CONTENTS & FESTIVAL STRANDS SPONSORS 1 Drama 39-55 UK TOUR 2 LOVE TRILOGY 40-41 WELCOME MESSAGE: 3 TV DRAMA 43 Michael Etherton ISRAELI DRAMA 44-49 WELCOME MESSAGE: 5 Jonathan Lewis Comedy 56-61 UK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL 6-9 AWARDS A CRYSTAL BALL 60-61 A GUIDE TO THE PROGRAMME: 11 Shorts Programmes 63-71 Nir Cohen PEARS SHORT FILM FUND AT Galas 12-16 UK JEWISH FILM 64-65 Documentary 17-33 SPECIAL EVENTS 72-76 The Alan Howard 18-22 GUESTS 77-80 International Documentary Strand PEOPLE AND THANKS 81 EDUCATION 23 VENUES AND BOOKING 83 INFORMATION JEWISH WAYS OF SEEING 24-25 LONDON TIMETABLE 84-85 BEHIND THE MUSIC 26-27 Through The Maelstrom: 34-38 INDEX 86 Women And The Holocaust FESTIVAL PROGRAMME SPONSORS Alan Toni Schiff Howard Memorial Fund Media Partner Hotel Partner Festival Partner Festival Partner Shoresh The Sybil The John Charitable Shine Memorial S Cohen The Kobler Hirschel Trust Trust Foundation Trust Foundation PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE PATRONS David and Judy Dangoor Louise and Hilton Nathanson Carolyn and Harry Black The Diana and Allan Wendy Fisher Bianca and Stuart Roden Muriel and Gus Coren Morgenthau Charitable Alan Howard Isabelle and Ivor Seddon Charitable Foundation Trust David and Annie Lass Dr Edward and Mrs AWARD SPONSORS Andrew Stone Nadine Wojakovski Sponsored by: Sponsored by: DORFMAN BEST AUDIENCE BEST FILM The Diana and DOCUMENTARY Kirsh AWARD AWARD Allan Morgenthau AWARD Foundation Charitable Trust FUNDING CONTRIBUTORS FILM SPONSORS Anonymous Sharon and Jonathan Goldstein Anne Joseph and The Gerald and Gail Ronson Edward Azouz Jane and Michael Grabiner James Libson Family Foundation Julia and Simon Alberga Jeffrey Gruder QC and Manchester Jewish Sandra and Geoffrey The Benson Black Memorial Gillian Gruder Philanthropic Searchlight Charitable Trust MultiExposure - The Sandra Jacobs Carolyn and Mark Mishon Liz and Philip Shapiro Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust Carmel and Emanuel Mond Edwin Shuker Neil and Debra Blair Stella and Zamir Joory Fiona and Peter Needleman Alan Spier and Judith Gordon David and Nili Chinn James and Jane Kessler Erica and Stuart Peters Rosalyn and Nicholas Springer The Emanuel Charitable Trust Always remembering the truly Sara and Paul Phillips Techno Constructions Ltd Lord and Lady Collins of upstanding Henry & Renata Knobil Stephanie and Rob Rackind Mapesbury Caroline and Michael Kuhn Ramar Charitable Settlement SUPPORTERS Jonathan and Lydia Engler Joyce and David Kustow The Ralph Levy The Patsy Bloom Barbara and Stanley Green Sabrina and Eric Lemer Charitable Company Charitable Trust Jackie and Michael Gee Karen and Lawrence Lever Susan and John Reizenstein The Grunschlag Family The Rind Foundation Ashley and Rachel Summerfield IN KIND SPONSORS / PARTNERS Danielle and Maurice Helfgott UK Jewish Film is a registered charity No. 1072914. The selection of films and events for the UK Jewish Film Festival does not reflect in any way views or preferences of the sponsors or those who support the festival. SPONSORS 1 UK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL UK TOUR Supported by the BFI Audience Fund UK Jewish Film is proud to present a wide-scale nationwide tour, which will run from 6th November to 12th December in more than 20 towns and cities across England, Wales and Scotland. The tour will bring highlights from this year’s festival, alongside panel discussions and special events to areas of the country where these films would not otherwise be screened. It is our mission to bring Jewish stories through film to some of this country’s smallest Jewish communities, alongside awareness of Jewish culture to the wider public and cinema goers. We are very much hoping that the tour will appeal to Jewish and non- Jewish audiences alike, so please tell your friends and relatives about it. Touring films include The Birdcatcher, Echo, God of the Piano, It Must Schwing!, My Polish Honeymoon and Solomon & Gaenor. Our touring destinations include: 1. Bangor Pontio 2. Birmingham Mailbox 3. Brighton Duke’s at Komedia 4. Bristol Watershed 5. Cambridge Arts 11 6. Cardiff Chapter 7. Chichester Chichester Cinema 8. Edinburgh Filmhouse 10 8 9. Exeter Picturehouse 10. Glasgow GFT and CCA 15 11. Inverness Eden Court 12. Liverpool FACT 13. Leeds Seven Arts 13 21 14. Manchester Cineworld Didsbury and HOME 1 12 20 15. Newcastle Tyneside 14 16. Northampton Filmhouse 1816 17 17. Norwich Cinema City 2 15 18. Nottingham Broadway 5 19. Oxford Phoenix 19 20. Sheffield Showroom 6 4 7 21. York City Screen 9 3 We are also delighted to present UK Jewish Film Festival, Manchester, with another packed programme of 12 films including many Q&As and panel discussions, all presented at HOME and Cineworld Didsbury cinemas from 7th - 21th November 2019. Full details of tour dates will be available from 26th September at ukjewishfilm.org 2 UK TOUR FESTIVAL PROGRAMME WELCOME FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE