Join us for the 26th Annual Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival

The Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival celebrates the quality, diversity and innovation of the Jewish filmmaking from around the world. Narrative or documentary, new or old, the Film Festival finds the highest quality films that speak to the Jewish experience, tell uniquely Jewish stories, or come from the finest Jewish filmmakers across the globe.

Schedule of Events

October 15th, 2023

7:00 PM - The Path

Runtime: 100 minutes
Director: Tobias Wiemann

Set in 1940, the film centers on German journalist Ludwig, who is on the run from the Nazis, and his 12-year-old son Rolf. They are trying to travel to New York where Rolf's mother is waiting for them but are stranded in Marseille. The only route to freedom is a dangerous path over the Pyrenees to Spain. Nuria, a girl only slightly older than Rolf, offers to guide them along the path. When Ludwig is caught in route Rolf and Nuria are left on their own. Rolf's dog is the children's only companion on the journey that teaches them to rely on one another and stick up for each other.

Stream from home on Eventive - Sunday, October 15, 7:00 PM - Thursday, October 29, 11:59 PM

October 16th, 2023

7:00 PM - Where Life Begins

Runtime: 99 minutes
Director: Stéphane Freiss

Set in the bucolic Calabrian countryside, this intimate and elegantly rendered romantic drama about family, faith, and freedom is the directorial debut of veteran French actor Stéphane Freiss. An ultra-Orthodox family has arrived in the south of Italy from their home in eastern France to assist with the annual harvest of the etrogs (citron fruits) used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Among them is Esther, a rabbi's daughter who is increasingly dissatisfied with her life, chafing at the bonds of her religious upbringing and resentful of her imminent arranged marriage. When she meets and feels a growing attraction for the farm's owner, Elio, she dares to imagine a different, potentially happier path for herself. Where Life Begins is an intelligent and honest depiction of the pain of questioning one's faith and community that offers no easy answers.

Stream from home on Eventive - Monday, October 16, 7:00 PM - Thursday, October 29, 11:59 PM

October 17, 2023

7:00 PM - Farewell Mr. Haffmann

Runtime: 98 minutes
Director: Fred Cavaya

After the Nazi occupation of Paris, a talented jeweler, Joseph Haffmann, fearing the worst, arranges for his family to flee the city and offers his employee François Mercier a chance to take over his store until the conflict subsides. But his own attempts to escape are thwarted, and Haffmann is forced to seek his assistant's protection. It's a risky proposition for both men, and one that Mercier's wife Blanche is skeptical of. As the couple move in to the Haffmann home, the agreement turns into a Faustian bargain, one that will forever change the fate of all.

Stream from home on Eventive - Tuesday, October 17, 7:00 PM - Thursday, October 29, 11:59 PM

October 18th, 2023

7:00 PM - Remembering Gene Wilder

Runtime: 90 minutes
Director: Ron Frank

He was born Jerome Silberman to an assimilated Milwaukee Jewish family, and his childhood buddies called him Jerry—but the world would come to know Gene Wilder (1933 – 2016) as an endearing comic genius through an extraordinary string of film roles that seem to grow deeper, funnier and more humane with time: from the timid Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks' The Producers to the strange and magical title role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, from his inspired on-screen partnership with Richard Pryor in movies like Silver Streak to the comedy classics of Blazing Saddles, The Frisco Kid and Young Frankenstein. Now, in Ron Frank's affectionate and touching biographical documentary, the full measure of Wilder's gifts is on display, not only as a comedic actor but as a writer, director and a mensch. Told in part through Wilder's own voice (luckily he recorded the audiobook of his memoir, which serves as narration), Remembering Gene Wilder is a treat to watch with its generous helpings of film clips from across Wilder's career.

October 19th, 2023

7:00 PM - Matchmaking

Runtime: 98 minutes
Director: Erez Tadmor

Moti Bernstein is the son every mother wants, a student every Rabbi loves to teach, the ideal Yeshiva Bucher, the perfect match for every bride. He has it all: a good family, a brilliant mind, and he is not bad looking either. In search of a wife, he will meet the best girls in the Jewish orthodox world but will fall for the one girl he can never have. The only one he wants. Against everything he knows and every value he holds dear, Moti will be forced to go out on a limb in the most unexpected and unusual of ways. Who will win? The system or the inner voice?

Stream from home on Eventive - Thursday, October 19, 7:00 PM - Thursday, October 29, 11:59 PM

Date: October 15-19, 2023

Cost: $12

Location:
Marcus North Shore Cinemas,
11700 North Port Washington Road,
Mequon, WI 53092.

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