Lead Sponsor 15TH ANNUAL NEW JERSEY JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL Corporate Sponsors Community Sponsors MARCH 15–29 Capitol Lighting Areyvut Friedman LLP B’nai Keshet General Plumbing Supply B’nai Shalom Rosenberg Rich Barker Berman & Co. College of Saint Elizabeth Russell Berrie Foundation Holocaust Education Center Summit Medical Group Congregation Agudath Israel LAUGH The M. and G. Roesch Foundation Hadassah The RVH Group Merrill Lynch Israel Bonds Wilf Family Foundation Jewish Community Housing Corporation MARCH 15–29 Committee Jewish Family Service NCJW–Essex County Section Festival Chair Saint Barnabas Medical Center Joni Cohen Steering Committee Temple B’nai Abraham Temple Sinai Renaissance Group Caren & Herbert Ford Deborah Prinz Sara-Ann Sanders Festival Committee Renee Cohen Vicky Jacobs Helen Jacobson Holocaust Council of Greater MetroWest Joan Lowy LOVE Legow Family Israel Program Center Sharyn & Bert Model Greater MetroWest ABLE Alex Riback Greater MetroWest CARES Mitchell Riback Women’s Philanthropy Sue Rudd Rickey Slezak Dorit Tabak Ticket Information In-Person Visit the Box Office in the Gaelen Lobby, Online adjacent to the Maurice Levin theater on the Visit www.njjff.org first floor of JCC MetroWest. Your printed receipt will serve as your ticket. Box Office Hours By Phone M, W, F: 10:00am–12:00pm, March 2–28 1-800-494-TIXS (8497) At the Door Will call orders will be available for pickup at the JCC MetroWest Box Office located Tickets may be purchased at the theater LEARN on the first floor adjacent to the theater, or venue starting 45 minutes prior to screening, at the theater venue starting 45 minutes prior subject to availability. from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. State the New Jersey from to screening. Advanced purchase is strongly encouraged, as in part funds is made possible by This program films often sell out. Seating Policy Film Festival Pass holders/sponsor seating will begin 30 minutes prior to all screenings. General admission ticket holders will be admitted 15 minutes prior to all screenings. In the event of a sell-out, a waiting list will be created. ANNUAL 15TH NEW JERSEY FESTIVAL FILM JEWISH TM General Information Films are not rated. Parental discretion is strongly advised. Films designated “Adult Content” may contain sexual content, explicit language and/or violence. The NJJFF is not responsible for lost or stolen tickets. Sorry, no refunds or exchanges. Festival programs are subject to change/cancellation without prior notice. For film trailers and the most up to date information about festival events, JOIN THE CONVERSATION! visit www.njjff.org or call the Film Festival hotline at 973-530-3417. visit us at njjff.org Guest Speakers — Post-Film Discussions — Special Programs Like us at Facebook.com/NJJFF | Visit us at njjff.org FIFTEENTH ANNUAL NEW JERSEY JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE | MARCH 15–29 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 CLOSING DAY SUN 22 SUN 29 SUN 15 | OPENING NIGHT DOC DAY SUNDAY SHORTS Starting at 12:30PM 6:00PM Sponsor Dinner | 9:00PM Dessert Reception 12:30PM 7:30PM Border Living Broken Branches Chagall-Malevich Ronit Ifergan Ayala Ben-Nachum Sharot Israel, 2014, 55 mins. Israel, 2014, 25 mins. Aleksandr Mitta Russia, 2014, 119 mins. ê As falling missiles become It was the eve of WWII. Michal Documentary routine in her new neighborhood, Richter was 14 years old when she A magical period drama about the Animated Doc. ê Drama ê Filmmaker Ronit Ifergan and her left Poland for a boarding school in uneasy relationship between two family struggle with their anxiety-ridden new reality. Israel, expecting her family to join artistic geniuses as the October her. She never saw them again. A lifetime later, at the age of Revolution sweeps across Russia and upends the quiet 92, Michal tells her story. provincial life in Vitebsk. 2:15PM An Apartment in Berlin ENCORE MATINEE PRESENTATION The Other Side Friday, March 20, 12:30PM Alice Agneskirchner Germany, 2013, 84 mins. Khen Shalem Israel, 2011, 22 mins. ê Attracted by its cosmopolitan and MON 16 Documentary international atmosphere, Berlin has A simple soccer ball sparks an unusual friendship between two 7:30PM (FREE SCREENING) become a magnet for young Israelis— ê and the three characters at the center of this film are no exception. Drama boys on either side of the Israeli Farewell, Herr Schwarz and Palestinian separation wall. Yael Reuveny 3:45PM Israel/Germany, 2013, 96 mins. Little White Lie On the Road to Tel Aviv Winner, Best Documentary - Khen Shalem Documentary ê Lacey Schwartz Haifa Film Festival Israel, 2008, 18 mins. USA, 2014, 65 mins. A reflection on the nature of German-Israeli relations and the It’s just another day in Israel, as a In her film about identity and family divisions within families, this award winning cinematic journey ê young