Virtual screening

In the midst of WWII, a German couple, Fritz and Emma, agree to hide Albert, a Jewish refugee, at their remote farm in the Black Forest. Since his marriage with Emma has remained childless, Fritz uses this opportunity to suggest an unorthodox deal: He asks Albert to sleep with his wife and conceive a child on his behalf. The consequences are dramatic: Emma discovers her sexuality, Fritz cannot control his jealousy, and Albert feels trapped between the two of them. Against the background of war, an unpredictable drama unfolds that turns offenders into victims and vice versa.
MATURE CONTENT

Film: 104 minutes

Director: Franziska Schlotterer

Production country: Germany

Year: 2016

Four overweight friends from the Israeli city of Ramle are fed up of dieting and the dieting club they belong to. When Herzl (342 lbs.), the main protagonist, loses his job as a cook and starts working as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant in Ramle, he discovers the world of Sumo where large people like him are honored and appreciated. Through Kitano (132 lbs.), the restaurant owner, a former Sumo coach in Japan (who is supposedly hiding from the Yakuza in Israel), he falls in love with a sport involving ”two fatsos in diapers and girly hairdos”. Herzl wants Kitano to be their coach, but Kitano is reluctant—they first have to earn their spurs. A MATTER OF SIZE is a comedy about a ‘coming out’ of a different kind – overweight people learning to accept themselves.

Film: 94 minutes

Director: Erez Tadmor, Sharon Maymon

Production country: Israel

Year: 2010

“A boy forms a secret friendship with a mythical creature in a universal and heartwarming tale of friendship and familial bonds.”
Since the sudden loss of his older brother in a car crash, ten-year-old Adam (Yoav Sadian) has been struggling at home and failing at school. Neglected by his grief-stricken parents, he is overcome with his own sorrow and guilt, while also confronting the daily torment of class bullies. Everything changes the day Adam meets Abulele, an oversized furry monster of legend that is feared by many but proves to be a friendly companion to children in need. As Adam and his new best friend outsmart his tormentors at school, the boy’s parents start to suspect their son is harboring a secret. Meantime, an elite special forces team closes in, tasked with capturing or killing the
beast.
FAMILY FRIENDLY

Film: 90 minutes

Cast: Yoav Sadian, Bar Paly, Idan Barkai, Makram Khoury, Yehuda Mor, Oded Leopold

Director: Jonathan Geva

Production country:  Israel

Year: 2015

Community partner:

When retired 68 year-old Meir discovers that his thirty years of planning the annual village celebration have been summarily discarded, and the job has been given to inexperienced local teens instead, the ground beneath his feet begins to give way. In his effort to restore a sense of meaning and vitality, Meir begins to rebel against the inevitable: the betrayal of his physical body, the growing distance from his children, and the loss of relevance.
MATURE LANGUAGE, MATURE THEMES

Film:  82 minutes

Director: Oren Gerner

Production country: Israel

Year: 2019

September 5th 1972, the tenth day of the Munich Olympics—the Palestinian terrorist group Black September stormed the Israeli athletes’ quarters. The world watched live on television as eleven hostages were taken and later killed. For the first time, this story will be told through the eyes of four women who were directly impacted by that day: an athlete, a widow, and two undercover agents. Their fates were changed forever as their wellbeing and life views were impacted by the trauma. A film about love and death; conflict and reconciliation; war and peace.
MATURE THEMES, SOME GRAPHIC IMAGES

Film: 78 minutes

Director: Francine Zuckerman

Production Country: Canada

Year: 2019

Nadia is a 20-year-old Arab girl who has a secret love affair with Nimer, a PLO activist. They move to England, where Nimer is caught by the authorities and Nadia is left alone. A slick character fixes her with an Israeli passport of a Jewish girl that enables her to return to Israel.

Twenty years later Nadia is now Maya, a successful choreographer who is married to a Jewish official at the Ministry of Justice, Yoav. They have two children. But her past catches her up when Nimer reappears. Yoav notices his wife”s distress and realizes that she”s hiding something. Their relationship is on the verge of crisis.

