The Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival is an important component of Tapestry: Arts & Ideas from the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center and is made possible by Marcus Theatre Department of the Marcus Corporation, the Shel and Danni Gendelman Endowment Fund, and the Sylvia and Robert Seinfeld Jewish Film Festival Endowment Fund.

For thousands of years, Jewish communities have shared wisdom, values, and experiences. Each fall, the JCC presents the Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival with in-person screenings at the Marcus North Shore Cinema and streaming options available for at home viewing.

Curated Festival

Our dedicated Film Festival committee works for many months viewing and discussing potential films. The committee then curates a diverse festival that showcases Jewish stories from across the globe, balancing time periods, locations, and topics. The committee only selects films that are not yet available via streaming in the United States.

International Stories

Our committee selects stories from throughout the world – Israeli stories, European stories, American stories, and all around the globe.

All films are presented with English captioning if English is not the primary language spoken in the dialogue.

Hybrid Viewing Options

While most of our festival-goers enjoy attending our in-person screenings at the Marcus North Shore Cinema, which provide an opportunity to engage with this content as a community, we also appreciate that most of our distributors are continuing to allow us to offer streaming options for those who need, or who prefer to watch the films at home.

Schedule

Sunday, October 27

7pm - Running on Sand

104 minutes | France, Italy | 2023

Aumari, a young Eritrean refugee living in Israel, is about to be deported back to his home country. After dodging authorities at the airport, he is mistaken for a Nigerian soccer player, who is supposed to arrive at the same time. Aumari seizes the opportunity and benefits from the change of identity as the new key acquisitions for the team of ‘Maccabi Netanya’. Despite the absence of any soccer talent, he hides his identity and heals the divisions of his struggling team. A tender romantic bond with the charmingly unconventional daughter of the team owner grows. Nominated for the Israel Academy Award Best Film, this sweet film melds humor and heart.

Hebrew, English, Tigrinya with English Subtitles

Sponsored in part by the Shel & Danni Gendelman Endowment Fund

Shown in cooperation with the Israel Center of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation

Monday, October 28, 2024

7pm - The Blond Boy From The Casbah

126 minutes | France | 2023

Passionate filmmaker Antoine travels to his birthplace, Algiers, with his young son to present his new film: an account of his childhood in Algeria during the country's civil war in the 1960s. As he wanders through the city, the filmmaker immerses us in the moments of happiness, laughter, and tears of his youth - spent between school, friends, and his Jewish family. Growing up in the final moments of Algeria's pre-independence period, the young Antoine discovers his profound fascination with cinema and starts to understand who he truly is.

French with English Subtitles

Tuesday, October 29 

7pm - Here Lived

81 minutes | Netherlands | 2023

German conceptual artist Gunter Demnig’s Stolpersteine ("stumbling stones") project provides a pathway to heal one of the most egregious wrongs of history and foster reconciliation throughout Europe. Each of the 100,000 stones in 30 countries honors the story and location of individual victims and generational trauma. One artist’s singular vision for healing has become the world's largest decentralized and meaningful memorial to Nazi atrocities.

Wednesday, October 30 

7pm - Seven Blessings

108 minutes | Israel | 2023

Seven Blessings won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script, Best Actress and more in the Israel Academy Awards. Marie, traveled from France to Israel to marry her true love. Her excited Moroccan family prepares the custom of “Seven Blessings, a week of festive meals honoring the marriage. Marie has also come to open old wounds. Between intoxicating meals, secrets, lies and wounds are revealed. Who should apologize, who should be thanked? The week of joy, many languages and errors and misinterpretation, turns the week into a sad tale of family custom, crimes, forgiveness and loss.

Hebrew, Arabic, French, and French Moroccan with English subtitles

Thursday, October 31, 2024

7pm  - Auction

91 minutes | France | 2024

André Masson, an auctioneer at Scottie’s, receives a letter from a lawyer claiming that a worker in the east French suburbs of Mulhouse owns a painting by Egon Schiele. André’s first reaction is to believe that it can only be a fake. He decides to make the trip to inspect it anyway and against all odds, the painting turns out to be a masterpiece gone missing in 1939. This could undoubtedly be the major turning point of his career, but after a brief investigation, he realizes that he has in his hands a looted work of art, with an opportunity to take an elevated path.

French with English Subtitles

Shown in cooperation with the Nathan & Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC).

Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival is presented by Tapestry: Arts & Ideas from the Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC

Tickets: $12

Buy Tickets

All films will also be available for streaming on Eventive November 4-10. $18 per household

Festival Date: October 27-31, 2024

Location: Marcus North Shore Cinemas

11700 North Port Washington Road

Mequon, WI 53092

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