The 17th AnnuAl Washington JeWish Film Festival november 30–December 10, 2006 | wjff.org An Exhibition of International Cinema Presented by the Washington DCJCC’s Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts Co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel and Washington Jewish Week The Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts is supported by a grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Festival is supported in part by a grant from the United Jewish Endowment Fund. Al The 17th Annu Film Festival Washington JeWish An Exhibition of International Cinema sunday monday Tuesday sunday at the AARON & CECILE at BUSBOYS AND POETS at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE ieber b GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER Florentene 18-J toots 7:00 pm nina’s home toots el Cantor the living orphan Just an ordinary Jew with 12:00 pm 1:00 pm 1:00 pm 1:00 pm 1:00 pm 1:00 pm the holocaust tourist the Rape of europa 5:45 pm saved By Deportation at the GOETHE-INSTITUT the Journey of vaan nguyen with 18-J Be Fruitful & multiply at the NatIONAL WASHINGTON 8:25 pm ozez and Melinda ozez 2:30 pm Kylie goldstein: all american 5:00 pm 6:00 pm GALLERY OF ART Close to home p Who Killed Walter Benjamin... 6:30 pm 7:45 pm Blues By the Beach sisai at the LANDMARK BETHESDA lonely man of Faith: the life the Rape of europa 2:00 pm orman Wil with the metamorphosis and legacy of Rabbi Joseph B. Wide awake with 4:30 pm Foundation Family Street amilton 7:00 pm ROW CINEMA 12:30 pm n 8:30 pm h soloveitchik orders of love Who Was Kafka? Wrestling with angels: Close to home out of sight the 8:00 pm 9:45 pm 4:00 pm Playwright tony Kushner 6:30 pm 6:30 pm Foundation Lehrman & Charlotte he Jacob t ored by ored by at the EMBASSY OF S 8:45 pm SWITZERLAND at the NatIONAL MUSEUM at the LANDMARK BETHESDA at the AFI SILVER THEatRE ored by S OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS ROW CINEMA Spon at the LANDMARK BETHESDA matchmaker: in search steel toes ored by S ROW CINEMA Brother’s shadow of a Kosher man Spon lover other: the 3:45 pm 7:00 pm steel toes story of Claude 6:30 pm Spon Cahun and 6:30 pm Just an ordinary Jew with marcel moore the holocaust tourist You’re so Pretty 6:30 pm 8:20 pm 3 4 8:30 pm 5 sunday sunday at the AARON & CECILE Four Weeks in June GOLDMAN THEatER and Closing night Reception Work-in-Progress: Breaking 7:30 pm the Rules—White Resistance to apartheid in south africa at the THE AVALON THEatRE Noon 51 Birch street i only Wanted to live 2:15 pm 1:20 pm Wide awake with Brother’s shadow orders of love Micheline Klagsbrun and Ken Grossinger Ken and Klagsbrun Micheline 3:20 pm 4:15 pm Paper Dolls with ored by by ored David + Jonathan S 5:30 pm Spon 10 Thursday friday saturday at the AARON & CECILE ran at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE t GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER Air Family law and Yossi & Jagger an evening with eytan Fox: opening night Reception 1:00 pm Presentation of the Decade ored by S 7:00 pm S. Kurlander Stuart award and Conversation 5:45 pm Yossi & Jagger Spon Al short Films Big laughs th Annu 9:15 pm ored by ruce Smith Family Foundation Smith Family ruce S (chutzpah This is; unchosen; The The 17 b Tribe; A Good Joke; naturalized) Festival Spon Film avid d 8:00 pm he Washington JeWish t Walk on Water 9:50 pm An Exhibition of International Cinema ored by S at the AFI SILVER THEatRE nina’s home Spon 7:00 pm You’re so Pretty 9:30 pm 30 FRee FRiDaYs! 1 2 weDnesday Thursday friday saturday 3 at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE at the AARON & CECILE weck GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER d GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER GOLDMAN THEatER 18-J out of Faith ndowment nina’s home toots el Cantor e the living orphan Just an ordinary Jew with 1:00 pm 1:00 pm 1:00 pm 6:15 pm the holocaust tourist 1:00 pm 1:00 pm Fund ndowment the Rape of europa e 5:45 pm the Journey of vaan nguyen with 18-J Be Fruitful & multiply at the NatIONAL alph and Louie alph and Louie 8:25 pm r Kylie goldstein: all american 5:00 pm 6:00 pm GALLERY OF ART Close to home 6:30 pm 7:45 pm sisai at the LANDMARK BETHESDA lonely man of Faith: the life Singer”he Street the Rape of europa t Wil with the metamorphosis and legacy of Rabbi Joseph B. Wide awake with 7:00 pm ROW CINEMA ored by 12:30 pm S atner Salzberg and Michael Salzberg Salzberg atner soloveitchik Jewish United The orders of love 8:30 pm “ racy r Wrestling with angels: Close to home el Cantor t 8:00 pm 9:45 pm Playwright tony Kushner 6:30 pm 8:20 pm Spon at the EMBASSY OF 8:45 pm eborah ored by ored by d at the LANDMARK BETHESDA S SWITZERLAND at the NatIONAL MUSEUM he Arthur OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS ROW CINEMA t matchmaker: in search at the LANDMARK BETHESDA Spon of a Kosher man ROW CINEMA lover other: the Brother’s shadow ored by ored by S story of Claude 6:30 pm ored by 7:00 pm steel toes S Cahun and with 6:30 pm Spon Just an ordinary Jew marcel moore the holocaust tourist Spon You’re so Pretty 6:30 pm 8:20 pm 8:30 pm 6 7 FRee FRiDaYs! 