woman and her fiancé head Documentary secrets, Lacey Schwartz tells her begins with the simple question “what really happened in 1945”? Drama ê for the bus she’ll be taking to Tel Aviv remarkable story about growing up in to return to the University and her Co-Sponsor: College of St. Elizabeth a loving NY family with strong Jewish identity, despite the open studies. But this is no ordinary day, and Israel is no ordinary place. Note: This film will be screened at the Dolan Performing Arts questions about how a white girl could have such dark skin. Center at the College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown Tzniut TEEN SCREENING TUE 17 5:30PM David Formentin Havana Curveball USA, 2014, 12 mins. 7:30PM A Hasidic woman in Brooklyn has a Villa Touma Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel disturbing secret. Although limited ê ê USA/Cuba, 2014, 60 mins. Drama by her social standing in a deeply Suha Arraf Documentary orthodox community, she seeks 2014, 85 mins. A Jewish American teenager discovers his family’s surprising connection to Cuba as he attempts to answers the only way she can. Three unmarried aristocratic make contact and make a difference for those less fortunate. Drama ê Christian sisters from Ramallah have Welcome and… shut themselves in their villa clinging desperately to their former glory, until their orphan niece, Badia, TUE 24 Our Condolences walks into their life and turns their world upside down. 7:30PM Leon Prudovsky Here One Day Israel, 2012, 28 mins. WED 18 In this award-winning comedy, a Kathy Leichter Comedy MATINEE - 12:30PM Russian Jewish family’s already 2012, 76 mins. traumatic immigration experience Advanced Style is heightened to absurd proportions when their old aunt dies ê HERE ONE DAY is a visually Documentary on the plane just before they reach Israel. Lina Plioplyte and Ari Seth Cohen arresting, emotionally candid film USA, 2014, 72 mins. about a woman coping with mental illness, her relationships with her family, and the ripple Based on Ari Seth Cohen’s famed effects of her suicide on those she loved. Documentary blog of the same name, this film paints intimate and colorful Co-Presented with ReelAbilities:NJ TEEN/YOUTH SCREENING portraits of independent, stylish women aged 62 to 95 who 3:30PM are challenging conventional ideas about beauty, aging, and WED 25 Igor & the Cranes’ Journey Western’s culture’s increasing obsession with youth. MATINEE - 12:30PM Evgeny Ruman The Outrageous Israel, 2013, 90 mins. 7:30PM Adventure Magic Men Sophie Tucker After his parents’ divorce and an international move to Israel, 11 year old Igor finds solace and Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor William Gazecki hope while tracking the migration of a flock of cranes from Israel, 2014, 100 mins. USA, 2013, 96 mins. Eastern Europe to Africa. Documentary A Greek-born atheist and his A loving portrait of “My Yiddishe Comedy/Drama estranged Hasidic rapper son travel Mama” singer Sophie Tucker, who catapulted to stardom and from Israel to Greece searching for redefined show business at the dawn of the 20th century. CLOSING NIGHT the magician who saved his father’s life during World War II. 7:30PM 9:00PM Dessert Reception Stateless THU 19 7:30PM 7:30PM Michael Drob Above and Beyond USA, 2014, 87 mins. Run Boy Run Roberta Grossman In 1988, thousands of Soviet Jews USA, 2014, 86 mins. Pepe Danquart Documentary were allowed to leave the USSR Germany/France/Poland, 2013 for the US. Unfortunately, their In 1948, Jewish-American WWII Documentary 108 mins. America no longer welcomed them with open arms and they fighter pilots evaded the watchful ê Drama Academy Award®-winning were stranded in Italy. Stateless. eye of the FBI to sneak out of the filmmaker Pepe Danquart tells country, train and fight in the Israel War of Independence. An the true story of 9-year-old Srulik, who escaped the Warsaw THU 26 unforgettable portrait of conviction, comradery and courage. ghetto in 1942 and learned to survive by hiding and later posing as a Christian war orphan. 7:30PM ê NJ Premiere Shtisel SAT 21 All films will be screened at the Maurice Levin Theater, Alon Zingman JCC MetroWest, West Orange, unless noted otherwise. 8:45PM Israel, 2013, ~45 mins. (per episode) 24 Days In the first 3 episodes of the new, TV Series award-winning Israeli hit series, we Award-Winning Jewish Films Alexandre Arcady follow four generations of the Ultra- Enlightening Post-Film Discussions France, 2013, 108 mins. Orthodox Shtisel family as each member matures and grows. Guest Speakers | Special Programs In 2006, Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Drama Parisian Jew of Moroccan descent SAT 28 gave his phone number to a pretty young woman, unwittingly stepping into a deadly trap. Based 9:00PM GET TICKETS NOW! on a true story, this timely film sheds light on the perils of Hill Start (Zinuk BaAlia) modern French Jewry.