Michael Etherton I’m often told that there is no such thing as a whilst The Human Factor is an engrossing insiders’ Jewish film, yet the UK Jewish Film Festival, which perspective on the highs and lows of the 1990s now has the largest Jewish film festival programme Israeli-Palestinian peace process. in the world, and continues to grow in audience numbers year on year, shows that there are many We are delighted that, as well as being the first who would disagree. Jewish film festival to be BAFTA qualifying, we are now also a qualifying festival for the British We are the UK’s only film festival dedicated to telling Independent Film Awards. For 2019 we will be stories about Jewish life and experience, and the launching a new Best Documentary Film Award majority of the films we show would not otherwise with a jury comprising some of the most important make it to your local cinema or online streaming players in the UK’s documentary film industry. service. Our mission is to promote and highlight the Meanwhile audiences have the chance to select importance of Jewish culture within British society, their favourite film through the Audience Award and whilst giving British Jewish people a stronger sense we urge you to vote through our website, from 6th of pride and identity. November. This year’s festival, our 23rd, brings you more than 95 We also bring you films that mark notable cinematic extraordinary films from 24 countries. New for this milestones including the 20th anniversary of the year is a truly UK-wide national tour, supported by beautiful, Jewish-Welsh epic, Solomon & Gaenor, the BFI’s Audience Fund, which presents highlights the 10th anniversary of the Coen Brothers’ wry of the festival in 21 towns and cities across England, comedy classic, A Serious Man, and the 30th Scotland and Wales. From Inverness to Brighton anniversary of the delightful Oscar-winning comedy, and Bangor to Norwich, we will reveal wonderful Driving Miss Daisy. Don’t miss that all time classic snapshots of Jewish life to diverse audiences who Fiddler on the Roof, subtitled so that those who may not otherwise have any interaction with Jewish want to can sing along with abandon. culture. We also support a new generation of filmmakers We are excited to bring you our four powerful gala through our Pears Short Film Fund at UK Jewish films, which span Jewish comedy, international Film so please join us for the world premieres of On politics, and the world of espionage. Our Opening the Beaches and Home on Monday 11th November at Night Gala comedy, My Polish Honeymoon, the Phoenix. exemplifies a contemporary state of mind - two young people, both completely at ease with their Thank you to all of you for your incredible support, French and Jewish identities, are unnerved by and I wish you an enjoyable and entertaining ominous echoes of Europe’s troubled past. Jojo festival. Rabbit from award-winning New Zealand director, Taika Waititi, brings us an astonishing comic and satirical tour-de-force depicting the Third Reich from the perspective of a ten-year-old boy. The Michael Etherton Centrepiece Gala’s tense spy thriller The Operative stars Diane Kruger and Martin Freeman, Chief Executive WELCOME FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE 3 UK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL WE MAKE SURE JOSEPH CELEBRATES EVERY FESTIVAL Joseph, care home resident Let’s face it we are a community that loves festivals! There’s something special about coming together to celebrate. That’s why for Joseph, one of Jewish Care’s residents, our dedicated staff and volunteers ensure that every festival is celebrated and enjoyed. To find out more about our services, visit jewishcare.org or call 020 8922 2222 Charity4 Reg No. 802559 19-275-NJ UK Jewish Film Festival advert 2019.indd 1 12/08/2019 11:09 FESTIVAL PROGRAMME WELCOME FROM THE CHAIRMAN Jonathan Lewis Dear film lovers, Welcome to the 23rd UK Jewish Film Festival continues throughout the year with our regular and to what I believe will be an outstanding screenings and our audience is now some year of entertainment and a wonderful display 30,000 people. We have also been taking, to of the richness of Jewish culture as expressed some schools in Tower Hamlets, our programme through film. for educating children about antisemitism through using film extracts as a tool for This year we are able, with the benefit of learning and debate. funding from the British Film Institute, to take the festival to venues throughout the We are always looking for ways of broadening country with more than 20 cities having the our audience both within the Jewish community benefit of the very best that the festival has to and wider. To this end, I am delighted that this offer, on top of our twelve venues in London. year we have set up a panel of young people to Many of these cities have very small Jewish judge the new Young Jury Award for Best Short communities and have very little exposure Film.