BOSTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL 31st ANNUAL FESTIVAL November 6-17, 2019 / bostonjfilm.org OPENING NIGHT SAFE SPACES WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 6 7:00 PM Josh (Justin Long, Dodgeball) has a lot going Coolidge Corner Theatre on. His job as an adjunct writing professor is being threatened after a student accused him of being inappropriate in class. His beloved Director Daniel Schechter grandmother (Lynn Cohen) is in the hospital, Narrative, 2019, USA, 93 min meaning his divorced parents (Fran Drescher, English The Nanny, and Richard Schiff, The West Wing) Boston Premiere and siblings (including Kate Berlant, Sorry to Bother You) need to all come together. This candid and often-humorous take on how we Join us for a Passholder Party deal with modern crises, both unexpected and at Osaka Restaurant following self-inflicted, is a testament to the importance the screening. of family—no matter how dysfunctional. Followed by a conversation with Actor Justin Long and Director Daniel Schechter 1 MIDFEST WEDNESDAY FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM NOVEMBER 13 7:00 PM The remarkable life of famous human Coolidge Corner Theatre rights activist, Natan Sharansky. In 1977, Sharansky was charged with spying Director Arkady Kogan for America, treason, and anti-Soviet Documentary, 2019, Israel agitation and was sentenced to 13 84 min, Russian with subtitles years of forced labor. No single person New England Premiere symbolizes the era more than he, a “Refusenik” who defied the entire Soviet system in his fight for freedom and national identification. After spending years in prison, he ultimately prevailed, paving the way for all of Soviet Jewry. Followed by a conversation with writer Rachel Sharansky Danziger, Natan Sharansky’s daughter, and writer William Novak. Sponsored by Alan Metzer 2 SPOTLIGHT SCREENING PICTURE OF HIS LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 16 7:30 PM To photograph some of the most fearsome creatures on Earth, Amos New England Aquarium Nachoum has gone face to face with anacondas, giant leopard seals, great Directors Dani Menkin white sharks, orcas, and crocodiles. But and Yonatan Nir at age 65, Nachoum, one of the greatest Documentary, 2019, underwater photographers of all time, Israel/Canada/USA, 71 min is about to face his ultimate challenge: English, Hebrew, and Inuktitut photographing a polar bear, up close, with subtitles without any protection. As he prepares Massachusetts Premiere for his biggest mission in the Canadian Arctic, Nachoum faces past traumas in an intimate story of dedication, sacrifice, and personal redemption. Followed by a conversation with Director Dani Menkin. Co-Presented with 3 CLOSING NIGHT THE RABBI GOES WEST SUNDAY NOVEMBER 17 7:00 PM When Rabbi Chaim Bruk moved from Brooklyn Somerville Theatre to Bozeman, Montana, he left a large Chabad Hasidic community. In all of Montana there are just 2,000 Jewish families—and Rabbi Directors Amy Geller Chaim is determined to put a mezuzah on and Gerald Peary each of their doorposts. While Rabbi Chaim Documentary, 2019, builds his community, becoming beloved by USA, 78 min his congregants, some of the state’s Jews English believe his outreach activities pose a risk to their New England Premiere denominations of Judaism. At the same time, the threat of anti-Semitism, including possible attacks from neo-Nazis, looms. Followed by a conversation with Protagonist Rabbi Chaim Bruk and Directors Amy Geller and Gerald Peary. 4 TLV TV BINGE EYE ON THE ENVIRONMENT TV today rivals movies in both content and quality and Israeli In a world faced with a changing television is setting the standard climate, filmmakers are shining light across the world. Join us as we take on some of the issues most pressing two popular new Israeli TV shows to our planet. Join us for three films off the small screen and onto the that focus on our environment. big screen. Spend all afternoon binging or come for just one show. PICTURE OF HIS LIFE Amos Nachoum has photographed Shows Include: some of the most fearsome creatures on Earth. But he is about AUTONOMIES to face his ultimate challenge: Full Series photographing a polar bear, up From the creator of Shtisel, a close, in its’ endangered habitat. dystopian thriller set after a brutal civil war that left Israel divided with Saturday, November 16, 7:30 pm Tel Aviv as its secular capital and New England Aquarium Jerusalem as an Orthodox “Haredi Sunday, November 17, 11:30 am Autonomy.” Museum of Fine Arts (Alfond Auditorium) 11:30 am For more information, see page 19 For more information, see page 9 SUSTAINABLE NATION TLV TV: MUNA Three remarkable Israelis use Season 1, Ep 1-3 innovative solutions to do their This new show by actress/musician part in bringing clean water to an Mira Awad, follows Muna, an Israeli- increasingly thirsty planet. Arab photographer living in Tel Aviv. Sunday, November 10, 7 pm JCC Reimer-Goldstein Theater 4 pm For more information, see page 22 For more information, see page 17 Muna will be followed by a THERE ARE NO LIONS IN TEL AVIV The story of Rabbi Doolittle, and conversation with Producer how the Tel Aviv zoo he created Mira Awad. became