LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
Welcome to the 21st Jewish Film Festival.
Once again our dedicated committee of film enthusiasts has screened dozens of new releases to bring you a diverse and high-quality lineup of Jewish films from around the world.
This year’s selection spans a variety of entertaining dramas — from the boisterous, multilingual meals depicted in Ayelet Menahemi’s Ophir-winning Seven Blessings to the reunion of a Hungarian boxing coach and his orthodox son in All About the Levkoviches. In the documentary category, The Catskills takes us back to the heyday of the Borscht Belt, and Vishniac offers a penetrating, nuanced look at one of the great photographers of the 20th century.
In the aftermath of the tragic events of October 7, 2023, two important themes have emerged on screen: the devastation and trauma following Hamas’ invasion of Israel and the explosion of antisemitism in the U.S. Of Dogs and Men, a docudrama filmed at Kibbutz Nir Oz, follows Israeli teenager Dar as she returns alone to her once-bucolic community to look for her lost dog, while October H8te gives us an inside look at social media-fueled antisemitism on American college campuses.
Throughout the festival, several guest speakers will offer inside looks at the filmmaking process. Among others, 20-something filmmaker Julia Elihu will join us to discuss two exceptional short films based on her Jewish family’s escape from Iran, and Los Angeles-based director Dani Menkin returns to Houston to talk about his latest work, Colleyville, which documents the 2022 hostage situation at a Texas synagogue.
We are grateful to our generous underwriters, Mitzi Shure and Jerry Wische, as well as our many Patrons of the Arts, Festival donors, and community partners whose contributions make our program possible.
None of the magic could happen without the exceptional dedication of our J staff, who work side-by-side with volunteer committee members over the course of a year to put together a meaningful and entertaining festival program for us to experience together as a community. So please join us on this journey of Jewish storytelling that crosses time, cultures, and borders.
See you there!
Matt Stein
Chair, 21st Houston Jewish Film Festival
OPENING NIGHT
Join us in the Cramer-Jacobs Family
Culinary Studio for a class connected to the film:
Moroccan Fish - Thursday, March 20
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Advance registration required
Shabbos Goy
Seven Blessings
Drama | Directed by Ayelet Menahemi | 2023
Israel | Hebrew, French, Arabic (Morocco) with English subtitles | 111 minutes
Saturday, March 22 | 8:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Winner of 10 Ophirs (Israeli Oscars), this captivating drama brings us inside an extended family celebrating the union of a Moroccan-Jewish bride and French-Ashkenazi groom. Behind the boisterous conversations and elaborate meals lies a painful secret from a complicated past.
Underwritten by The Margolis Family
Sponsored by June and Leonard Goldberg
Documentary | Directed by Adam Goott and Alex Szlezinger | 2022 | United Kingdom
English | 5 minutes
Kaplan Theatre (preceding Seven Blessings)
Self-proclaimed “complete atheist” Terry Neville is caretaker at the Radlett United Synagogue north of London in this poignant, charmingly wry short.
An American Tail
Animation | Directed by Don Bluth | 1986
USA | English | 80 minutes
Sunday, March 23 | 2:00 PM
Monday, March 31 | 10:00 AM
At the J
Steven Spielberg’s 1986 animated feature follows Fievel Mousekewitz, a Russian Jewish mouse who sails with his family to America in 1885. His adventures and mishaps in this perplexing new world are lifted up by the beautiful score and talented vocal cast.
The Blond Boy From The Casbah
Comedy, Drama | Directed by Alexandre Arcady | 2023 | France | French with English subtitles | 128 minutes
Sunday, March 23 | 3:00 PM
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Lynn Wyatt Theater
Based on the memoir of filmmaker Alexandre Arcady, we are transported back to his idyllic childhood in preindependence Algiers, where his large Sephardic family thrived in an eclectic neighborhood and he first fell in love with cinema.
Of Dogs and Men
Drama | Directed by Dani Rosenberg | 2024 Israel | Hebrew with English subtitles 82 minutes
Sunday, March 23 | 7:00 PM
Kaplan Theatre
October 7 survivor Hila Berdichevsky in attendance.
Director Dani Rosenberg’s experiential dramatic account takes us to Kibbutz Nir Oz just weeks after the October 7 massacre, following a lone Israeli teenager on a quest to find her dog in a landscape marked by grief and destruction.
This film contains disturbing content.
Patron Sponsors
Esther and Gary Polland; Shelley and Matt Stein; Ellen and Daniel Trachtenberg
Partners in Fate
Drama | 2023 | Israel | Hebrew with English subtitles | 7 minutes
Kaplan Theatre (preceding Of Dogs and Men)
A story of hope amid the horrors of October 7: four Bedouin family members of a Kibbutz Be’eri cafeteria worker save a kibbutznik cyclist and dozens of Nova festival attendees.
Janis Ian: Breaking Silence
Documentary | Directed by Varda Bar-Kar 2024 | USA | English | 110 minutes
Monday, March 24 | 7:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
The remarkable journey of Grammy Award-winning Jewish singer-songwriter Janis Ian is chronicled in this in-depth documentary, introducing us to her remarkably moving songbook and tumultuous life story since breaking into music at age 13.
Sponsored by the Lillian Kaiser Lewis Foundation in honor of Dolores Wilkenfeld
Patron Sponsors
Diane Kaplan; Lynn and Armand Shapiro
Colleyville
Documentary | Directed by Dani Menkin
2024 | USA | English | 80 minutes
Tuesday, March 25 | 7:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Director Dani Menkin and Documentary subject Jeff Cohen in attendance.
Israeli-American filmmaker Dani Menkin uses rare video footage and indepth personal interviews to walk us through Shabbat at a Texas synagogue taken over by a British-Pakistani gunman in 2022.
This film contains disturbing content.
The Catskills
Documentary | Directed by Lex Gillespie 2024 | USA | English | 86 minutes
Wednesday, March 26 | 1:00 PM Wednesday, March 26 | 7:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Director Lex Gillespie in attendance for both screenings.
Lex Gillespie’s delightful, nostalgic documentary about the rise, heyday and eventual decline of the so-called Borscht Belt pays homage to the resorts and bungalows in the mountain region near New York City and their contributions to the cultural fabric of Jewish-American life.
Join us for a Catskills inspired dinner | 6:00 PM Advanced registration required
Matinee screening sponsored by Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital
Vishniac
Documentary | Directed by Laura Bialis 2023 | USA | English | 93 minutes
Thursday, March 27 | 7:00 PM
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Lynn Wyatt Theater
Preceded by remarks from Beth B. Schneider, MFAH Consulting Curator, Judaica Collection.
Director Laura Bialis presents a penetrating, nuanced look at an icon of 20th-century photography. Known for documenting Eastern European Jewish communities before the Holocaust, Roman Vishniac’s complex contributions are examined through archival footage, expert commentary and revealing interviews with his daughter.
Friday Night Lights
Friday, March 28 | 7:00 PM | Maggiano’s Little Italy | 2019 Post Oak Blvd
Experience Shabbat in a sophisticated setting featuring a three-course dinner, paired with two short films.
Advanced registration required Sponsored in memory of Susan Farb Morris
In The Garden of Tulips
Drama | Directed by Julia Elihu | 2023 USA | Persian with English subtitles | 14 minutes
Persian-Jewish teenager Caroline takes a final car ride with her father through the Iranian countryside before she is smuggled out of the country.
The Last Cowboy in Salford
Drama | Directed by Jake Lancaster 2023 | UK | English | 14 minutes
Jewish teenager Jonny Richman is convinced he is a real modern-day cowboy, much to his parent’s frustration. A darkly comic neo-Western set in Manchester, England.
Bliss (Hemda)
Drama | Directed by Shemi Zarhin | 2024
Israel | Hebrew, Arabic with English subtitles | 125 minutes
Saturday, March 29 | 8:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Sasson Gabai and Asi Levi star in this story about a resilient modern-day relationship. Sassi and Efi handle their challenges with humor, loyalty and respect for each other in an insightful touching film by Shemi Zarhin.
