Luke David Blumm stars in “Avenue of the Giants.”
By Deb Silverthorn
The popcorn and snacks are being readied and the ticket takers look forward to opening the doors for the 28th Annual Jewish Film Festival of Dallas, produced by the Aaron Family JCC. Screenings of 10 films will run from Wednesday, Sept. 4 until Monday, Sept. 30, with shows at Studio Movie Grill Royal Lane and LOOK Dine-In Cinema on Northwest Highway.
“I’m excited about this season and our lineup. We’ve watched almost 50 films and while it was difficult to narrow it down to the finalists, I absolutely love every one of them,” said Kimberly Ross, who has been on the Filmfest committee for nearly five years and is now its chair. “We have lighthearted comedies, documentaries and dramas — all entertaining and something for everyone.
“The Film Festival is a great escape and at the same time a wonderful chance to come together as a community,” said Ross. “It’s always important to ‘do Jewish’ and in this season of such heightened antisemitism, there’s something about being together and supporting so much of who we are that is healing and right.”
Colleyville Police Chief Michael C. Miller, at the forefront of the Jan. 15, 2022, hostage crisis, is shown in “Colleyville.”
Enea Sala (left) and Christian Mudu in “Kidnapped.”
The festival returns to an in-person-only format. At press time, community partners include the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at UT Dallas, Congregation Shearith Israel, the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest, Dallas Jewish Historical Society and Simcha Kosher Catering.
“Home,” featured at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at SMG, is a thriller based on a true story of an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student who opens an electronics shop in an observant community in Jerusalem. As the shop introduces residents to a world of advanced technology, the increasing intrusion of modernity is an affront to the community’s leadership, leading to conflict which forces Yair to struggle for survival.
At 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5, at SMG, “Gloomy Sunday” provides a romantic drama set in Budapest in the 1930s that follows three men — an intellectual restaurant owner, a mysterious musician and an erratic businessman — who are in love with a beautiful waitress during World War II.
Laughter embodies “The Catskills,” which makes its Texas premiere at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9, and will be shown again at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at SMG. The documentary shares lost-and-found archival footage and a cast of characters with the gift of gab. “The Catskills” journeys into the New York State mountain getaway that served as both a refuge for Jewish immigrants fleeing poverty and also a lavish playground.
The screening of “Nor By Day, Nor By Night,” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at SMG, will be followed by a Talk Back with Congregation Shearith Israel’s Rabbi Adam Roffman. The film follows Rafael, who recently celebrated his bar mitzvah in Bnei Brak and is studying for yeshiva entrance exams. While one of the most qualified students, Rafael believes his Sephardic background will keep him away from his community’s prestigious, and historically Ashkenazic, yeshivas.
The hotel dance team at Grossinger’s Catskills Hotel are featured in “The Catskills.”
“Avenue of the Giants,” showing at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at SMG and again at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, at LOOK Dine-In Cinema, is the true story of Herbert Heller, who kept hidden from his family his experience as a teenage boy who survived Auschwitz. Later in life, after meeting a teen with her own brush with pain and death, Heller is inspired to open up and find a healing relationship. Dr. Nils Roemer, director of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies Arts at UT Dallas, leads the Talk Back following the Sept. 19 screening.
“Four Winters: A Story of Jewish Partisan Resistance and Bravery in WWII,” sponsored by the Karla and Larry Steinberg Family, has its Texas premiere at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at SMG. The documentary allows viewers to explore and understand the Holocaust through interviews with and personal artifacts of some of the last living Partisans who, against unimaginable odds, fought against Hitler’s war machine as it raged across Eastern Europe.
After the screening, Dallas’ Dr. Murray Johnson and his daughter Tanya Johnson, the son and granddaughter of Partisan heroes, the late Leah and Wolf (born Velvel Yanson) Johnson, will speak with the writer and director, Julia Mintz, about the making of the film.
“We believe the Film Festival gets stronger every year and we’re honored to sponsor ‘Four Winters,’” said Karla Steinberg, a former JCC board member who served on the Film Festival’s committee. “It’s an invaluable and meaningful story of young adults bonding together who became part of the salvation of the Jewish people. It’s films like this that keep our history alive.”
At 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23, at SMG, “No Name Restaurant” offers the tale of an ultra-Orthodox Jew and his Bedouin guide whose car breaks down in the Sinai desert while en route for Passover. The men must travel on foot, giving them a chance to get to know one another better, when their travels — including a night in a Greek monastery — go increasingly awry.
“All About the Levkoviches” screens at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at SMG. Another Texas premiere, the film follows Tamás, a generous but stubborn boxing coach, who gets along well with everyone but his son. When Tamás’ wife dies, he allows his son to sit shiva in his house as long as he brings his grandson with him, providing an unexpected journey of self-reflection and reconciliation.
At 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29, at LOOK, “Colleyville” brings the Festival home with a screening of the documentary. The Talk Back will feature the film’s director, Dani Menkin, as well as a number of the rescued hostages and law enforcement representatives, reflecting on the North Texas hostage situation, which took place at Congregation Beth Israel on Jan. 15, 2022. Documentary participants include Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, formerly of Congregation Beth Israel; fellow hostages Jeffrey Cohen, Lawrence Schwartz and Shane Woodward; family members, police and FBI leads.
The Jewish Film Festival of Dallas closes with “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30, at SMG. In 1858, in Bologna’s Jewish quarter, the pope’s soldiers, by order of the cardinal, kidnapped a 7-year-old boy who, secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby, was required according to papal law to receive a Catholic education. The struggle of the child’s parents, while supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, takes a political turn and neither the church nor the pope will return him.
“The Jewish Film Festival has a rich history and we’ve been entrusted with providing our community with the best Jewish films,” said Rachelle Weiss Crane, the J’s director of Israel Engagement and Jewish Living and producer of the J’s BookFest and Jewish Film Festivals. “Our dedicated committee and sponsors are awesome and we’re thrilled with this year’s selections. We can’t wait to see everyone at the movies!”
For times and locations, for additional information and to purchase tickets, visit jccdallas.org/special-events/film-festival.
