Colleyville

Name: Colleyville
Start: 2024-11-24
End: 2024-11-24
Location: Virtual

CLOSING NIGHT EVENT WITH RECEPTION

Colleyville, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, has a history of being ranked the safest city in Texas. It is so peaceful and so safe that (almost) no one has ever heard of it until January 15, 2022, when a terrorist seized Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville. The synagogue live-streamed its services via Facebook, and the streaming continued throughout the hostage situation. More than 200 local, state, and federal law enforcement officials, including a SWAT team and 70 FBI hostage negotiators and rescue operatives, were called in. For the first time, all of the hostages and their families tell their stories on camera.

WHY WE LIKE THIS FILM: From acclaimed director and long time friend of the festival, Dani Menkin, this documentary reveals the story of the Dallas area synagogue hostage crisis in a thrilling and entertaining manner. Dani is a superb story teller and his latest film is no exception. Dani will be joining us for this, our closing night event.

Sponsors:

Community partners:

Our closing night event will be very special.

We’ll have a reception starting at 7PM in the Kaufman Family Living Room at the Dell JCC with vegetarian kolaches and beer from Batch as well as a free bar. Enjoy live music from Paul Klemperer. All of this is included in your ticket price.

The movie begins at 8PM with long time friend of the festival director Dani Menkin with us in person for a Q&A panel after the film. Jeffrey Cohen and Shane Woodward, two of the hostages from the Colleyville crisis, will also be joining us, as well as Michael Miller, Police Chief of Colleyville. This is a gripping film, but it also contains moments of levity. This is Dani’s first ever movie to focus on a US subject. AJFF has been involved with this project for a while, and members of our community contributed to completion funding for the film. We are honored to be able to present the final film in what promises to be a strong finish for this year’s festival.

Need help with ticketing? Email boxoffice@AustinJFF.org with your name, email address, and phone number. We can process ticketing over the phone. Please don’t wait until the last minute!

Virtual event tickes go on sale on Monday, November 10. Virtual events can be watched anytime between November 14 and 23. Festival and Combo pass holders, and AJFF Supporters at all levels do not need tickets to watch virtual events. Simply log on to our watch portal. Note: films are geoblocked to Texas.