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BY CATE MARQUIS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
After three years of going virtual, the Jewish Community Center’s 28th Annual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival is returning to an in-person format at the Marcus Des Peres Theater. The festival, which takes place March 12-16, will presents 14 Jewish-themed films from the United States and around the world. There are seven narrative features, ranging from bittersweet comedy to gripping drama. Among these are a gripping tale set in a concentration camp called “Persian Lessons,” the harrowing drama “Farewell Mister Haffman,” set in occupied Paris about a Jewish jeweler and his non-Jewish employee, and the bittersweet Israeli comedy “Karaoke,” about an older middle-class couple who meet a new neighbor who has karaoke nights in his apartment.
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The festival’s seven documentaries include “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen,” on the making of Norman Jewison’s “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song,” a sort of dual biography of the singer/songwriter/poet and his most famous song “Hallelujah.” This year’s festival includes a few major changes: the change in location to Marcus Des Peres Theater (previous in-person film festivals were held at Plaza Frontenac Cinema) as well as a new festival director, John Wilson, director of Cultural Arts at the J, and a new partnership with Cinema St. Louis, the nonprofit presenter of the St. Louis International Film Festival. The change to Des Peres will give festival patrons stadium/lounge seating and help improve parking access, Wilson said. The Marcus family, which owns the chain, is Jewish, and were See JEWISH FILM FEST on page 6
Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Arkansas state law prohibiting contractors from boycotting Israel BY ANDREW LAPIN JTA
In a major victory for pro-Israel advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal against an Arkansas state law requiring all companies that contract with the state to sign a pledge promising not to boycott Israel. The Tuesday dismissal allows the Arkansas law to stand, ending its challenger’s effort to overturn one of many state laws that had been crafted in opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement targeting Israel. Fewer than four Justices believed the case warranted a review by the Supreme Court. The case had pitted the Arkansas Times, an independent alt-weekly publication, against the former chairman of the University of Arkansas. Under state law, all companies seeking to do business with Arkansas state entities must sign a pledge promising not to engage in any Israel boycotts. The Arkansas Times does not boycott Israel, but had refused to sign the pledge. That refusal led one of the university system’s affiliates to end an advertis-
ing agreement with the Arkansas Times, prompting the publication to sue. Arkansas’ law is one of several nationwide that restrict business with companies that boycott Israel or refuse to sign anti-boycott pledges. These laws largely sprang up amid the growth of the BDS movement and have been criticized by progressive groups as well as by First Amendment advocates. Federal courts have struck down similar state laws in the past, but last year, a federal appeals court ruled that Arkansas’ law is not unconstitutional because financial
regulations should be considered “noncommunicative” speech. The Supreme Court did not set a new precedent by declining to hear the Arkansas case, but the move was still seen as a promising development for the so-called anti-BDS legal strategy. Tuesday’s decision was celebrated by pro-Israel groups including the American Jewish Committee and the Brandeis Center For Human Rights Under Law, which had filed briefs on behalf of See PRO-ISRAEL on page 19