Washington Jewish Film Festival (WJFF) kicked off with Baba Joon, and runs for 12 days

Dir. Eyal Sagui Bizawe and Sara Tsifroni
(60 min, Israel, 2015) Documentary

Not long ago, Israeli families of all backgrounds would huddle next to the TV each Friday to watch the week’s “Egyptian movie.” Did anybody ever wonder how Israel’s official TV station was able to bypass sealed borders to obtain these beloved Arab Movies of the Week?

Dir. Barry Levinson
(128 min, USA, 1990) Narrative

Barry Levinson directs this evocative, nostalgic film which celebrates the virtues of family life and traces several generations of Baltimore Jewish immigrants. Headlined by a memorable performance from 2016 WJFF Visionary award winner Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Israel’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award® is a tender tale of a generational divide and immigrant experience.

Dir. Laurence Gavron
(56 min, Senegal/France, 2016) Documentary

A large number of groups in Sub-Saharan African countries spontaneously converted to Judaism in the 20th Century. This film takes a close look at a Jewish community in Cameroon, while also examining African Israeli and African American Jewish communities.

Dir. Michal Vinik
(90 min, Israel, 2015) Narrative

Seventeen-year-old Naama Barash enjoys drugs, alcohol and hanging out with like-minded friends. As her parents fret about their older daughter’s disappearance, Naama meets a wild girl in school, and discovers the intoxicating rush of first love.

Dir. Steve Rivo
(85 min, USA, 2015) Documentary

At a time when the US was busy pushing and re-defining its borders, the nascent medium of photography was just starting to take root. At the center of this artistic and geographic expansion stood an observant Sephardic Jew from South Carolina, Solomon Carvalho (1815-1897).

Dir. Yakov Yanai Lein
(85 min, Israel, 2014) Documentary

Poignant, heartbreaking and triumphant, Yakov Lanai’s journey through Kabbalah, drugs and redemption rivals the wildest-imaged fiction, and yet it’s all true.

Dir. Sheila Canavan and Michael Chandler
(90 min, USA, 2014) Documentary

A fresh and contemporary political drama with unparalleled access to one of Congress’ first openly gay Representatives, and easily one of the most captivating public figures in recent memory.

Dir. Juraj Herz
(95 min, Czechoslovakia, 1969) Narrative

Ahead of its time, the blend of black comedy and horror in The Cremator is a stunning example of the Czech New Wave movement, gliding effortlessly between Surrealism and Expressionism.

Dir. Marcin Wrona
(94 min, Poland/Israel, 2015) Narrative

In this chilling, modern interpretation of the Dybbuk legend, Piotr’s joy at visiting his bride-to-be at her Polish home is quickly upended by a gruesome discovery. A wickedly sharp and creepy story of possession set against a wild wedding celebration.

Dir. Simón Casal de Miguel
(105 min, Spain, 2015) Narrative

In this WWII thriller imbued with notes of magical realism, two women help a Jewish prisoner cross the border to Portugal, putting their survival squarely at odds with their sense of justice.

Dir. Bärbel Jacks
(67 min, Germany/Austria, 2015) Documentary

Using his large-scale charcoal drawings, Austrian artist Manfred Bockelmann sets out to rescue the memory of Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.

Dir. Krzysztof Kopczynsk
(86 min, Poland/Ukraine/Sweden, 2015) Documentary

The timely story of a conflict between Orthodox Jews and Ukrainian far-right activists in Uman, just before the Euromaidan protests.

Dir. Noa Ben Hagai
(55min, Israel, 2015) Documentary

When Albert Einstein visited Palestine in 1932, over 85,000 Jews lived there, and nearly all of them came out to greet the most famous Jew of his generation. For the next 12 days, Einstein kept a personal travel diary cataloging his impressions of the emerging Israeli State.

Dir. Lee Gilat
(98 min, Israel, 2014) Narrative

Aharon, a 13-year-old growing up in a working class Moroccan-Israeli community, is chosen to carry the Torah scrolls for Simchat Torah, but soon realizes this honor is fraught with challenges.

