A–Z FILMS
MID-ATLANTIC PREMIERE Narrative
ALEGRÍA
BERENSHTEIN
After years away, Alegría (Cecilia Suárez, Nora’s Will) returns to her hometown of Melilla, where three strands of Mediterranean culture converge: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. Ostensibly back for a Sephardic wedding, Alegría uses the moment to navigate her complex relationship with Judaism, her friendships with women of other faiths, and a reunion with an estranged daughter.
A long-forgotten hero’s story is unearthed in this riveting and lavishly produced docudrama.
Dir. Violeta Salama | 119 min | Spain | 2021 Spanish w/English subtitles
A bright comedy about multiculturalism, Violeta Salama’s film is also a coming to terms with her personal experience (her father is Sephardic and her mother Catholic) and a luminous portrait of Melilla.
10
DC PREMIERE Narrative
Dir. Roman Shumunov | 110 min | Israel | 2021 German, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian w/English subtitles
The last surviving member of the Jewish Red Army partisans, Ukrainian Leonid Berenshtein was a decorated anti-Nazi fighter who sabotaged German train transports and tracked down Hitler’s secret V-2 doomsday missile facility. Evocatively employing flashbacks and stirring reenactments, Berenshtein recounts battlefield atrocities, lost love, and fateful choices. Most profoundly, the aging partisan gives voice to his fateful decision to refuse orders and break into a German prison to release Jews sentenced to death.
Saturday, May 14, 6:00 PM – EDCJCC
Monday, May 16, 7:15 PM – Bethesda Row Cinema
Wednesday, May 18, 6:10 PM – Bethesda Row Cinema
Sunday, May 22, 6:50 PM – AFI Silver Theatre 12
