NOTE: AJFF365 subscribers do NOT need tickets! Instead, log in to virtual.goelevent.com to watch anytime once the film is available for viewing.
In addition to the film, AJFF’s Q&A with Ameen Nayfeh is available to watch as bonus material in the watch portal.
Mustafa and his wife Salwa live 200 meters apart in villages separated by the wall. One day he gets a call every parent dreads: his son has had an accident. Rushing to cross the Israeli checkpoint, Mustafa is denied on a technicality. But a father’s love won”t give up and he will do anything to reach his son. A 200 meter distance becomes a 200 kilometer odyssey, as Mustafa, left with no choice, attempts to smuggle himself to the other side of the wall.
NOTE: AJFF365 subscribers do NOT need tickets! Instead, log in to virtual.goelevent.com to watch.
An important film from Ran Tal, one of Israel’s best documentarians, What If? is not only of historical interest, but is a case history in leadership and complex decision making.
In addition to the film, AJFF’s Q&A with Ran Tal is available to watch as bonus material in the watch portal.
Can a leader succeed in influencing the world? Or is he a human being like anyone else, only a grain of sand tossed to the waves of history with no ability to affect it? Tolstoy pondered this question in War and Peace. 78-year-old Ehud Barak is the controversial former prime minister, decorated and criticized commander on the battlefield, and one of the leading figures of the Zionist movement. He is also the initiator of Israel”s assassination plan of Yasser Arafat. In this remarkable film, Barak observes with disillusioned clarity his own history and the history of the State Israel. Twenty years after the failure of the 2000 Camp David summit, Barak looks back on his life and analyzes the Israeli reality with a critical eye. Respected craft-master filmmaker RAL TAL (THE MUSEUM,THE GARDEN OF EDEN, CHILDREN OF THE SUN), known for his narrative fiction style in his formalist approach to documentary cinema, delivers an outstanding philosophical essay, and proposes a deep cinematic reflection on history and decision-making, while trying to figure it all out – ”What if?”
It’s Hanukkah, for Max the festival of giving – and also the Jewish festival of miracles, which is something he could really do with right now. The morose atmosphere at the Berlin high school he attends is also down to him. After a lot of hostility, Max finally explodes when the conflict between him and his fellow pupil Karim spirals out of control, which is why the parents of the two assailants are summoned to a school meeting. At complete odds with each other over the delicate situation, an overwhelmed teacher, a school principal concerned only with his reputation, a strict representative of the school’s advisory board and the school caretaker, Eichmann, all sit down to a long evening of hateful prejudices, familiar clichés and a series of less than kosha solutions. Director Leo Khasin takes on anti-Semitism in German schools, and leads cult actress Iris Berben through an unorthodox, pithy comedy that emphasises what unifies and gives space to reason, not least through contagious laughter.
Mild bad language.
Length: 85 minutes
Cast: Iris Berben
Director: Leo Khasin
Writer: Leo Khasin
Introduction from director Leo Khasin.
Screening will be accompanied by a Q&A.
Q&A with director Leo Khasin will play immediately after the film in-theater and be available as bonus content for virtual participants.
Can a leader succeed in influencing the world? Or is he a human being like anyone else, only a grain of sand tossed to the waves of history with no ability to affect it? Tolstoy pondered this question in War and Peace. 78-year-old Ehud Barak is the controversial former prime minister, decorated and criticized commander on the battlefield, and one of the leading figures of the Zionist movement. He is also the initiator of Israel”s assassination plan of Yasser Arafat. In this remarkable film, Barak observes with disillusioned clarity his own history and the history of the State Israel. Twenty years after the failure of the 2000 Camp David summit, Barak looks back on his life and analyzes the Israeli reality with a critical eye. Respected craft-master filmmaker RAL TAL (THE MUSEUM, THE GARDEN OF EDEN, CHILDREN OF THE SUN), known for his narrative fiction style in his formalist approach to documentary cinema, delivers an outstanding philosophical essay, and proposes a deep cinematic reflection on history and decision-making, while trying to figure it all out – ”What if?”
Violence.
Length: 85 minutes
Director: Ran Tal
Writer: Ran Tal
What If? trailer.
Screening will be accompanied by a Q&A.
Q&A with director Ran Tal will play immediately after the film in-theater and be available as bonus content for virtual participants.
Some Catholics on the Spanish island of Mallorca have been discriminated against for centuries because their surnames have a connection to a Jewish heritage. They not only endured stigma and humiliation: they were also deprived of fundamental rights as citizens. While a few have been inspired to return to the faith of their ancestors, their recent entry into the leadership of the local Jewish community has caused an unforeseen controversy among its members. Are they the best suited to lead Mallorquin Judaism despite not having practiced their faith for centuries?
Length: 65 minutes
Director: Dani Rotstein, Felipe Wolokita, and Ofer Laszewicki
Writer: Marta Hierro
Introduction from director Dani Rotstein.
Xueta Island trailer.
Screening will be accompanied by a Q&A.
Q&A with directors Dani Rotstein and Felipe Wolokita will play immediately after the film in-theater and be available as bonus content for virtual participants.
Fashion Designer and Mogul Elie Tahari has been living the American Dream for more than 50 years. He came to New York in 1971, from Israel, with less than $100 in his pocket, slept on benches in Central Park, and went on to build a billion-dollar fashion empire. There are thousands of fashion companies worldwide, but only three have lasted for more than 45 years globally and are still run by their founders: Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, and Elie Tahari.