Dir. Marcie Begleiter
(105 min, USA, 2015) Documentary

German-American artist Eva Hesse’s complicated personal life encompassed not only a chaotic 1930s Germany, but also illness and the lively immigrant culture of New York in the 1940s.

Dir. Jack Walsh
(83 min, USA, 2015) Documentary

At the age of 25, Yvonne Rainer took her first dance class; at the age of 28, she changed dance forever.

Dir. Amir Wolf
(105 min, Israel, 2015) Narrative

The body of an 80-year-old man with three stab wounds to the chest washes up by the Yarkon River. Amnon, a downtrodden detective, takes on the case, and soon finds himself contending with con men, crooked cops, romanced widows and a secret society of Holocaust survivors.

Legendary guitarist Gary Lucas joins forces with Tony®-nominated singer and actress Sarah Stiles for a loving musical tribute to the swinging, jazzy soundtracks that adorned master animator Max Fleischer’s cartoons of the 1930’s.

Dir. Shirly Berkovitz
(53 min, Israel, 2014) Documentary

The incredible story of 22-year-old Or, who secretly finances his sex change operation in Thailand by lying to his conservative parents – and then returns home as a woman to face her new life, her family and the price of living her dream.

Dir. Borys Lankosz
(110 min, Poland, 2015) Narrative

A horrendous crime has been committed in the picturesque small town of Sandomierz. Prosecutor Teodor Szacki, recently moved down from Warsaw, recognizes that the murders are connected to allegedly historic Jewish ritual killings.

Dir. Shaul Betser and Asaf Galay
(53 min, Israel, 2015) Documentary

Shaul Betser and Asaf Galay outline the origins of Israeli comics, tracing their evolution from the cultural fringe to a mainstream reflection on Israeli heroes.

In 1943, a group of Polish villagers gathering in the woods discover a listless and injured man. Recognizing him to be a Jewish musician, they heatedly argue about what to do next.

Minister of Health and Auschwitz survivor Simone Veil is brilliantly brought to life in this taut fact-based drama, which captures her intrepid fight to legalize abortion in France.

Dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
(94 min, USA, 1939) Narrative

In possibly the greatest of Edgar G. Ulmer’s shtetl films, impoverished and disabled lovers, Fishke and Hodel dream of life in the big city of Odessa, free from the poverty and stifling old-world prejudices of their small town.

Dir. Nadav Mishali
(20min, Israel, 2014) Narrative

Every month Michal, immerses in a Mikveh (ritual bath) as part of the religious ritual before she and her husband can resume marital relations. When the long-awaited night arrives, nothing happens between the two.

Dir. Gayle Kirschenbaum
(84 min, USA/India/France, 2015) Documentary

With tear-stained laughter, Gayle Kirschenbaum and her mother hope to understand one another, to find common ground, and perhaps even forgiveness, before it’s too late.

In the 1950s, a group of free-spirited, mostly Jewish dancers from New York City fell in love with a sultry dance from Cuba called the mambo, earning them a nickname: the mamboniks.

Dir. Adam Kalderon
(73 min, Israel, 2014) Narrative

Leavened with a chic indie sensibility, Marzipan Flowers centers on Hadas, a newly-widowed, 48 year-old kibbutznik. Lonely and out of her element, Hadas forges a connection with new roommate Petel, a transgender woman with a mysterious past.

Dir. Jerome Cohen Olivar
(102 min, Morocco, 2015) Narrative

Michael Abitbol, the son of a once famous Jewish musician, returns to Casablanca for the first time after leaving Morocco as a child amidst racial tensions spurred by the Yom Kippur War.

Dir. Jonathan Gruber
(53 min, USA, 2015) Documentary

A fascinating profile of ground-breaking artist and Potomac, MD resident Miriam Beerman, who has overcome personal tragedy to inspire friends, peers and students – through her life and art – to remain defiant, creative and strong.

