cramer Marisa Katz Miriam Pacht Nancy Epstein Diane Lee Kraitman Stefani Twyford Brian Gavin Diamonds Sue Goott Eve Lapin Joyce Wilkenfeld In-Kind

Evelyn Rubenstein JCC of Houston Fleischer Wine: A Division of Mexcor Jenny Tavor Custom Catering Bobbi Samuels Joel Dinkin President Executive Vice President Media Sponsors Deborah Kaplan Marilyn Hassid Arts & Culture Steering Committee Chair Assistant Executive Director

Amy Rahmani Judy Weil Community Partners Arts & Culture Program Coordinator Arts & Culture Assistant

Jerry Lynch and Lee Snyder Melanie Beltram AIPAC–American Israel Public Affairs Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism Committee Projectionists Executive Administrative Assistant HSPO Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Jewish Family Service Congregation Beth El The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Jewish Feminist Reading Group Congregation Beth Israel Marian Luntz National Council of Jewish Women Curator, Film and Video Congregation Beth Yeshurun Sisterhood Greater Houston Section Congregation Brith Shalom Seven Acres Jewish Senior Care Services Holocaust Museum Houston Congregation Or Ami United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston Tamara Savage Consulate General of Israel to the Yiddish Vinkel of Houston Managing Director/Director of Public Programs Southwest Holocaust Museum Houston Houston Chapter of Hadassah

22 23 Arts & Culture ART Deutser Art Gallery

MUSIC Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939-1949 SHUFFLE Concert February 20–March 30 Sunday, February 22 | 4:00 PM This unprecedented exhibition of iconic Hollywood film posters from 1939 to 1949 illustrates how the motion picture You get to choose! In this family friendly musical celebration, industry countered America's isolationism, advocated going the audience chooses what pieces will be performed. From to war against the Nazis, influenced post-war perceptions of Baroque, Classical and Romantic to Jazz, Pop and Broadway, the Jewish people and the founding of the State of Israel, and a SHUFFLE Concert performance offers an exciting fusion shaped the face of contemporary Jewish life. of great music, for every musical taste. Israeli born Moran Katz, winner of the 2013 Houston Symphony Ima Hogg Competition, leads the ensemble. The Many Faces of Jerusalem: Quilts from Israel Quilters Association April 1–May 20 Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel Great Jewish Composers In 2012, the Israel Quilters Association, invited artists to enter a quilt in an exhibit to celebrate Presented in cooperation with the Houston Symphony its 20th anniversary. The Association chose Jerusalem for its international, multicultural Sunday, March 1 | 4:00 PM character. These quilts express their ideas, hopes, memories, and dreams of Jerusalem. The result is a multicolored and multicultural feast for the eyes; the textiles of dreams. Jeffrey Siegel speaks briefly and informally before performing each composition, making the music more Lamed Vov Project: Paintings by Peter Leventhal accessible and the listening experience more focused and meaningful. This program was selected to pair with the April 1–May 20 Houston Symphony 2014–2015 Season and includes works by Joe Frank Theatre of the Arts George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. The Lamed Vov Project is a special series of paintings by New York artist Peter Leventhal, who paints in the German Expressionist style. This exhibition is a celebration of the good that Michael Tsalka exists quietly in our midst as well as a commentary on the good that has accompanied us in Sunday, March 29 | 4:00 PM even the darkest of times. Pianist and early music keyboard performer Dr. Michael Tsalka was born in Tel-Aviv, Israel and brings an afternoon THEATRE of music by Jewish composers to the J. A versatile musician, he performs solo and chamber music repertoire from the Bad Jews Baroque to the Contemporary periods on the modern piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, clavichord, square piano and April 16–May 3 chamber organ. Directed by Jordan Jaffe Presented by Stages Repertory Theatre and Black Lab Theatre in collaboration with the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC at the J

Daphna has just returned from Israel, empowered by her journey and in love with an Israeli soldier. Meanwhile, her cousin Liam has fallen for an “American Girl” who is anything but Jewish. Battle lines are drawn as the self-absorbed cousins clash over possession of a beloved family heirloom in this riveting new play about claiming the past while building the future. All performances take place at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC.

For tickets call 713.527.0123 or visit stagestheatre.com

24 25 CJLL Spring Scholars Series Wednesday, May 13 From Torah to Table: Kashrut & Ethical Consumption The Ethics of Jewish Eating Lecture | 7:30 PM

Hungry for Jewish learning? Get your fill during What is the relationship between ethics and kashrut? Learn about current food justice this exciting lecture series, positioned between activism in the Jewish community, different Passover and Shavuot, which highlights how perspectives on the dignity of laborer and Jewish text, tradition and values coincide at the new models of activism. We will consider dinner table. Add some Jewish flavor into your labor issues, environmentalism, trade spring holidays as three prominent rabbis from practices, animal rights and other concerns across the denominational spectrum enlighten as we explore Jewish approaches to ethical us with their food for thought. consumption. Jewish learning Per Lecture: $10 Member | $15 Public Shavuot Vegan Ice Cream Bar Per Food Tasting: $7 never tasted so good! Food Tasting | 9:00 PM Series Pass: $45 Member | $60 Public (includes all Wednesday night food tastings and lectures)

It’s not too late…

Wednesday, March 25 Register for the Florence Melton School Healthy Passover Cooking Tips and Tasting of Adult Jewish Learning today! Food Tasting | 6:30 PM–7:15 PM Study with some of the best Jewish educators in the Houston community from across the denominational Sacred Earth, Sacred Time, Sacred Food spectrum and become a part of a meaningful Jewish Lecture | 7:30 PM learning community in the process. Spring courses From the great rupture in relationship between adamah (earth) and adam (earthling) in the begin in February and include American Jewish Garden of Eden, to the coming of Shabbat, to manna in the desert, food is central to the Jewish Experience Through Film, Trends in Modern Jewish story. Even after being severed from its own and every other land, Jewish culture continues to Worship, Jews in America, and more! taste food as sacred. What in all this could help us face the climate crisis of today? Visit erjcchouston.org/melton for details and to register. Wednesday, April 29 The Dybbuk In the Wilderness: Biblical Foods Catered by Laykie American Jewish Experience A PROJECT OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM Through Film Food Tasting | 6:30 PM–7:15 PM

Manna: How a Biblical Food Teaches Us What to Eat Everyday Lecture | 7:30 PM SAVE THE DATE! Yom Ha’atzmaut Community-Wide Celebration As we move away from Passover and get deeper into our counting of the Omer, we will reflect on the Israelites’ journey out of slavery into freedom. Closely studying the biblical narrative, Thursday, April 23 | 4:00 PM–6:30 PM along with the later commentaries, we will learn about the three foods—hametz, matzah and manna—that trace our journey. Our culminating focus on manna will shed light on our complicated, modern food choices. 26 27 EVELYN RUBENSTEIN JCC Houston 5601 S. Braeswood | Houston, Texas 77096 Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage

OFFICIAL AIRLINE OF THE ERJCC PAID Houston, Texas Permit No. 6217

Houston Jewish Film Festival MARCH 8-22, 2015

Use discount code FFBR312 for 10% off a pair of tickets* *discount applies to a pair of full price public tickets and valid only for screenings at the J. Other exclusions may apply. erjcchouston.org/filmfest Above and Beyond