Thousands of young Israelis join the journey to Poland” each year to learn about the Holocaust. Looking into the journey through the videos they upload on YouTube reveals a moving and troubling image about the way the collective memory is formed in the web age.
#Uploading_Holocaust is a remarkable feat of editing – turning some of the more than 20,000 uploaded clips into a moving, informative, and meaningful narrative.
Length: 75 minutes
Release: 2016
Director: Nir & Sagi Bornstein
Presented for free, in remembrance of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), thanks to the support of the Israel-American Council Austin and AJFF365 subscribers.
IAC Zikaron basalon with Ms. Etty Brish on Wednesday, April 7th at 8:00 PM Central.
Tickets required, but free of charge. At check out you will be given the opportunity to donate to The Blue Card Fund, a national non-profit organization solely dedicated to providing financial assistance to destitute Holocaust survivors residing in the United States.
This is AJFF’s designated charitable partner for this year’s Yom HaShoa programs.
Celebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut with There are No Lions in Tel Aviv. The story of the chief Rabbi of Copenhagen’s Jewish community, who would come to be known as Rabbi Doolittle. In 1935, Max Shorenstein left his honorable position as chief Rabbi of Copenhagen, to fulfill a longtime dream: to build a zoo in Tel Aviv and teach the local children about the love of animals.
This film is offered in collaboration with the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC of Houston and is proudly supported by the Israel Engagement Fund: A JCC Association of North America Program Accelerator, made possible by the generosity of several committed donors.
AJFF co-presented this movie at the 2019 Austin Film Festival and we are delighted to share it with you again, for free!
16 year old Jewish Mina is trying to navigate between a surreal routine dictated by the civil war in Ethiopia and her last days of youth with her Christian boyfriend Eli. When she discovers that her family is planning to immigrate to Israel and escape the war, she weaves an alternate plan in order to save Eli. But in times of war, plans tend to go wrong. Davidian’s coming of age film debut film is based on her childhood memories of a civil-war-torn Ethiopia.
This summer, the Barshop JCC presents its first ever San Antonio Jewish Film Festival “Summer Series”. Starting May 24 and running through September 12, the Summer Series takes the place of previous iterations of the mini-fests that occurred throughout the year. Unlike the Barshop JCC’s prior film events that normally take place over a week or weekend, this experience will be different as each film will have a dedicated viewing window for at least two weeks
In this gentle, beautifully rendered historical family drama, a German- Jewish girl takes her first steps into adulthood, as world events intrude on her happy, carefree existence. Nine-year-old Anna is too busy with schoolwork and friends to notice Hitler’s face glaring from posters plastered all over 1933 Berlin. But when her father suddenly vanishes, and the family is secretly hurried out of Germany, Anna begins to understand life will never be the same. What follows is a courageous adventure full of fear and uncertainty, as Anna and her family navigate unfamiliar lands and cope with the challenges of being refugees. Oscar-winning filmmaker Caroline Link directs this adaptation of Judith Kerr’s semi-autobiographical bestselling children’s novel. FAMILY FRIENDLY
Length: 119 minutes
Director: Caroline Link
AJFF played this movie in our 2020 festival and we are honored to present it now as part of its theatrical release.
Set in an alternate present where the state is brutally divided between the secular capital of Tel Aviv and a Jerusalem governed by an ultra-Orthodox “Haredi Autonomy,” this dystopian thriller tells the story of a wheeler-dealer who smuggles contraband between the two regions and a little girl at the center of a secular-Orthodox custody battle. Israel is experiencing a golden age of episodic television, turning out some of the finest narrative storytelling in any medium, and we’ll screen all five episodes for a proper binge. Autonomies shows why Israel is fertile ground for powerful fiction: the series is a boiling cauldron of the issues of identity, religion, politics, and personal freedom that define life in the country today.
Cast: Assi Cohen, Shuli Rand, Taly Sharon, Dana Ivgy, Yaakov Zada Daniel, and Rotem Sela.
Director: Yehonatan Indursky (co-creator of Shtisel.)
Writers: Yehonatan Indursky & Ori Elon
Format: Five episodes, 1 x 51 minutes, 4 x 45 minutes
Note: This event is only accessible in Texas (excluding Houston.)
Presentation partner:
This event is a co-presentation of the Austin Jewish Film Festival and Barshop JCC of San Antonio.
AJFF365 is AJFF’s year-round program, providing the quality films AJFF is known for all year long—no need to wait a whole year for the next festival!
AJFF365 is a partnership program with Shalom Austin and most AJFF365 physical events take place on the Dell Jewish Community Campus in Austin. Since the start of the pandemic, all AJFF365 events have been taking place online instead.
Audiences attend AJFF365 programs by purchasing tickets to specific events or by purchasing an AJFF365 Subscription which gives access to all AJFF365 events for 12 months from the date of purchase. Note that the AJFF365 Subscription does not include access to the annual festival.
To purchase a subscription, click on the logo above.
This summer, the Barshop JCC presents its first ever San Antonio Jewish Film Festival “Summer Series.”
Starting May 24 and running through September 12, the Summer Series takes the place of previous iterations of the mini-fests that occurred throughout the year.
Unlike the Barshop JCC’s prior film events that normally take place over a week or weekend, this experience will be different as each film will have a dedicated viewing window for at least two weeks.
For more information click on the adjacent Summer Series logo.
It is 1945. The war is over. Switzerland, the neutral small country at the heart of Europe, was all but spared: Klara, her fiancé Johann and his brother Egon are looking bright-eyed into the future. While Klara tries to mend the wounds of the war by caring for young, displaced Holocaust survivors, Johann, who works for her industrialist father, hopes to save and modernize his father-in-law’s well-established, yet troubled textile company. Just home from military service, Egon takes his first steps in the Attorney General’s office. His mission: to hunt down escaped Nazis. All three of them soon realize that the façade of peace is bought with the blood of the victims of war.
Cast: Annina Walt, Max Hubacher, Dimitri Stapfer, Stephan Bissmeier, Stefan Kurt, Therese Affolter
Director: Mike Schaerer
Format: Six episodes, 51 minutes each
Note: This event is only accessible in Texas (excluding Houston.)
This event is a co-presentation of the Austin Jewish Film Festival and Barshop JCC of San Antonio.
AJFF365 is AJFF’s year-round program, providing the quality films AJFF is known for all year long—no need to wait a whole year for the next festival!
AJFF365 is a partnership program with Shalom Austin and most AJFF365 physical events take place on the Dell Jewish Community Campus in Austin. Since the start of the pandemic, all AJFF365 events have been taking place online instead.
Audiences attend AJFF365 programs by purchasing tickets to specific events or by purchasing an AJFF365 Subscription which gives access to all AJFF365 events for 12 months from the date of purchase. Note that the AJFF365 Subscription does not include access to the annual festival.
To purchase a subscription, click on the logo above.
This summer, the Barshop JCC presents its first ever San Antonio Jewish Film Festival “Summer Series.”
Starting May 24 and running through September 12, the Summer Series takes the place of previous iterations of the mini-fests that occurred throughout the year.
Unlike the Barshop JCC’s prior film events that normally take place over a week or weekend, this experience will be different as each film will have a dedicated viewing window for at least two weeks.
For more information click on the adjacent Summer Series logo.
Watch our cast Q&A from July 25th
Q and A with writer/producer Petra Volpe, director Michael Shaerer, and lead actress Annina Walt, moderated by David Finkel, Director of AJFF, with an introduction from Betsy Cowan, Vice President/Chief Program Officer of the San Antonio Barshop Jewish Community Center.
Note: At some points in the Q&A there is discussion of plot points.
Now that the 2020 Olympics have ended, watch this excellent documentary!
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
Length: 76 minutes
Director: Francine Zuckerman
Pre-Recorded Q&A with Director/Writer/Producer Francine Zuckerman
Note: Before watching this Q&A (available below), we recommend that you watch the film.
Francine Zuckerman always wanted to be a filmmaker. She made her first film on Super 8 at 15. She had no choice but to carry on and fulfill her dream and now years later she has made nine independent documentaries and short films that won awards, screened on television and recognized at international festivals around the world. She graduated from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec and joined the National Film Board of Canada to make her first documentary, the award-winning Half the Kingdom which toured film festivals around the world. Her focus is on women, performing arts and social docs.
She continued her education studying directing at Columbia University’s summer program in New York; Writer’s workshop at the Script Factory, London and Director’s workshop, Director’s Guild of Canada. Films include: Exposure: environmental links to breast cancer, a documentary hosted by singer/actor Olivia Newton-John; a Canada/ New Zealand co-production Punch Me in the Stomach; the Gemini nominated dramatic series; The Atwood Stories; a short film, Passengers which launched at the Toronto International Film Festival; a feature documentary We Are Here and her most recent project is a short drama, Mr. Bernstein launched at the Palm Springs Film Festival and winner of won Best Drama at the Toronto International Short Film Festival.
In addition to be a proud member of Film Fatales Canada, Zuckerman is also member of the Independent Film Project, New York; Directors Guild of Canada; has served as a jury member for the Ontario Arts Council, Media Arts Program; a jury chair for a Gemini Awards at The Academy of Film and Television and an early member of Femmes du Cinema de la Télévision et la Vidéo a Montréal.
Asia’s motherhood has always been an ongoing struggle rather than an obvious instinct. Becoming a mother at a very early age has shaped Asia’s relationship with her teenage daughter Vika. Despite living together, Asia and Vika barely interact with one another. Asia concentrates on her job as a nurse while Vika hangs out at the skate-park with her friends. Their routine is shaken when Vika’s health deteriorates rapidly. Asia must step in and become the mother Vika so desperately needs. Vika’s illness turns out to be an opportunity to reveal the great love within this small family unit.
With her huge eyes and delicate physique, Shira Haas made an indelible impression (she was nominated for an Emmy and won an Independent Spirit Award) as the lead in the recent TV series Unorthodox. Here she stars as a Russian émigré to Israel, navigating her teenage years with her single mother (Alena Yiv), burdened by an illness that makes all of her decisions infinitely more poignant.
First-time writer-director Ruthy Pribar does an exquisite job of defining the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship that eschews clichés and sentimentality. Instead, both actresses give riveting, yet understated performances that explore the inevitable chasm that divides the generations and creates barriers between the healthy and the sick—while limning a universal and timeless story of maternal love and loss.
Length: 85 minutes
Cast: Shira Haas, Alena Yiv, Tamir Mula, Gera Sandler
Marvell Ginsburg’s renowned children’s book has been educating young children about the Holocaust for generations, telling the true story of the rescue and restoration of a small Torah from Czechoslovakia. This is now an animated film, narrated by Ed Asner, that brings illustrator Martin Lemel- man’s rich artwork to life and allows this story of redemption to reach a much broader audience.
Film: 21 minutes
Director: Marc Bennett
Production countries: USA
Year: 2019
The LAJFF have a special event for this film on Monday, December 7:
