FILM at the EDCJCC FALL 2016 SEASON
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PASSES/TICKETS
Individual tickets may be subject to service charges. Single Ticket: $12 Seret DC: A Celebration of Contemporary Israeli Cinema Pass: $40 Fall Season Pass: $50 Seret DC & Fall Season Combo Pass: $70 Year-Round Pass*: $150
TO PURCHASE 2 Visit wjff.org or call 202-777-3241.
Tickets purchased by phone are subject to an additional $3 processing fee.
DETAILS All ticket sales are final. No refunds or exchanges. Ticket and pass-holders must be seated 15 minutes prior to show start time to guarantee admittance. If a screening is sold out online, a Rush Line will form starting 45-60 minutes prior to the start time. *Year-Round Pass includes all films, except those in the Annual Washington Jewish Film Festival. Visit VisitWJFF.ORG WJFF.ORGfor fortickets tickets&&passes passes
THE TENTH MAN TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 7:30 PM
Dir. Daniel Burman (80min, Argentina, 2016) Spanish, Hebrew, and Yiddish with English subtitles | Narrative
Award-winning director Daniel Burman returns with The Tenth Man, a sharply-observed comedy that takes on the intricacies of identity, home and family.
After years away, Ariel is summoned by his distant father Usher to his childhood home in the bustling Jewish quarter of Buenos Aires, known as El Once. During Purim, Ariel seeks to reconnect with his dad, who runs a Jewish charity. Usher is regarded as a big macher in the closeknit community, but was frequently absent from his son’s life. –Note adapted from the Tribeca Film Festival
THE SINGING ABORTONIST
5 TO 7
Dir. Dara Bratt (63min, Canada/USA, 2015) | Documentary
Dir. Victor Levin (97min, USA, 2014) English and French with English subtitles | Narrative
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 7:30 PM
Holocaust survivor. Womanizer. Pro-choice crusader. Dr. Henry Morgentaler is often referred to as the most loved and hated man in Canada. The Singing Abortionist is the deconstruction of the man behind the cause. A rebel at heart, Henry called a press conference in the ‘70s to announce that he had performed 7,000 illegal abortions. To take it even further, he performed an abortion, live on television, on Mother’s Day, in 1972. Why would a man who had barely escaped Nazi Germany put himself back in a position to be imprisoned? Followed by Q&A with filmmaker Dara Bratt.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 7:30 PM
Outside the Manhattan St. Regis Hotel, an aspiring young novelist (Anton Yelchin) first meets Arielle (Bérénice Marlohe), the sophisticated wife of a French Diplomat. Though she’s older, married, and the mother of two, Brian can’t help but be drawn to her and the two begin a cinq-a-sept affair. It’s a clash with his traditional values and his parents (Frank Langella and Glenn Close) can barely handle the news, but Brian couldn’t be more smitten. –Note adapted from the Tribeca Film Festival
“Seriously Sexy. Sumptuous and Romantic.” –Hollywood Reporter
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SERET DC: A CELEBRATION OF
CONTEMPORARY
ISRAELI CINEMA
ONE WEEK AND A DAY OPENING NIGHT WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 6:45 PM Dir. Asaph Polonsky (98min, Israel, 2016) Hebrew with English subtitles | Narrative
When Eyal finishes sitting shiva (the traditional Jewish week of mourning) for his late son, his wife Vicky urges him to return to their daily routine. Instead, he gets high with a young neighbor and sets out to discover that there are still things in his life worth living for. World premiered at the 2016 Cannes Critics’ Week.
“A bittersweet comedy-drama in which the pain is as real as the frequent chuckles.” –The Hollywood Reporter
SAND STORM CLOSING NIGHT SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 6:20 PM Dir. Elite Zexer (87min, Israel, 2016) Arabic with English subtitles | Narrative
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Two Bedouin women, a teenager and her mother, dare to defy polygamist marital traditions in southern Israel, in this exploration of the complex relationships among women in male-dominated societies, and their revolutionary potential for change. Winner Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema at the Sundance Film Festival
OCTOBER 5-9
Join us for a cinematic survey of some of Israel’s top films from the past year. Consider getting a series pass for a fully immersive experience.
