Jewish Film Festival will feature 12 films in 10 days
March 16, 2015
The best of international cinema will return to Gainesville in March when the Jewish Film Festival takes over the Hippodrome Cinema for the fifth consecutive year. The Jewish Council of North Central Florida is proud to once again partner with the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida to offer a week of compelling and provocative films.
The festival will kick off Sunday, March 22 and run through Tuesday, March 31. All screenings will be held at 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Admission for each film is $10 and festival passes may be purchased online at www.jcncf.org or by calling the JCNCF Office at 352-371-3746. Full passes are $75 and half passes are $45 (5 screenings).
Film schedule and brief description:
Sunday, March 22 - "24 Days" (7 p.m.)
In January 2006, a beautiful young woman walks into a Parisian cellphone shop, looks around, and asks for the sales attendant's number. Later, she calls asking to meet. Who could have known that Ilan, the 23-year-old sales clerk, was flirting with death?
Monday, March 23 - Double Feature (for one admission)
"Make Me A Match" (7 p.m.)
The portrait of three Jewish-Orthodox singles, their matchmakers and their effort to stay loyal to tradition.
Followed by:
"Sacred Sperm"
In this documentary, director and narrator Or Gruder shares his journey as he tries to fully understand the concept and come to terms with how to raise his son in good faith. This is a revelatory film that explores the concept of sacred sperm within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.
Tuesday, March 24 - Double Feature (for one admission)
"The Hidden Spring" (7 p.m.)
At first glance, it seems that there can be nothing in common between Sh'aul, an old homeless man who is addicted to narcotics, and a young hitchhiker named Y'honatan, who is trying to overcome the loss of his best friend to suicide. But a chance encounter unites them in a mutual desire to search for the essence of life.
Followed by:
TBA
Thursday, March 26 - "There and Here" (5:30 p.m.)
When Harry Klaussner, a Holocaust survivor who hid his past to become a pilot, went to the flight academy, he befriended navigator Shaia Harsit. The two spent hours up in the air, but only after 60 years, did Harry discover that Shaia had also survived the Holocaust as a child.
Thursday, March 26 - "Farewell, Herr Schwartz" (7 p.m.)
Winner of the Best Documentary prize at the Haifa International Film Festival, director Yael Reuveny's “Farewell Herr Schwarz” is a cinematic journey about buried family secrets, the Holocaust (from a third generation perspective) and how it is never too late to reclaim your heritage.
Saturday, March 28 - "Hit'Abdut" (8:30 p.m.)
An action-thriller that depicts the final hours of Oded Tsur before he must end his life.
Sunday, March 29 - "East and West" (3 p.m.)
Described as a delightful comedy, "East and West" opens as Morris Brown – a New Yorker who had better get more acquainted with his checkbook than his prayer book – returns to Galicia for a family wedding with his very American daughter, Mollie.
Sunday, March 29 - "Gett" (7 p.m.)
The trial story of Viviane Amsalem's five-year fight to obtain her divorce in front of the only legal authority competent for divorce cases in Israel, the Rabbinical Court.
Monday, March 30 - "A Borrowed Identity" (7 p.m.)
The story of Eyad, a boy who grew up in an Arab town in Israel, and was given the chance to go to a prestigious Jewish boarding school in Jerusalem - the first and only Arab to be accepted to it.
Tuesday, March 31 - "Friends From France" (7 p.m.)
Set in 1979, Carole and Jerome, are 20-somethings who go on an organized trip to Odessa, behind the Iron Curtain of the former Soviet Union. By day, they behave like tourists, but in the evening, slip away from the group and secretly meet "refuseniks," Jews persecuted by the Soviet regime for wanting to leave the country.
To learn more about the Hippodrome Cinema, visit www.thehipp.com/cinema. Get the latest cinema news at www.facebook.com/hippcinema and on Twitter at @HippCinema.