PJFM Spring 2025 Brochure (Digital)

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SPRING 2025 EVENTS

PJFM44 SPONSORS PRESENTING

Elaine Lindy Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

CHAI SOCIETY

The Lindy Family – Alan, Elaine, and Frank Lindy

PLATINUM

Steve and Betsy Filton

DIAMOND

Barbara and Mickey Black Jacob Cohen and Sarah Waxman Phyllis and Howard Fischer Edward and Susan Hoffman Lisa Kabnick and John McFadden Amy and Richard Oller

DIRECTOR

Arthur and Lisa Berkowitz

GOLD

David and Nancy Colman Harris and Debra Devor Debbie and Bob Fleischman Judith and Joel Golden Seth Goldstein Adele Aron Greenspun Libby S. Harwitz and Burton Blender Cathy and Dan Kaufman Seth and Ellyn Lehr Susan and Jim Meyer Larry and Cindy Rappoport Pam and Tony Schneider

CINEMATOGRAPHER Susanna Lachs-Adler

SILVER

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Ina Elfant Asher and Bob Elfant in memory of our sister, Janet Elfant Penni and Mark Blaskey Mr. and Ms. Glenn Blumenfeld Marcia Bronstein and Eric Salmansohn Michael Coleman and Ellen Singer Coleman Bob Gelsher Mary and Stuart Kahn

Susan and Leonard Klehr Joanne and Alexander Klein Carole Landis Foundation Meltzer & Associates Richard and Beth Probinsky Mary and Nathan Relles Robin Rifkin and Michael Silverman Bob and Caro Rock Lyn M. Ross Patricia Saddier-Dana Ellen Schwartz and Jeremy Siegel Susan Sherman, Independence Foundation Marty Tuzman and Eileen R. Heisman Tuzman Joseph Zuritsky

COLLABORATOR

Dina Holt Rena Kopelman Sherrie Savett

BRONZE

Sid and Helene Amster Jay W. Barnett Lobro Associates Brinker, Simpson and Company c/o Cathy Seiler, CPA Deutsch Family Foundation Art and Lynne Ellis Bob Epstein Arlene Fickler Jill and Mark Fishman Lynn Norton-Robins and Bruce Robins Alan Sandman Francine Tabas Rabbi Lynnda and Larry Targan

INFLUENCER

Seyna and Larry Abel Helene and Sidney Amster Joseph Manko Jerry Silverman

CINEPHILE

Benjamin Alouf Ruthie Levikoff Joy Pollock and Burt Siegel

HOSPITALITY Cooper Spirits

Scan QR code for the most up-to-date list of PJFM44 Sponsors.

JEWISH RESILIENCE FILM AND MEDIA SERIES

THE STRONGHOLD

Opening Night Thursday, April 24 7 PM at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

Sinai Desert, Yom Kippur War, 1973. In a remote outpost, a company of Israeli soldiers is overwhelmed by a sudden Egyptian onslaught. After a week of ceaseless assaults, the survivors face imminent doom. With lives hanging by a thread, a young lieutenant (Daniel Gad) and an army doctor (Michael Aloni) confront a soul-shattering choice: a desperate last stand or a perilous gamble that could betray everything they stand for.

Co-sponsored by

Directed by Lior Chefetz | Narrative Feature | Israel | 2024 | 113 min | Hebrew

THEODOR

Friday, April 25 2 PM at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

The Israeli Opera proudly presents this inspiring and visually captivating opera that explores the life and origins of Theodor Herzl, the visionary behind the modern State of Israel. THEODOR depicts how Herzl’s encounters with rising antisemitism in Europe compelled him to see the necessity of a Jewish state, leading to the founding of the Zionist movement. Composed by Yonatan Cnaan and directed by Ido Ricklin, this opera masterfully blends music, theater, and stunning visuals to portray Herzl’s relentless quest for Jewish belonging.

Directed by Ido Ricklin | Narrative Feature | Israel | 2024 | 120 min | Hebrew

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999: THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS

Sunday, 27 On Demand StreamingApril on PJFM April 27-28 (12 AM – 11:59 PM ET) 1:30 PM at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

In the spring of 1942, the Nazis ordered the Slovak government to send a slave labor force and received 999 teenage Jewish girls. Their railway ticket was a one-way trip to Auschwitz. Heather Dune Macadam, first-time director/producer and author of the international best-selling book, 999, spent 11 years interviewing survivors of the first transport all over the world. Digging through family and government archives, 999 unearths groundbreaking research that reveals this untold story from an entirely female perspective. Those who survived endured more than three years in the death camps and beg viewers to ask the question: why were girls targeted first?

