Virtual screening

The year is 1940, and French-Jewish socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister Leon Blum has been imprisoned at Buchenwald. This touching historical drama starring Elsa Zylberstein and Hippolyte Girardot follows Jeanne Reichenbach, who has been in love with Blum since they were teenagers but has always only admired him from afar. Now she is married with a son, but she is driven by the urge to link her fate with Blum’s once and for all—As the Nazis invade France, she abandons her comfortable life and risks everything to reunite with and marry him in prison.
SOME INTENSE SCENES

Film: 105 minutes

Director: Laurent Heynemann

Production country: France

Year: 2019

“A unique journey about a rabbi who experienced personal desolation and succeeded in rehabilitating his and his community’s life.”
The Admor of Sanz-Klausenburg was a rabbi who experienced personal devastation, and despite this succeeded in rehabilitating his own life and that of his Chassidic community. Through his heroic story, the film presents the narratives of the Holocaust as told by different members of the ultra-Orthodox community. HIDDEN FACE presents the complex relationship between ultra-Orthodox Jews and the memory of the Holocaust. Through rare archival footage and interviews with Sanz Chassidim, it reveals the ways they experience the revival and spiritual victory over the Nazis and pass it on to the ensuing generations, while dealing with the biggest question of all—where was God during the Holocaust?
FAMILY FRIENDLY

Film:  54 minutes

Director: Eyal Datz

Production country: Israel

Year: 2018

Thirty years after the queer Swedish disco-pop band Army of Lovers became an international phenomenon, its Jewish frontman, Jean-Pierre Barda, embarks on a new chapter when he uproots his existence to move from Sweden to Israel. In this new documentary, director Asaf Galay joins Barda alongside his journey at the age of 50. Army of Lovers (a blend of ABBA, the B-52s, and performance art) continues to rock pride celebrations and underground club parties with its mix of high camp, daring music videos, and a motto of “More is more, less is a bore.” Barda’s identity—flamboyant, philosophical, and religious all at once—explores what it means to never doubt oneself.
MATURE THEMES, SEXUAL CONTENT

Film: 65 minutes

Director: Asaf Galay

Production country: Israel

Year: 2019

Community partner:

What does it means to be Jewish in the modern world? Inspired by real-life events, the film witnesses a son’s encounter with his father after telling him that he is about to have a baby with his non-Jewish partner. The stoic father makes an urgent case to practice traditions that the anxious son finds troubling. As the bubbling turns to a boil, they both realize that they are but two parts of a much greater whole.

Film: 18 minutes

Director: Michael Tobin

Production country: Canada

Year: 2019

A six-hour interview with David Ben-Gurion, one of modern history”s greatest leaders, emerges from the obscurity of an archive where it has lain unrecognized for decades. It is 1968, and Ben-Gurion is 82 years old. He lives in the seclusion of his home in the desert, remote from all political discourse, which allows him a perspective on the Zionist enterprise. His introspective soul-searching is the focus of this film, and his reflections provide a surprising vision for today”s crucial decisions and for the future of Israel.

Film: 70 minutes

Director: Yariv Mozer

Production countries: Israel, France, Germany

Year: 2016

The story of a 78-year-old Greek man and his Hasidic rapper son, who have been estranged for many years. They embark together on a road trip from Israel to Greece searching for an old magician who saved the father”s life during World War II. The journey leads them to absurd encounters, and it ultimately brings them to a final confrontation of father and son.
CONTAINS NUDITY, ADULT SITUATIONS

Film: 100 minutes

Director: Nicola Hens

Production country: Israel

Year: 2014

Noah Klieger was a French Jewish teenager during WWII. He lay on the beach of Dunkirk when hundreds of thousands of British soldiers were evacuated to Britain. He smuggled Jewish children from Belgium to Switzerland. He was captured by the Germans and sent to the Auschwitz death camp. When he arrived there, he claimed himself as a boxer which saved his life. He was the last remnant of the boxing team of Auschwitz death camp, the oldest active journalist in the world, and a crew member of the ship “Exodus – 1947.” In the film, Noah returns for the first time to the places that marked his life. Noah Klieger is an example of courage, optimism, and resilience.
SOME SCENES OF THE HOLOCAUST

Film: 60 minutes

Director: Uri Borreda

Production country: Israel

Year: 2017

Israel’s 6th Prime minister, Menachem Begin led Israel for six dramatic and tumultuous years, which produced waves that are still felt deeply within the fabric of Israel’s social and political landscape today. During Begin’s shortened one-and-a-half terms of office, he faced a maelstrom of challenges and made a handful of fateful decisions that led to both creating peace and launching a war kindled by hubris. Exploring these events, the film depicts a multi-faceted portrait of a man who held on to an unwavering ideology full of conflicts, as well as the cultural mosaic and fissured society that he sought to lead. The film merges rare archival footage shown for the first time, as well as current interviews with key figures from Menachem Begin’s time as Prime Minister.

Film: 85 minutes

Director: Levi Zini

Production country: Israel

Year: 2020

APFF@AJFF:
A celebration of the life of Ralph Modjeski, one of America’s greatest bridge designers. He was behind some of the 20th century’s most significant bridges which transformed America: the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans, and Quebec Bridge in Canada, among others. The film takes a deeper look at the scientific mind and artistic soul of a Polish-born, Paris-trained immigrant; a virtuoso pianist who contributed to the building of modern America.

Film: 87 minutes

Director: Basia and Leonard Myszyński

Production countries: USA, Canada

Year: 2016

Community partner:

View Event

“Yet another standout performance by Shira Haas, cementing her place as one of the best young Jewish actors today.
This taleof a dysfunctional family is an intense, gripping drama.” Shadowed by a strict, military father who inflicts severe methods of punishment as a form of discipline, seventeen-year-old Ariella commits a grave error that her father isn’t willing to punish her for. Seeking a punishment of her own, Ariella embarks on a dark quest where she will discover a secret to her father’s past that will lead them to confront one another.
MATURE LANGUAGE, MATURE THEMES, NUDITY, INTENSE SCENES

Film: 104 minutes

Directors: Aviad Givon, Imri Matalon

Production country: Israel

Year: 2019

Community partner: