2022 Festival - Austin Jewish Film Festival

America

An Israeli man returns to Israel after 10 years in America. An encounter with a childhood friend and his future wife will change everyone’s lives. A story set between a flower shop and an ancient monastery, a swimming pool and the Mediterranean Sea, life and death – and somewhere in the middle. After the success of The Cakemaker, writer/director Ofir Raul Graizer returns with an affectionate tribute to 60s and 70s cinema in a film full of emotion, color and fragrance that pays homage to values such as friendship, love and moral responsibility.

Bad Nazi, Good Nazi

More than 70 years after WWII, Thalau – a small village in Germany – comes to terms with the complex legacy of native son Wilm Hosenfeld, the Nazi officer widely known for saving Wladyslaw Szpilman – ”The Pianist”, who is now revealed to have been a serial rescuer.
Hosenfeld’s personal diaries record his chilling, gradual disillusionment with the Nazi war machine he belonged to and that Szpilman, incredibly, is just one of sixty people he saved. Thalau’s group of supporters are inspired to have Hosenfeld memorialized at the local school he led before enlisting in Hitler’s army, but the villagers struggle to come to terms with the complicated legacy of a man they want to forget; a Nazi officer and a serial rescuer.

Between Walls

Within the borders of the Old City of Jerusalem Platoon C, a special army unit, is there to keep things calm and secure. The platoon includes a unique combination of characters from all corners of Israeli society, supporting each other in their difficult task. Despite daily tensions and also violence at this most special place on earth, the soldiers strive to achieve external and internal peace each day from a new.

Cinema Rex

In the divided city of Jerusalem in 1938, a Jewish boy and an Arab girl form a special friendship at The Cinema Rex based on one mutual language – the language of cinema.

Dreyfus Drei

Dreyfus Drei is a film about family, identity and returning to Germany from Australia Australian Jewish artist Ella Dreyfus grew up with little knowledge of her family’s tragic losses in the Holocaust. She sets out to uncover their history with her uncle George in Melbourne and her cousin Jonathan in Berlin, and finds her own way of re-connecting to Germany. The short documentary is a poetic film that follows Ella’s search for the Dreyfus’ histories and traces of her late father’s life.

Exodus 91

A hybrid docudrama film that follows Israeli diplomat, Asher Naim, on a seemingly insurmountable mission to bring 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. As Asher learns more about these African Jews, he finds himself between worlds and facing a crisis of faith in himself and his country. The docudrama follows the behind-the-scenes politics leading up to Operation Solomon – the two day airlift in May 1991 pulled off in climactic chaos of the Ethiopian Civil War.

Finding a Town’s Past

The John Paul II Academic High School in Biała Podlaska, Poland took part in the School of Dialogue program in 2021. They research the Jewish history of their town and try, in a small way, to bring it back to life.

Fine

A mother, a father and two daughters are on their way to a holiday feast. The girls are sleeping peacefully in the back seat, but their tranquility is disturbed when their dad hears a beloved song and tries to share the experience with them. A terrific and relatable comedy starring the filmmaker”s real-life family.

Frum Dogs of Hendon

Seen as aggressive and dirty, dogs have had a bad reputation in religious Jewish circles for centuries. Dog lovers in Hendon (UK) however, prove that being Frum and having a furry, four-legged best friend are not mutually exclusive.

Funeral of a Marriage Counsellor

Following the sudden death of their long-term and much-too-depended-upon Jewish counsellor, a couple in their 50s take a chaotic stab at rebalancing their relationship, while grappling with their own mortality.