WILMINGTON – The fourth annual Wilmington Jewish Film Festival begins this Sunday, kicking off three weeks of films.
Hosted by Thalian Hall, the United Jewish Appeal of Wilmington and the Wilmington Jewish Film Festival will present “A World of Jewish Film.”
The festival will feature weeknight films with coffee and dessert receptions and Sunday matinees catered by A Thyme Savor.
The festival films range from dramas to documentaries, and from comedies to an Oscar-nominated short film. Selected from Israel, France, Canada, Hungary, Germany and the United States.
Peggy Pancoe Rosoff, a spokeswoman for the festival, said, “festival attendees will be entertained and gain insight through the diversity of the Jewish experience as shown in a wide variety of films from across the globe.”
The festival dates commemorate Yom Hashoah, a day of remembrance for the Holocaust on the anniversary of the Warsaw uprising, as well as Israel’s independence day. Commencing April 23, 2017, the festival will offer award-winning feature films and selected shorts over three weeks, three days each week, April 23 to 25, May 2 to 4 and May 7 to 9.
Tickets for the catered Sunday shows are $17 ($10 for students and active military); tickets for weekday shows with coffee and dessert are $10 ($7 for students and active military). Tickets are available for individual showings through Thalian Hall, All-Festival passes ($100) are available from the Wilmington Jewish Film Festival.
Check out the complete schedule:
Sunday, April 23, 3 p.m. (Erev Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Memorial Day begins at sundown) Buffet reception follows film.
“Denial” (2016, USA, 110 min., drama. Starring Rachel Weisz, Director: Mick Jackson) The true story of the legal battle waged in London by an American professor against a Holocaust-denier. The case became a trial of the reality of the Holocaust itself.
Monday, April 24, 7 p.m.
“Flory’s Flame” (2014, USA, 58 min., documentary. Director: Curt Fissel) A legendary 90-year-old musician and Sephardic National Heritage Fellow, shares her inspiring life story.
“A Heartbeat Away” (2016, Israel, Hebrew, Swahili, with English subtitles, 55 min., documentary. Director: Tal Barda) An Israeli pediatric cardiologist travels to Tanzania to perform life-saving operations in this riveting documentary about science, faith and tikkun olam.
Tuesday, 25 April, 7 p.m.
“24 Days” (2014 France, French with English subtitles, 110 min., drama. Director: Alexandres Arcady) The true story of the 2006 kidnapping of the son of an observant Jewish family in Paris. The film depicts the harrowing 24 days which follows with ransom demands and threats from the kidnappers. The film is an important and chilling (or use the word timely) commentary on growing anti-Semitism in France and in our contemporary world. Adult Content.
Tuesday, May 2, 7 p.m.
“Fever at Dawn” (2015, Hungary, Hungarian with English subtitles, 110 min. drama. Director: Peter Gardos) A true story. In 1945, after having been freed from a concentration camp, the 25-year-old Hungarian man, Miklós is being treated at a Swedish hospital. The doctors diagnose him with a severe lung disease and tell him that he has no more than six months to live. But he refuses to give up, wants to find a wife with whom he can start a new life, and sends letters to 117 Hungarian girls who are also being treated in Sweden. One of the girls is 19-year-old Lili, who likes Miklós’s letter, and they start corresponding. Based on the novel.
Wednesday, May 3, 7 p.m.
“Remember” (2015, Canada, 94 min, drama. With Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau, Director: Atom Egoyan) With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Thursday, May 4, 7 p.m.
“The Women’s Balcony” (2016, Israel, Hebrew with English subtitles, 99 min., comedy-drama. Director: Emil Ben-Shimon) An accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a gendered rift in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem, in this rousing, good-hearted tale about women speaking truth to patriarchal power.
Sunday, May 7, 3 p.m.
“Phoenix” (2014, German, German with English subtitles, 98 min., drama. Director Christian Petzold) A disfigured Holocaust survivor sets out to determine if the man she loved betrayed her trust.
Monday, May 8, 7 p.m.
“Fanny Journey” (2016, France/Belgium, French with English subtitles, 94 min., drama. Director: Lola Doillon) A true story. A resourceful young girl leads 11 orphans through Nazi-occupied France in this coming-of-age, family friendly drama bristling with suspense and poignancy. Based on Fanny Ben-Ami’s autobiographical novel.
Tuesday, 9 May, 7 p.m.
“Joe’s Violin” (2016, USA, 24 min., documentary. Director: Kahane Cooperman) A 91-year-old Holocaust survivor donates his violin to an instrument drive, changing the life of a 12-year-old schoolgirl from the Bronx and unexpectedly, his own.
“In search of Israeli Cuisine” (2016, USA, 110 min., documentary. Director: Roger M. Sherman) A documentary about food in Israel … puts a face on the culture of Israel, profiling chefs, home cooks, vintners, and cheese-makers drawn from the more than one hundred cultures that make up Israel today – Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Druze. A rich and human story of the people emerges.