Dir. Yaelle Kayam
(83 min, Israel/Denmark, 2015) Narrative

An orthodox Jewish woman and her family live a quiet life on the grounds of Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, the oldest active Jewish cemetery. The mountain introduces her to another world – but one day she is forced to choose sides.

Dir. Anat Goren
(65 min, Israel, 2015) Documentary

Despite the bond he shares with his friends and teacher, Mussa, a12-year-old Darfur refugee, is alone. His parents work long hours in Tel Aviv, leaving Mussa with his voiceless thoughts and a real fear of deportation.

Dir. David Bezmozgis
(93 min, Canada, 2015) Narrative

Adapting his prize-winning story collection, Natasha and Other Stories, to screen, David Bezmogis delivers a tragic story of young love.

Dir. Chantal Akerman
(115 min, France/Belgium, 2015) Documentary

No Home Movie is a Chantal Akerman’s intimate portrait of her dying mother (and the last film she made before her own premature death). A work of great formal precision and beauty that is both personal and universal.

Dir. Sergei Loznitsa
(20min, Netherlands/Latvia, 2014) Documentary

In this film from Cannes-award-winner Sergei Loznitsa we trace the dark evolution of a Latvian square. First an ordinary Jewish cemetery, then a mass grave for over 1,000 Jews from Riga. Now a park that makes precious little reference to its violent past.

Dir. Marsha Emerman
(79 min, Australia, 2015) Documentary

Majid Shokor, a Muslim Iraqi living in Australia, finds a hidden Jewish connection in his favorite childhood music. Riveted, he travels to Europe, Israel and Iraq, meeting musicians of all faiths who share his love of the Iraqi sound.

Dir. Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar
(105 min, France, 2014) Narrative

A dedicated high school history teacher in France is determined to give her inner-city pupils the best education possible. Overcoming their apathy, however, is proving to be difficult.

Dir. Chantal Akerman
(57 min, France, 1983) Documentary

An encounter between two of the most remarkable women artists of the 20th century, One Day Pina Asked… is Chantal Akerman’s look at the work of choreographer Pina Bausch.

Dir. Duki Dror and Chen Shelach
(60 min, Israel, 2015) Documentary

Two women—one Israeli and one Palestinian—attempt the seemingly impossible: to build a business together.

Dir. Sidney Lumet
(116 min, USA, 1964) Narrative

Sidney Lumet’s groundbreaking classic centers on a Jewish pawnbroker and victim of Nazi persecution, who loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.

Dir. Sarah Kramer
(13min, USA, 2015) Documentary

An 85 year-old confronts the end of his career and his mortality as he shuts down the office he has worked in for the last 40 years.

Dir. Cellin Gluck
(135 min, Japan, 2016) Narrative

The heroic tale of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat posted in Lithuania during WWII, is brought to screen in sweeping fashion in this instant epic.

Dir. Christina Zeidler, John Mitchell
(82 min, Canada, 2015) Narrative

When Elsie coolly cuts it off with sweet performance artist Robyn, her friends challenge her to stay single for five months – no bars, no clubs, and (for goodness sake) no volunteer work. Seems easy, right?

Dir. Yari Wolinsky and Cary Wolinsky
(85 min, USA/Poland, 2014) Documentary

Inspired by images of magnificent wooden synagogues in 18th century Poland—the last of which were destroyed by the Nazis—artists Rick and Laura Brown set out to reconstruct a replica of the stunning, mural-covered Gwozdziec synagogue.

Dir. Mark Moormann
(110 min, USA/Bahamas. 2015) Documentary

Brooklyn-born Henry Stone exported the music of Miami to the world. From distributing records out of his ‘48 Packard to establishing the largest independent label of the 1970’s, he was a shrewd record executive with an ear for hits and a knack for discovering talent.