Available for virtual viewing with purchase.
Pre-film reception sponsored by the Doreen and Basil Joffe Endowment Fund
Patron Sponsors
Doreen and Basil Joffe
Golda’s War Diaries
Documentary | Directed by Yariv Mozer 2023 | Israel | Hebrew with English subtitles | 73 minutes
Sunday, March 30 | 2:00 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Recently declassified archives from the Yom Kippur War, along with expert commentary, offer a compelling reassessment that Prime Minister Golda Meir’s assertive leadership led to Israel’s victory in 1973 and opened a path to peace with Egypt.
Available for virtual viewing with purchase.
Underwritten by The Albert and Rosita Gaon Sephardic Heritage Program Endowment Fund
An Evening of Shorts
Sunday, March 30 | 7:00 PM | Kaplan Theatre
Director Julia Elihu in attendance.
Sevap/Mitzvah
Drama | Directed by Sabina Vajrača 2023 | Bosnia, Herzegovina | English, Bosnian with English subtitles 20 minutes
In Nazi-occupied Bosnia, a Muslim woman risks everything to save her Jewish friends. Fifty years later, during the Balkan War, the tables have turned.
Girl No. 60427
Drama | Directed by Shulamit Lifshitz 2022 | Israel | Hebrew with English subtitles | 22 minutes
Tel Aviv, 1998. Reut finds her grandmother’s hidden Holocaust diary, transforming her carefree summer into a profound connection with her past.
Winter of ‘79
Drama | Directed by Julia Elihu | 2022 USA | Persian with English subtitles 20 minutes
A Persian-Jewish mother questions her faith in her country. Based on Julia Elihu’s family’s experiences escaping Iran during the 1979 Revolution.
In The Garden of Tulips
Drama | Directed by Julia Elihu | 2023 USA | Persian with English subtitles 14 minutes
Persian-Jewish teenager Caroline takes a final car ride with her father through the Iranian countryside before she is smuggled out of the country.
Underwritten by The Maurice Amado Foundation
Patron Sponsors
Joanne and Bruce Levy
Crossing Delancey
Comedy, Romance | Directed by Joan Micklin Silver | 1988 | USA | English 97 minutes
Monday, March 31 | 7:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Golden Globe-nominated Amy Irving plays Izzy Grossman, whose life revolves around the swanky New York bookstore where she works and mingles with intellectually stimulating authors. Meanwhile, her bubbe and a hilarious matchmaker plot to find her a nice Jewish husband.
Patron Sponsors
Suzan and Jeremy Samuels
Join us in the Cramer-Jacobs Family Culinary Studio for a class connected to the film:
Pickling Class
Sunday, March 30 | 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Advance registration required
October H8te
Documentary | Directed by Wendy Sachs 2024 | USA | English | 100 minutes Tuesday, April 1 | 7:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Documentary Film Subject Tessa Veksler in attendance at both screenings.
Emmy Award winner Wendy Sachs’ documentary deftly explores the eruption of antisemitism on American college campuses following October 7, featuring interviews with Jewish student leaders to illustrate the scourge of antiIsrael campus social justice movements. This film contains disturbing content.
TEEN NIGHT
October H8te
Wednesday, April 2 | 7:00 PM
Kaplan Theatre Exclusive for teens grades 8-12
Here Lived
Documentary | Directed by Jane Wells
2024 | USA | English | 79 minutes
Wednesday, April 2 | 7:00 PM
Holocaust Museum Houston
Artist Gunter Demnig started his Stolpersteine project in 1992. Now, more than 100,000 of these Holocaust memorial stones have been installed in sidewalks around Europe. Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker Jane Wells traces the impact of these stones and the healing they bring to individuals and communities in the Netherlands.
Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara
Drama | Directed by Marco Bellocchio 2024 | Italy, France, Germany | Italian, Hebrew with English subtitles | 134 minutes
Thursday, April 3 | 7:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Marco Bellocchio’s somber but visually elegant story about 19th-century Roman Catholic antisemitism recounts the abduction of young Edgardo Mortara from his Jewish family in Bologna to be raised in the Church, following a fanatical edict by Pope Pius IX.