Directed by Heather Dune Macadam | Documentary Feature | USA | 2024 | 86 min | English

US Premiere

THE COMMUNITY

Sunday, April 27 4 PM at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

THE COMMUNITY captures the strength and resilience of Ukraine’s diverse Jewish community as they navigate the hardships of war. Through personal stories and interviews with a range of characters, the film reveals their essential role in Ukraine’s struggle and explores their experiences amidst accusations of Nazism that have cast a shadow over the nation. Director Alex Osmolovsky returns to his homeland to witness this powerful reality firsthand, seeking to understand why, despite everything, the Jewish community continues to see Ukraine as their home.

Directed by Alex Osmolovsky | Documentary Feature | Israel, Ukraine | 2025 | 64 min | Ukrainian, Russian

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TORN

Sunday, April 27 6 PM at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

TORN delves into the controversy surrounding the ‘KIDNAPPED’ poster campaign, a grassroots effort to raise awareness about the 250 hostages taken

by Hamas. These posters quickly became polarizing symbols, sparking intense clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine activists and turning New York City’s streets into battlegrounds of ideology and emotion.

The film explores the motivations behind activists putting up and tearing down the posters, unraveling the complexities of this intense ‘paper arm’ proxy war, fought thousands of miles from the actual conflict.

Co-sponsored by

Directed by Nimrod Shapira | Documentary Feature | USA | 2024 | 75 min | English, Hebrew

FOUR WINTERS

Closing Night Monday, April 28 7 PM at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

“All I owned was my camera, leopard coat, rifle and a grenade in case I’m captured... the pillow was the rifle, the walls were the trees and the sky was the roof,” says Faye Schulman, one of over 25,000 Jewish partisans who fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators from deep within the forests of WWII’s Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Belarus. Against extraordinary odds, they escaped Nazi slaughter, transforming from young innocents raised in closely knit families to courageous resistance fighters.

Shattering the myth of Jewish passivity, the last surviving partisans tell their stories of resistance in FOUR WINTERS, revealing a stunning narrative of heroism and resilience.

Directed by Julia Mintz | Documentary Feature | USA | 2022 | 90 min | English

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SHORTS SOME.BODY – A NOVA STORY

AI Installation Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History EXHIBITION HOURS: Friday & Saturday, April 25 - 26 | 10 AM – 4 PM Sunday, April 27 | 10 AM – 6 PM

Directed by Netanel Kafka Combining original AI animation, spoken word, and trance music, SOME.BODY – A NOVA STORY is inspired by the massacre at the Nova music festival in southern Israel on the 7th of October 2023.

A GREAT BIG SECRET

999:STRONGHOLD THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS Preceding THE Dutch-born Holocaust survivor and retired teacher Anita Magnus Frank narrates her story from childhood trauma to adult healing, opening up to the world as one of World War II’s “hidden children.”

Directed by Yoav Potash | Documentary Short | USA | 2024 | 13 min | English

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

Preceding TORN Blake Peters, Jewish student-athlete and Ivy League basketball player, navigates the highs of athletic achievement and the lows of antisemitism on campus.

Directed by Nate Berman | Documentary Short | USA | 2024 | 5 min | English

NEW LIVES

Preceding FOUR WINTERS A Holocaust survivor navigates the delicate balance between assimilating to her new American identity and reckoning with her traumatic past in 1950s Brooklyn.

Directed by Joey Schweitzer | Narrative Short | USA | 2023 | 20 min | Polish, English

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Film Screening

CENTERED: JOE LIEBERMAN

Wednesday, May 7 7 PM at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

Joe Lieberman. The man who nearly became the first Jewish Vice President of the United States.

The politician who put principles above party.

And the Founding Chairman of No Labels, whose quest for a bipartisan ticket nearly upended the 2024 presidential election. CENTERED chronicles Lieberman’s 40 years of public service, providing invaluable insights into this iconoclastic politician.

Directed by Jonathan Gruber | Documentary Feature | USA | 2024 | 73 min | English

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