Dir. Bazi Gete
(80 min, Israel, 2014) Narrative

Meseganio Tadela, 74, is a hard, obstinate and nervous man. He immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia 28 years ago with his family and has chosen to zealously retain his culture, despite his children’s desire to adapt and assimilate to their new homeland.

(96 min, Canada/Israel/Latvia/The Netherlands/USA, 2015) Shorts Program

Some of life’s greatest changes are unanticipated or imperceptible at first glance. This collection of short films zooms far out to capture a full range of human motion, thought and history, measured in years, decades and centuries.

Dir. Zohar Melinek
(14min, Israel, 2016) Documentary

Sara Levy Cohen is 96 years old. When she immigrated to Israel 70 years ago, she had to abandon her mother tongue, Ladino.

Dir. Roger Sherman
(97 min, USA, 2016) Documentary

If you believe the fastest way to the heart is through the stomach, this delectable, eye-popping culinary journey through Israel is your personal valentine.

Series creators: Yehonatan Indursky and Ori Elon
(3 Episodes x 45 min each) Narrative TV Series

The second season of hit Israeli TV show, Shtisel, centers on a father and son, who share the same apartment in ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim, the same cynical humor, and the same search for love and motherly warmth.

Dir. Eva Neymann
(76 min, Ukraine, 2015) Narrative

Starting with Sholem Aleichem’s enchanting tales, Eva Neymann concocts a strong, dreamy potion of a film that invokes young love in a Ukrainian shtetl.

Dir. Michal Rogalski
(95 min, Poland/Germany, 2015) Narrative

Poland, 1943 – Love, friendship and fate connect a simple Polish country boy, the daughter of a local farmer, a young German soldier and a Jewish girl from Warsaw.

Dir. John Schlesinger
(110 min, UK, 1971) Narrative

Sunday Bloody Sunday depicts the romantic lives of two Londoners, a middle-aged doctor and a prickly thirty-something divorcée who are sleeping with the same handsome young artist.

Dir. Natalie Portman
(98 min, Israel/USA, 2015) Narrative

Academy Award®-winning actress Natalie Portman debuts as a director with this hauntingly beautiful adaptation of Amos Oz’s best-selling memoir.

Dir. Sharon Luzon
(54 min, Israel, 2015) Documentary

Suzan was born with both male and female sex organs. When she was five months old, her parents decided she would be a female. It wasn’t until she was 35 that she first learned these facts.

(96 min, France/Israel/Poland/USA, 2015) Shorts Program

The shorts in this series are connected by Cupid’s wayward arrow, by hearts working at odds with minds, and by bonds that prove stronger than their meddling circumstances.

Dir. Avishai Sivan
(120 min, Israel, 2015) Narrative

A young ultra-Orthodox man experiences a crisis of faith in this formally daring drama that employs bravura and often shocking imagery.

Dir. Pier-Philippe Chevigny
(9min, Canada/Poland, 2014) Documentary

A delicately observed documentary focusing on the odd phenomenon of popular tourism in concentration camps.

Dir. Ada Ushpiz
(125 min, Israel/Canada, 2015) Documentary

This spirited documentary, with its abundance of archival material, offers an intimate portrait of the whole of Arendt’s life, traveling to the places where she lived, worked, loved and was betrayed.

Dir. Nitzan Gilady
(82 min, Israel, 2015) Narrative

Hagit, a young woman with a mild mental disability, works in a toilet-paper factory and lives with her nurturing and protective single mother. Hagit prides herself on her independence but also dreams vividly—and daily—about marriage.

Dir. Iris Zaki
(40 min, Israel/UK, 2015) Documentary

It is the story of a little hair salon in the heart of the Arab community in Haifa; it is the story of a friendship between Arab and Jewish women in the city; and it is the story of Iris, the film director, who worked as a hair washer at the salon so she could get to know women of the neighborhood.

Dir. Nir Bergman
(100 min, Israel/Germany, 2014) Narrative

Focusing on the early ‘60s, we witness a turbulent slice of famed Hebrew poet Yona Wallach’s life.