Visit WJFF.ORG for tickets & passes
ABULELE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 3:00 PM SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 12:30 PM Dir. Jonathan Geva (96min, Israel, 2016) Hebrew with English subtitles | Narrative
In this heartfelt family film, Adam, a young boy grieving from the loss of his brother, discovers a mythical furry beast (an Abulele) living in his building. When Adam realizes that it’s not the Abulele but the humans who are the real monsters, he risks everything to save his friendly giant.
AKA NADIA
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 8:20 PM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 8:30 PM
Dir. Tova Ascher (115min, Israel/UK, 2015) English, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles | Narrative
Nadia is a 20-year-old Arab girl who has a love affair with Nimer, a PLO activist. They move to England, where Nimer is caught by the authorities. Nadia manages to secure an Israeli passport belonging to a Jewish Israeli girl and begins a new life in disguise. When Nimer reappears, her long buried past comes knocking at her door.
ATOMIC FALAFEL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 8:45 PM SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2:30 PM
depicts the lives and families of both these undercover soldiers and the operatives they hunt.
MR. GAGA
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 4:20 PM
Dir. Tomer Heymann (100min, Israel/Sweden/Germany/Netherlands, 2015) English and Hebrew with English subtitles | Documentary
Ohad Naharin has directed Israel’s most accomplished dance company—Batsheva—since 1990. But it’s Ohad’s belief that dance should be accessible to everyone that leads to the film’s most cathartic moments, as the choreographer leads a room of ordinary people of all ages, shapes, and sizes through his Gaga-movement workshops.
Dir. Dror Shaul (93min, Israel/Germany/New Zealand, 2015) English, Farsi and Hebrew with English subtitles | Narrative
PRINCESS
FAUDA (episodes 1 and 2)
Adar’s relationship with her mom and stepfather is unconventional and intimate. While her mom’s at work, Adar’s close relationship with her unemployed stepfather takes a dark turn involving roleplaying games that turn fantasy into violation. As Adar’s home life turns increasingly intrusive, she begins to search for help outside.
A nuclear showdown between Israel and Iran wouldn’t normally make for laughs, but this farcical comedy manages to raise this weighty premise to high levels of absurdity. A ragged cast of Israeli and Iranian ne’er-do-wells quickly find themselves pawns in a bizarre military plot cooked up by a wonderfully inept military brass.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 6:45 PM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 5:00 PM
Series by Lior Raz, Avi Issacharoff (80min, Israel, 2015) Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles | Narrative / TV Series
Since the late 1980s, the IDF has operated special undercover units called Mista’arvim. They learn to speak perfect Arabic, pray at Mosques, and assimilate themselves into Palestinian communities. Fauda—one of Israel’s highest-rated television series of all time—
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 6:45 PM Dir. Tali Shalom-Ezer (92min, Israel, 2014) Hebrew with English subtitles | Narrative
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SAVE THE DATE:
THE 27TH ANNUAL WASHINGTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL MAY 17-28, 2017
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Visit WJFF.ORG for tickets & passes
TOUCH OF AN ANGEL
JUNUN
Dir. Marek Tomasz Pawłowski (62min, Poland, 2015) Polish with English subtitles | Documentary
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (54min, USA, 2015) English, Hindi, Hebrew, and Urdu with English subtitles | Documentary
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 7:30 PM
A lyrical and emotionally powerful documentary that brings to life the testimony and reminiscence of Henryk Schonker—a Jew from the town of Oswiecim, later renamed Auschwitz. In 1939, his father was the chairman of the Jewish community, whose task was to organize the Bureau of Emigration of Jews to Palestine, at the behest of the German military authorities. This opportunity for legal immigration poses a crucial but most difficult question: had Western countries been willing to accept Jewish refugees, how many could have been saved?
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 7:30 PM
Academy Award nominee Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice, There Will Be Blood) takes us on a musical journey to Jodhpur, India, featuring Israeli composer/poet Shye Ben Tzur and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. With a group of India’s finest musicians, they build a makeshift studio and joyously make music together for three weeks.
