WILMINGTON — Now in its sixth year, the Wilmington Jewish Film Festival is bringing a variety of films, plus some sweet treats, to Thalian Hall.
This year’s theme is “Challenging Stereotypes – Celebrating Differences.”
The festival kicks off on Sunday, April 28 at noon with a reception at Art in Bloom. The galllery, located a block from Thalian Hall at 210 Princess St., will host Jewish Journeys: An Art Exhibit, “celebrating the convergence of film and visual art in honor of the 6th Annual Wilmington Jewish Film Festival.” The exhibit features the work of Owen Wexler, Robyn Gahr, and Judith Yael Cohen.
The reception, with the artists and light refreshments, will go from 12 – 3 p.m. followed by the screening of the first film of the festival — The Last Suit — at Thalian Hall. After the film, dinner will be provided by Peño Mediterranean Grill.
The following films will screen over the next week and a half. Each film will be followed by a dessert and discussion reception. The Sunday, May 5, matinee will feature the Kona Ice Truck.
You can find trailers for the films at the festival Facebook page. Individual tickets or festival passes can be found here.
Here is the festival schedule, with links to the films.
- Sunday, April 28, 3 p.m. — The Last Suit — Abraham, an 88-year-old Jewish tailor, travels from Buenos Aires to Poland to locate a friend who saved him from certain death at the end of World War II. After seven decades without any contact, Abraham will try to keep his promise to return to Poland one day.
- Monday, April 29, 7 p.m. — Hill Start — In this comic drama Ora is in a coma as the result of a car accident. As her children and other family members try to help her regain consciousness viewers meet a cast of characters including plastic surgeons, a wheelchair-bound marathon coach, a tough private investigator, a yoga instructor, a sensitive belly dancer and a big star in the Arab cinema.
- Wednesday, May 1, 7 p.m. — Numbered — The film is a collage of narratives and photographs of Auschwitz survivors who were tattooed with numbers in the camp. The significance of these numbers to the survivors and their families leads to painful yet ultimately uplifting stories of thriving lives.
- Sunday, May 5, 2 p.m. — Heading Home: Tale of Team Israel — A story of sports and patriotism, this film tells the story of Israel’s national baseball team competing for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. Helped along by the “Mensch on the Bench”, the team discovers pride in representing Israel on the international stage.
- Sunday, May 5, 7 p.m. — Golda’s Balcony — Actress Tovah Feldshuh gives a riveting performance as Golda Meir, portraying her life and her leadership of Israel during the fateful days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history comes to film – it is not to be missed!
- Monday, May 6, 7 p.m. — Promise at Dawn — Follow the true story of French author Romain Gary as he recounts his life in this richly colorful tapestry of poetry and adventure under the influence of a very strong Jewish mother. From his youth in Poland to fighting for France in WWll, this life story leads to a quiet and memorable ending.
- Wednesday, May 8, 7 p.m. — 93 Queen — Tenacious ultra-Orthodox women challenge the status quo of their patriarchal community to create New York’s first all-female ambulance corps, resulting in an ideological tug of war with the observant men in their Borough Park enclave, in this rousing story of female empowerment and cultural disruption.