Film: 115 minutes

Director: Tova Ascher

Production countries: Israel, United Kingdom

Year: 2015

Albert Einstein, the most famous scientist of all time, was a world-renowned celebrity. He was greeted like a rock star when he appeared in public. An anti-war firebrand, Einstein also spoke out on issues ranging from women’s rights and racism, to immigration and nuclear arms control. But today, his image has been neutered into that of a charmingly absent-minded genius. He was, in fact, a powerful force for social change and a model for political activism. Using a wealth of rarely-seen archival footage, correspondence, and new and illuminating interviews, filmmaker Julia Newman makes the case that Albert Einstein’s example of social and political activism is as important today as are his brilliant, ground-breaking theories.

Film: 80 minutes

Director: Julia Newman

Production country: USA

Year: 2020

Community Partner:

“Dutch filmmaker Jean van de Velde captures a dark period in South Africa’s recent history, balancing a nail-biting political thriller with spectacular courtroom intrigue.”
In 1963, apartheid is rampant in South Africa. Nelson Mandela and nine other defendants, including Jewish anti-apartheid fighters, are arrested on a farm for conspiring to commit sabotage and treason against the repressive South African government. Tenacious white Afrikaner lawyer Bram Fisher steps up to the challenge as lead counsel whose defendants faced a possible death sentence. Fisher risks his career and family to defend Mandela and his inner circle in this historical thriller set in South Africa’s incendiary segregation era. As Mandela fights to expose South Africa’s corrupt, unjust system, Fischer attempts to hide his own ties to the resistance. This riveting drama combines nail-biting political and courtroom intrigue to explore South Africa’s seminal struggle against racism, and it highlights the little-known Jewish figures who sought to end entrenched discrimination in their country.
CONTAINS VIOLENCE

Film: 123 minutes

Director: Jean van de Velde

Production country: Netherlands

Year: 2018

Curmudgeonly widower Nat Dayan (Jonathan Pryce) clings to his way of life as a Kosher bakery shop owner in London’s East End. Understaffed, Nat
reluctantly enlists the help of teenager Ayyash (Jerome Holder), who has a secret side gig selling marijuana to help his immigrant mother make ends meet. When Ayyash accidentally drops his stash into the mixing dough, the challah starts flying off the shelves and an unlikely friendship forms between the old Jewish baker and his young Muslim apprentice. Dough is a warmhearted and humorous story about overcoming prejudice and finding redemption in unexpected places.

Film available to watch Sept. 10-12 in the USA only.

Note: This presentation is supported by Congregation Beth Israel and is a part of CBI’s Selichot program. The film is available to all.

Cast: Jonathan Pryce

Director: John Goldschmidt

Writer: Jonathan Benson

Two great films and a panel discussion in one program:

A CANTOR’S HEAD (2020) – One of the world’s leading cantorial masters departs the bema, prompting questions about the dwindling tradition of Jewish sacred music. Cantor Jack Mendelson has been dubbed the Michael Jordan of Hazzanut. He has inspired legions of admirers worldwide, combining spiritual exploration, communal bonding and dazzling showmanship. But after years of service, his operatic voice is no longer wanted by his congregation. Running the gamut of emotions, Cantor Mendelson, his protégés, and other musical luminaries explain the magic of this centuries-long art form, and what its loss represents.

A CANTOR’S TALE (2005) Explores chazzanut past, present and future through the prism of Chazzan Jack Mendelson”s career. In addition to heavenly singing, the film visits a bar-mitzvah at the legendary Beth El Synagogue in Borough Park and interviews luminaries such as Ben-Zion Miller, Mati Lazar, Alberto Mizrahi, Alan Dershowitz, Neil Shicoff, Dr. Larry Hoffman, and Debbie Friedman.

A Cantor’s Tale Panel Program: The Past Present, and Future of Jewish Cantorial Music on Sunday October 18 at 2:00PM Central.

Co-presented by AJFF, Congregation Agudas Achim, and Temple Beth Shalom.

Cast: Cantor Jack Mendelson

Director: Erik Greenberg Anjou