Washington Jewish Film Festival Fall Program Guide 2017

FILM at the EDCJCC FALL 2017 SEASON

Welcome to the Washington Jewish Film Festival’s 2017 Fall Season.

As the pace of change—at home and abroad—ratchets up daily to an ever-faster gear, it is easy to become unmoored. To lose our sense of place and purpose in this world. To lose track of our essence, and our very identity. The arts can prove a powerful tonic against this personal and societal drift. Great Jewish cinema, in particular, offers us not just entertainment, but also gives us meaning, allows us to find connection with our communal past, and coaxes us to focus on what truly matters.

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We kick off the Fall film season by honoring contributions of Jewish cinema greats (Leonard Cohen, Carrie Fisher, Gene Wilder, and others) who passed away this year with 5777: A Year in Review. From there, our lens expands: capturing the fight against ISIS with Kurdish troops, with French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy as our guide; examining the legacy of the Rosenwald Fund and Jewish-African American relations over the past century; tracing the gravitas of Hollywood’s ultimate starlet; schmoozing with Jewish hucksters in post-war Germany; and screenings of powerful, uplifting stories of adults with disabilities finding love and meaning.

This fall, a world of Jewish stories plays out on the EDCJCC screen.

Won’t you take a break from the non-stop, fast-paced world outside the theater, and join us at the movies?

Ilya Tovbis, Director Washington Jewish Music Festival Washington Jewish Film Festival Edlavitch DCJCC

Visit WJFF.ORG for tickets & passes

PASSES/TICKETS Single Ticket: $12* 5777: A Year in Review Pass: $35 Fall Season Pass: $50 5777 & Fall Season Combo Pass: $70 Year-Round Pass: $150**

TO PURCHASE Visit wjff.org, email boxoffice@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 passholders 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 45-60 minutes prior to the start time. *Single tickets are subject to a service charge **Year-Round Pass includes all films, except those in the annual Washington Jewish Film Festival Visit WJFF.ORG for tickets & passes

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SAVE THE DATE

28th Washington Jewish Film Festival May 2-13, 2018 WAYS TO SAVE

Individuals: Passes get you unlimited access for up to 50% off, and without service fees.

Groups: Groups of 10+ get discounts to all screenings.

5777: A Year in Review SEPTEMBER 13-17

As Rosh Hashanah—The Jewish New Year—approaches, we take a look back at the cinematic contributions of major Jewish artists who have passed away 4 in 5777 (the Hebrew calendar year), presenting their work on the big screen, as it was intended.

Additionally, we offer encore screenings of the Narrative and Documentary audience award winners from the 2017 Washington Jewish Film Festival.

Audience Award Winner, Best Narrative

1945

ZUZANA: MUSIC IS LIFE Audience Award Winner, Best Documentary

Dir. Ferenc Török | Hungary | 2017 Hungarian w/English Subtitles | Runtime: 91 min

Dir. Peter Getzels and Harriet Gordon Getzles Czech Republic/USA | 2017 | Runtime: 83 min

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 6:30 PM It’s August 1945 − the war is over, and an uneasy, humid stillness pervades a small Hungarian village longing for a return to normalcy. Two Jewish strangers arrive, quickly arousing the town’s suspicions.

“A fresh, intelligent cinematic approach to a difficult topic that takes on a transitional time in Hungarian history with subtlety and nuance.” –Variety

Visit WJFF.ORG for tickets & passes

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 8:30 PM

The story of world-famous harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzickova, who became a renowned interpreter of Bach under the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, after surviving three concentration camps as a teenager. “[A] message of perseverance and ultimate triumph– a life lived well in music, through persecution to recognition and, finally, to political freedom.”

–Washington Post

LEONARD COHEN: I’M YOUR MAN Leonard Cohen Tribute, part 1

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 6:30 PM Dir. Lian Lunson | USA | 2015 | Runtime: 98 min

An intimate look at the songs, poetry, and life of one of music's most influential troubadours with performances by luminary artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, and Beth Orton, as well as a bring-downthe-house live collaboration featuring Cohen and U2.