A cross-cultural meeting point between the mystical Islam of Sufi, Qawwali, and devotional poetries in Urdu, Hebrew, and Hindi— and an extraordinary visual and sensory experience that will capture your imagination. —Note adapted from the Jacob Burns Film Center Playing as part of the 18th Washington Jewish Music Festival
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TIME TO SAY GOODBYE
ATLIT
Dir. Viviane Andereggen (82min, Germany, 2015) German with English subtitles | Narrative
Dir. Shirel Amitay (91min, France/Israel, 2015) French and Hebrew with English subtitles | Narrative
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 7:30 PM
A lovesick German boy faces the aftermath of his parent’s split—and a slice of his manhood—in the coming-of-age comedy Time to Say Goodbye.
Simon is a 12-year-old kid going through a lot. Since his parent’s divorce, he bounces between them much like a ping-pong ball. Complicating matters, the family is religiously divided. Newlyobservant father Frank insists that his squeamish son sacrifice his foreskin before his Bar Mitzvah, while liberal-minded mom Hannah is fed up with her ex-husband’s pious posturing. Meanwhile, Simon falls head over heels in love with the new Rabbi, Rebecca, who is for twenty years his senior. Visit WJFF.ORG tickets & passes
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 7:30 PM
Israel, 1995. With the peace process in full swing, Cali meets with her sisters in order to sell their childhood home: a piece of paradise in Atlit. They start quarrelling and old tensions resurface. Their parents insist on having their say: four years after their deaths, they randomly appear to fix the electricity, offer marriage counseling and generally weaken their daughters’ resolve regarding the house. On the 4th of November, Yitzhak Rabin’s sudden assassination causes the sisters to further question their motives. What will become of this house in a country where the future is so uncertain?
GERMANS & JEWS
BULGARIAN RHAPSODY
Dir. Janina Quint and Tal Recanati (76min, USA, 2016) English and German with English subtitles | Documentary
Dir. Ivan Nichev (108min, Bulgaria/Israel, 2014) Bulgarian, German and Ladino with English subtitles | Narrative
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 7:30 PM
Today, Europe’s fastest growing Jewish population is in Berlin. Germany is considered one of the most democratic societies in the world, assuming the position of moral leader of Europe as they embrace hundreds of thousands of refugees. This development couldn’t have been imagined in 1945. Through personal stories, Germans & Jews explores Germany’s transformation as a society, from silence about the Holocaust to facing it head on. What began as a private conversation grew into a cultural exchange, at once uncomfortable and provocative, unexpected and enlightening. Followed by Q&A with filmmakers Janina Quint and Tal Recanati.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 7:30 PM
In 1943, the Jews of Greater Bulgaria are forced to adhere to Germany’s rule. The friendship of teenagers Moni (a Jewish kid from Sofia) and Giogio (the son of the Commissar for Jewish Affairs’ chauffeur) is tested when they both fall in love with Shelly, a beautiful 17-year-old Jewish girl from Greece.
Bulgaria’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, this is a touching story of teenage love and friendship unfolding against the horrors of war.
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Please consider donating at WJFF.ORG
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO OUR MAJOR DONORS AND SPONSORS: DAY SPONSOR
Anne and Ronald Abramson
Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation Scott and Ellen Clare Dreyer The Dweck Family Embassy of Israel
Lois and Richard England Family Foundation
PRODUCER
Dr. Sara Cohen and Norman Rich, Dr. Paul and Cyna Cohen
Barbara Silverstein and Alan Kirschenbaum
DIRECTOR
Patty Abramson and Les Silverman Michele and Allan Berman
The Melvin and Estelle Gelman Foundation– Elise and Marc Lefkowitz
Dina Gold
Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation Linda and Sid Moskowitz
Melanie and Larry Nussdorf
Deborah and Michael Salzberg
Dava Berkman
Kenneth and Jessi Brooks and Anita Wolke Anne and Howard Clemons
Jacqueline and Edward Cohen
Susie and Michael Gelman, The Morningstar Foundation Shelley and Allan Holt
LIGHTS
Rose and Robert Cohen
Lois and Richard England Family Foundation Liza and Michael Levy Richard Solloway
Tabard Corporation
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Myrna Fawcett
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Brenda Gruss and Daniel Hirsch Belman Klein Associates, Ltd.
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Susan Wedlan and Harold Rosen Lynn and John Sachs
Beth B. Sackler and Jeffrey N. Cohen Michael Singer
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