8 9 alPhaBetiCal LISTING of the Films (see corresponding pages message from The DirecTor for descriptions of movies) When talking about the Festival to reporters and other media types the 18-J ............................................................................... 14 most common question I am asked is, “Does this year’s Festival have a 51 birch Street ........................................................20 particular theme?” As if being a Festival of Jewish films and filmmakers was A Good Joke ..............................................................9 not theme enough, still, I understand their need to be able to place discrete be Fruitful and Multiply ...................................... 17 labels on things: “the holocaust” or “Israel-Palestine conflict” or “inter- blues by the beach .............................................. 12 faith relationships.” My response most often is to resort to the image of film brother’s Shadow .................................................. 18 festival-as-kaleidoscope. The beauty is not in any theme, but in the new and Chutzpah This Is? ....................................................9 arresting combinations of light filtered through a randomized assortment of frames. Close to Home ........................................................ 16 david + Jonathan .................................................. 21 THAT’s whaT I SAY MOST YEARS. BUT NOT THIS YEAR. The decade Award — presented to eytan F17ox .............................9 To preface, let me say that we never go looking for a theme. We do look el Cantor .................................................................... 17 for the best films we can find and let the chips fall where they may. Just Family Law .................................................................8 sometimes, the chips form an un-ignorable pattern. Like this year. Florentene ................................................................. 13 Four Weeks in June ............................................. 21 Like the million chimps at a million typewriters, it only makes sense that The Holocaust Tourist ......................................... 18 eventually “family” would emerge as a theme for the WJFF. And there is an initial resistance to the label. There are few more oft-maligned descriptors I only Wanted to Live ........................................20 than “family film.” Usually, the phrase suggests bland cinematic fare whose The Journey of Vaan nguyen .......................... 13 highest goal is not to offend anyone. Other times, and more disturbingly, Just an ordinary Jew .......................................... 18 it is a codeword meant to indicate that nothing outside a narrow zone of Kylie Goldstein, All American .......................... 13 comfort will arise that is too challenging, thought-provoking or discomfiting The Living orphan ................................................ 19 to the audience. These films may not portray anything we might recognize Lonely Man of Faith: The Life as reality from our own families, but strangely enough can go to press with a and Legacy of rabbi “family-values” seal of approval. Joseph b. Soloveitchik ................................. 18 Lover other: The Story of Claude By my count, a full two-thirds of the films this year deal with the complex Cahun and Marcel Moore ............................ 16 relationships, serpentine emotions and instinctual attractions of family. Matchmaker: In some instances, like Family Law, Brother’s Shadow, Living Orphan and In Search of a Kosher Man ......................... 14 Close to Home — it’s right there in the title. In Out of Faith, You’re So Pretty, Out of Sight and El Cantor — families in crisis are center The Metamorphosis ............................................. 14 stage. For the non-fiction protagonists of 51 Birch Street, Sisai and naturalized ...............................................................10 The Journey of Vaan Nguyen the quest to understand one’s parents nina’s Home ...............................................................8 opens the most unexpected journeys with uncertain destinations. Many orders of Love .......................................................20 times getting married like in Matchmaker or becoming a parent, as in out of Faith .............................................................. 16 Wide Awake is a key stop in that unending quest. Because our families in out of Sight ............................................................. 13 many ways define us — either we embrace the legacy they hand us, as in paper dolls .............................................................