something other than an EVENT TIME idealistic paradise over time. Sunday, November 17, 11:30 am Sunday, November 17, 12:30 pm Brattle Theatre West Newton Cinema For more information, see page 23 5 9TH ANNUAL FRESHFLIX OFFSPRING SHORT FILM COMPETITION Directors Dana Keidar-Levin and Shirly Sasson-Ezer Narrative, 2019, Israel, 19 min Join us for a celebration of new voices in Jewish film with a screening TRAVELOGUE TEL AVIV of eight short films from around the Director Samuel Patthey world, followed by a conversation with Narrative, 2017, Switzerland, 6 min filmmakers! For more information about the films, visit bostonjfilm.org. EVENT TIME Thursday, November 7, 7 pm THE BRIS OF MICHAEL The Center for Arts at the Armory, MOSHE SOLOMON Somerville Director Coral Amiga Narrative, 2019, UK, 11 min Join other young professionals for THE CHEESEBURGER more great films and special events: Director Hillary Nussbaum Narrative, 2018, USA, 5 min TLV TV Binge (page 5) THE DAMNED (page 10) EDEK Director Malcolm Green FLAWLESS (page 11) Documentary, 2018, UK, 6 min LATTER DAY JEW (page 15) FIVE YEARS AFTER THE WAR Directors Samuel Albaric, Ulysse MS. STERN (page 17) Lefort, and Martin Wiklund MY POLISH HONEYMOON (page 18) Documentary, 2018, France, 17 min SAFE SPACES (page 20) I’M FROM THE JEWS Director Niv Hachlili STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN Narrative, 2017, Israel, 17 min (page 21) THE MASTER OF YORK Director Kieron Quirke Narrative, 2018, UK, 15 min 6 SHORT FILM PROGRAM: LAST CLASS IN BAGHDAD BEYOND EXPECTATIONS Director David Langer Documentary, 2017, UK, 17 min Join us for a series of international The last graduating class of the last short films about the surprises and Jewish school in Iraq come together triumphs that can happen at any point for a reunion, decades after fleeing in life’s journey. the country. BUTTERFLIES SENSEI FRAN KICKS ASS Director Yona Rozenkier Director Simone Fary Narrative, 2019, Israel/France, 8 min Documentary, USA, 2019, 20 min A son picks his father up from his Fran Vall travelled the world. Now an kibbutz and takes him on a ride octogenarian, she’s become a master through the countryside. teacher of Judo and Japanese sword fighting. GEFILTE Director Rachel Fleit THE STARFISH Documentary, 2018, USA, 11 min Director Tyler Gildin Documentary, USA, 2019, 40 min When the Hermelin family comes together for Passover, the main star When Herb Gildin’s wife and kids learn is the gefilte fish, prepared using the that he was sent to Sweden to escape family recipe. Nazi persecution, they arrange a reunion with the family who saved him I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOU 60 years earlier. Director Matan Rochlitz Documentary, 2018, Israel/Italy/UK, SCREENING TIME: 14 min Sunday, November 10, 1 pm Bright Family Screening Room As a child Klara had to make the unfathomable decision to leave her father. Decades later, she receives a message from him. ALSO DON’T MISS... THE FIDDLE (page 23) Screening with Tevye’s Daughters BEAR WITH ME (page 23) Screening with There Are No Lions in Tel Aviv 7 #FEMALE ADVOCATE PLEASURE Director Barbara Miller Director Phillipe Bellaïche and Documentary, 2018, Germany/ Rachel Leah Jones Switzerland, 97 min Documentary, 2019, Canada/Israel/ English, French, German, and Switzerland, 108 min Japanese with subtitles Arabic, English, and Hebrew New England Premiere with subtitles Boston Premiere Five extraordinary women from vastly different cultures (an ex- An original, provocative film that Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn, a challenges audiences to consider Somali-British anti-FGM activist, a their own limits when thinking about Japanese manga artist, a German justice. For nearly 50 years, ex-nun, and an Indian sex educator Lea Tsemel, a human rights working to promote love marriages) defender, has represented political are all confronting the way culture prisoners—from non-violent and religion shape women’s demonstrators to armed militants. relationships to sex and pleasure. In the film, two of her cases are Through conversation, education, masterfully juxtaposed: one purely and art, these women aim to professional, the defense of a minor shift the power balance that has accused of attempted murder, and disenfranchised them and regain the other personal, the defense of control of their own bodies. her activist husband against an accusation of treason. Followed by a conversation. Followed by a conversation. SCREENING TIMES Sunday, November 10, 7 pm SCREENING TIME Bright Family Screening Room Monday, November 11, 7 pm Coolidge Corner Theatre Sunday, November 17, 2:30 pm Museum of Fine Arts (Alfond Auditorium) 8 TLV TV: AUTONOMIES CAUSE OF DEATH Director Yehonatan Indursky Director Ramy Katz and Ori Elon Documentary, 2018, Israel, 79 min Narrative, 2018, Israel, 209 min Hebrew and Arabic with subtitles Hebrew and Yiddish with subtitles New England Premiere Massachusetts Premiere On the night of March 5, 2002, From the creator of Shtisel Druze policeman Salim Barakat (BJFF2016), a dystopian thriller responded to a call about a shooter set after a brutal civil war that opening fire on civilians at a Tel Aviv left Israel divided with Tel Aviv as restaurant.