Cast: Elie Tahari
Director: David Serero
The United States of Fashion Designer Elie Tahari trailer.
Screening will be accompanied by a Q&A.
Q&A with director David Serero will play immediately after the film in-theater and be available as bonus content for virtual participants.
AJFF365 subscribers, Combo Pass holders, and Classic/Presenter/Premium Members ONLY: You automatically get access to this film (no ticket needed!) by logging into our watch portal at virtual.goevelent.com.
As theatergoers prepare for the return of Broadway after an unprecedented absence of 18 months, an all-star cast tells the inside story of the last time Broadway theater came back from the brink. On Broadwayshows how this revival helped save New York City, thanks to innovative work, a new attention to inclusion, and the sometimes uneasy balance between art and commerce. Brand new interviews with legends of the stage and screen, including Hugh Jackman, Helen Mirren, Christine Baranski, August Wilson, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Viola Davis, and Ian McKellen take us behind the scenes of Broadway’s most groundbreaking and beloved shows, from A Chorus Line to Hamilton. Archival clips of iconic performances by Lin Manuel Miranda, Patti Lupone, Bernadette Peters, James Earl Jones and Mandy Patinkin punctuate this hurly-burly ride through the main street of American show business. Now that New York City is facing an uncertain path forward in its recovery from a devastating pandemic, this documentary from Academy Award®-nominated director Oren Jacoby and the producers of RBG shows how Broadway led the way in the city’s last great rebirth and provides a model of how it can come back again.
Cast: Helen Mirren, Alec Baldwin, Christine Baranski, James Corden, August Wilson, Viola Davis, Hugh Jackman, John Lithgow, Cameron Mackintosh, Sir Ian McKellen, and many more!
Director: Oren Jacoby
This event is supported in part by:
On Broadway trailer.
Oren Jacoby is an Oscar-nominated writer, director and producer of award-winning documentary films. His latest film, On Broadway, tells the story of the transformation of the Broadway Theater and New York City.
By day, Leonardo teaches salsa to tourists but has dreams of making it as a classical dancer. His girlfriend Sara is an ambitious lawyer but has little opportunity in their lively but poor area of Havana. Together they devise a plan: Leonardo will seduce one of the lonely women in his dance class for immigration papers and a shot at a new life for them both. Fresh from a disastrous marriage, Iranian-Jewish Nasim comes to Cuba to celebrate her new found freedom but quickly becomes ensnared in Leonardo and Sara’s web when she falls for him and arranges for his arrival. When Leonardo touches down in a frigid Montreal winter, he hustles to find work to bring over his true love but is met with cold indifference and an increasingly complicated relationship with both Nasim and Sara. Upon Sara’s arrival in Montreal, Leonardo’s lies threaten to derail their plan, yet Nasim is harboring secrets of her own. A visually striking, poetic exploration of the religious and personal differences at the heart of a cross-cultural relationship.
Adult language, adult situations, brief nudity.
Cast: Yonah Acosta Gonzalez
Director: Kaveh Nabatian
Writer: Kaveh Nabatian
Introduction from filmmaker Kaveh Nabatian.
Sin La Habana trailer.
Screening will be accompanied by a Q&A.
Q&A with Director Kaveh Nabatian will play immediately after the film in-theater and be available as bonus content for virtual participants.
For most of his adult life, Saul Bellow was the most acclaimed novelist in America and winner of, among other awards, the Nobel Prize in Literature, three National Book Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. The Adventures of Saul Bellow is the first-ever documentary film on Saul Bellow, the man described by critic James Wood as the ”greatest of American prose stylists in the 20th century.” Marking the centennial of his birth and the tenth anniversary of his death, this film features original interviews with Bellow”s family, close friends, and writers inspired by him, including Martin Amis and A. B. Yehoshua. Bellow”s revolutionary impact on American literature is examined, as are his many identities as a writer, polemicist, ”serial husband,” father, Chicagoan, Jew, and American. The film highlights a previously underestimated element of Bellow”s life and work: his humor. Bellow”s satire and scalding wit reflected his joy and commitment to life, but also his belief that the world was marked by disorder and unruliness.
Length: 86 minutes
Director: Asaf Galay
Presentation partner:
Introduction from director Asaf Galay.
The Adventures of Saul Bellow trailer.
Screening will be accompanied by a Q&A.
Q&A with director Asaf Galay will play immediately after the film in-theater and be available as bonus content for virtual participants.
The film brings to light, as an historical scoop, the Yugoslav Holocaust which resulted in the slaying of 85% of the Yugoslav glorious Jewish community who did not suffer any form of discrimination. Stella, a young Israeli born in Yugoslavia researches the nature of the extermination of Jews, the part of the Germans, and the part played by the various Yugoslav nationalities in the massacre. Parallel, Stella is exploring what was the fate of her great grandfather who saved Jews during the war. Yugoslavia”s beautiful scenery provides a dramatic contrast to the horrible deeds performed on its soil.
Length: 74 minutes
Director: Nitza Gonen
Introduction from Nitza Gonen.
Screening will be accompanied by a Q&A.
Q&A with director Nitza Gonen will play immediately after the film in-theater and be available as bonus content for virtual participants.