MCCABE & MRS. MILLER Leonard Cohen Tribute, part 2 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 8:30 PM

Dir. Robert Altman | USA | 2015 | Runtime: 121 min

Leonard Cohen’s music has adorned, shaped, and altered the course of over 50 mainstream American films—perhaps none were influenced more than Robert Altman’s unorthodox dream western, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.

“A pioneering film, in both senses of the word, and one of the key works in the American cinema of the 1970s.” –Time Out

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5777: A Year in Review

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THE LAST POKER GAME Martin Landau Tribute SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 6:45 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 5:00 PM

Dir. Howard L. Weiner | USA | 2017 | Runtime: 90 min

In Martin Landau’s final film, he plays an aging Jewish physician in a nursing home who strikes up an improbable friendship with carouser Paul Sorvino.

Sunday, September 17 screening followed by a Skype Q&A with Director Howard L. Weiner.

Visit WJFF.ORG for tickets & passes

5777: A Year in Review

THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN Debbie Reynolds Tribute

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 8:30 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2:30 PM

Dir. Charles Walters | USA | 1964 | Runtime: 128 min

Meredith Willson's second Broadway hit (the first and biggest was The Music Man) proved a lucrative vehicle for the equally unsinkable Debbie Reynolds.

"Big, brassy, bold and freewheeling" –The New York Times

5777: A Year in Review

5777: A Year in Review

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE Carrie Fisher Tribute

SILVER STREAK Gene Wilder and Arthur Hiller Tribute

Dir. Mike Nichols | USA | 1990 | Runtime: 101 min

Dir. Arthur Hiller | USA | 1976 | Runtime: 114 min

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 12:30 PM

Mike Nichols directed this adaptation of actress Carrie Fisher's autobiographical novel, which stars Meryl Streep as an actor whose drug habits land her in a detox center.

“Fisher's intelligence and humor turn what might have been movie brat indulgence into something much sharper and involving.”

–Time Out

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 7:15 PM

While on a cross-country train ride, George Caldwell (Gene Wilder) begins an unexpected romance with an enigmatic woman named Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh).

His vacation is interrupted, however, when he witnesses a murder for which he is then accused. Desperate, Caldwell teams up with car thief Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor), and together they must save Hilly while avoiding the police.

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An Evening with Bernard-Henri Lévy

Renown French philosopher, activist, writer (The Genius of Judaism), and filmmaker Bernard-Henri Lévy offers a special presentation of his two most recent documentaries, Peshmerga and The Battle of Mosul.

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Lévy will be joined on stage by celebrated author Leon Wieseltier for an in-depth discussion on the current status of ISIS, and the Kurdish will for a State and national independence.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 6:15 PM — PESHMERGA

7:30 PM — BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY IN DISCUSSION WITH LEON WIESELTIER 9:00 PM — THE BATTLE OF MOSUL

PESHMERGA

Dir. Bernard-Henri Lévy | France | 2016 | Kurdish, Arabic, English and French w/English Subtitles | Runtime: 92 min In 2015, Bernard-Henri Lévy sought to understand the psychology and culture of those embroiled with ISIS in the Middle East.

Accompanied by a team of cameramen, Lévy traveled over 650 miles of the frontline separating Iraqi Kurdistan from Islamic State troops. The Kurdish fighters he encounters in Mosul and the Sinjar Mountains demonstrate heroic resolve in their fight against jihadi fundamentalism, and relay unforgettable and harrowing stories that give human dimension to a conflict with immense global implications.

Visit WJFF.ORG for tickets & passes

THE BATTLE OF MOSUL Dir. Bernard-Henri Lévy | France, Iraq | 2017 | Kurdish, Arabic, English, and French w/English Subtitles Runtime: 53 min

The film opens on October 17, 2016, the first day of the battle to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State. It ends in mid-January 2017 with the complete liberation of the eastern half of the city, including the spot on the Tigris where the Prophet Jonah is buried, a place of significance for the three Abrahamic religions.

Whether in the company of the Kurds or of the Iraqi Golden Division Special Forces, Bernard-Henri Lévy and his crew were present at every crucial step in the battle. Throughout the film, a question hangs in the air: Will the imminent fall of the capital of the Islamic State spell its definitive defeat?