Moderated discussion follows film.
Patron Sponsors Eve and Bobby Lapin; Elise Sheppard
All About the Levkoviches
Drama | Directed by Ádám Breier | 2024 | Hungary Hungarian with English subtitles | 85 minutes
Saturday, April 5 | 8:30 PM
Kaplan Theatre
Lovable but gruff Hungarian boxing trainer Tamás reunites with his estranged son, who returns to Budapest from his orthodox life in Israel after the death of his mother. With the help of his adorable grandson, this heartwarming dramedy delivers laughs and an intimate look into belief and reconciliation.
Reception following film sponsored by Elise Sheppard and Kelly Davis
Patron Sponsor Bunny Radoff
View your Film Festival schedule on the go with this bookmark! Simply tear it out, take notes and insert it into your bag or book.
RESERVED SEATING
USE THE QR CODE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PROGRAMS AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS.
All films at the J are reserved seating. Purchase your tickets early to ensure access to the event with your preferred seating!
PURCHASE A HOUSTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL SUBSCRIPTION
Subscription options include a Full Festival subscription or an option to purchase three programs. Ticket reservations are required for each event. All subscription options only include films at the J.
FILMS BEING SCREENED OFF-SITE
These films are not located at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC campus and are not included in the Film Festival subscriptions or Patron of the Arts offerings.
VIEWING PROGRAMS VIRTUALLY
Select films, Bliss and Golda’s War Diaries are available to view virtually with a ticket purchase. The virtual films will be available April 6 through April 13.
Questions? Email Myla at mbell@erjcchouston.org or call 713-729-3200.
OPENING NIGHT
Seven Blessings
Saturday, March 22 | 8:30 PM
FAMILY FILM
An American Tail
Sunday, March 23 | 2:00 PM
Monday, March 31 | 10:00 AM
The Blond Boy From The Casbah
Sunday, March 23 | 3:00 PM Of Dogs and Men
Sunday, March 23 | 7:00 PM
Janis Ian: Breaking Silence
Monday, March 24 | 7:30 PM
Colleyville
Tuesday, March 25 | 7:30 PM
The Catskills
Wednesday, March 26 | 1:00 PM
Wednesday, March 26 | 7:30 PM
Vishniac
Thursday, March 27 | 7:00 PM
Friday Night Lights
Friday, March 28 | 7:00 PM
Bliss (Hemda)
Saturday, March 29 | 8:30 PM
Golda’s War Diaries
Sunday, March 30 | 2:00 PM
An Evening of Shorts
Sunday, March 30 | 7:00 PM
Crossing Delancey
Monday, March 31 | 7:30 PM
October H8te
Tuesday, April 1 | 7:30 PM
TEEN NIGHT: October H8te
Wednesday, April 2 | 7:00 PM
Here Lived
Wednesday, April 2 | 7:00 PM
Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara
Thursday, April 3 | 7:30 PM
CLOSING NIGHT:
All About the Levkoviches Saturday, April 5 | 8:30 PM
Use the QR Code for more information on films and to purchase tickets and subscriptions.
March 22-April 5
Underwritten by Mitzi Shure & Jerry Wische Celebrating 21 Years of the Best Jewish and Israeli Films
Houston Jewish Film Festival Teen Short Film Contest
The Festival will continue to feature short films submitted by local teens as part of our Teen Short Film Contest.
Films cover a range of themes, including:
Being a Jewish teenager | Tikkun Olam L’dor v’dor (the strength of bonds between generations) Antisemitism, racism, prejudice | Any Jewish related subject
Submission Deadline: February 17
Winning films will be screened on: March 30 Teen Night: April 2
erjcchouston.org/teen-film-contest/
Festival Funders & Supporters
Underwritten by Mitzi Shure & Jerry Wische Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Patrons of the Arts
The Maurice Amado Foundation
EVELYN RUBENSTEIN JCC HOUSTON
5601 S. Braeswood | Houston, TX 77096–3907
713.729.3200 | erjcchouston.org