DINA (SNEAK PREVIEW)

THE ROSENWALD FUND 100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION:

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 7:30 PM

ROSENWALD DVD PREMIERE

Grand Jury Prize, US Documentary, Sundance Film Festival

Sponsored by The Ciesla Foundation, the Helen and Milton Covensky Fund and the Chaim Kempner Fund

Dir. Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini USA | 2017 | Runtime: 101 min

Dina, an outspoken 49-year-old in suburban Philadelphia, invites her fiancé Scott, a Walmart greeter, to move in with her. Dina and Scott are adults with developmental disabilities in a world blind to the value of their experience.

They are head-over-heels for one another, but Scott freezes when it comes to physical intimacy, and Dina, a Kardashians fanatic, wants nothing more than to share with Scott all she’s learned about sensual desire from popular culture, and her previous marriage.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 7:30 PM

Director Aviva Kempner screens clips of new DVD bonus features from Rosenwald, interspersed with panel discussions on the lynching of Leo Frank; the 1919 Chicago riots; and the Rosenwald family’s legacy. Panelists include author Stephanie Deutsch; Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat; civil rights lawyer Leslie Harris; daughter of Dr. Charles Drew, Charlene Drew Jarvis; author Gary Krist; activist poet Ethelbert Miller; Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page; Rabbi David Saperstein; NAACP Washington Bureau Director, Hilary Shelton; and Julius Rosenwald’s great grandson, David Stern.

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WISHMAKERS

BYE BYE GERMANY

Dir. Cheryl Halpern | USA | 2016 | English and Hebrew w/English Subtitles Runtime: 35 min

Dir. Sam Garbarski | Germany | 2017 | German w/English Subtitles Runtime: 102 min

In addition to the satisfaction of producing world class wine, they find joy and self-worth in helping to grant wishes for children with life threatening illnesses.

The six talented entertainers go from home to home, using outlandish shenanigans, absurd ploys, and flat out chutzpah to convince German housewives to buy their irresistible wares. Business flourishes and a bright new future can be seen in the horizon, but thorny questions about Bermann’s past threaten to catch up to him.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 7:30 PM

Wishmakers is the story of the Tulip Winery—established in a residential adult special needs community, the Village of Hope in Israel's Jezreel Valley—which fosters a caring environment while providing employment, dignity and purpose for the residents.

Screening followed by an extended panel discussion on vocational programs for adults with disabilities, featuring director Cheryl Halpern, producer Elena Lefkowitz, and EDCJCC Director of Inclusion and Disability Programming Stacey Herman.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 7:30 PM

Frankfurt, 1946. David Bermann (Moritz Bleibtreu) and his Jewish friends have escaped the Nazi regime and dream of leaving for America. But how will they get the money in these tough post-war times?

WE ARE GRATEFUL TO OUR MAJOR DONORS AND SPONSORS: DAY SPONSORS ($5,000-$30,000)

BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 7:30 PM

Dir. Alexandra Dean | USA | 2017 | Runtime: 86 min

Starlet. Screen Siren. The Most Beautiful Woman in the World.

All phrases used to describe 1940s Hollywood icon Hedy Lamarr.

This illuminating documentary adds Inventor to the list. Known for her physical glamour and electric on-screen persona, Lamarr’s beautiful mind was often overlooked.

An Austrian Jewish émigré who acted by day and drew mechanical and electronic schematics by night, Lamarr invented a “secret communication system” the Navy used to fight the Nazis, but received no credit, and eventually went bankrupt.

Anne and Ronald Abramson Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation Scott Eric Dreyer and Ellen Clare Gillespie Dreyer The Dweck Family Lois and Richard England Family Foundation Susie and Michael Gelman, The Morningstar Foundation Rena and Michael Gordon Shelley and Allan Holt Elise and Marc Lefkowitz Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation Linda and Sid Moskowitz Melanie and Larry Nussdorf Deborah and Michael Salzberg Rory and Shelton Zuckerman Want to help support our film programming?

Donations of any amount go a long way.

WJFF.org/donate

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Be a part of the film community, make friends and help put on a great event! To sign up, visit wjff.org or email HannahGH@edcjcc.org

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The Edlavitch DCJCC embraces inclusion in all its programs and activities.

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