Join us for our annual Jewish Film Festival including six award-winning and critically acclaimed first-run films that sample a range of international subjects and filmmakers, historical moments, and contemporary issues.

Schedule:

September 15, 2024

1:30 PM: The Catskills

Directed by Lex Gillespie
United States, 2023

"The Catskills" is a feature-length documentary film on the rise and fall of the Borscht Belt.

With a trove of lost-and-found archival footage and a cast of characters endowed with the gift of gab, "The Catskills" journeys into the storied mountain getaway north of New York City that served as refuge for Jewish immigrants fleeing poverty as well as a lavish playground for affluent Jewish families.

Stand-up comedians share their best shtick while former waiters, entertainers, and dance instructors recount tales of the family-run resorts and bungalows that inspired films like "Dirty Dancing."

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7:00 PM: Seven Blessings

Directed by Ayelet Menahemi
Comedy, Drama
Israel, 2022

Seven Blessings is a comic drama, set in the early 90s in Jerusalem. At the center is a boisterous, drama-filled, Moroccan family, with numerous members speaking multiple languages (Hebrew, Moroccan, French, and French-Moroccan dialect). Hidden behind the facade of joie de vivreand togetherness, however, are secrets, lies, and a painful old wound from the past.

It was common practice among Jewish families in Morocco for a barren woman to receive “a child on loan” from her sister who was blessed with many children, to raise as her own. This was an unwritten agreement, sanctioned by the community, which viewed it as an altruistic, noble and empathetic act.

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September 16, 2024

1:30 PM: Seven Blessings

Directed by Ayelet Menahemi
Comedy, Drama
Israel, 2022

Seven Blessings is a comic drama, set in the early 90s in Jerusalem. At the center is a boisterous, drama-filled, Moroccan family, with numerous members speaking multiple languages (Hebrew, Moroccan, French, and French-Moroccan dialect). Hidden behind the facade of joie de vivreand togetherness, however, are secrets, lies, and a painful old wound from the past.

It was common practice among Jewish families in Morocco for a barren woman to receive “a child on loan” from her sister who was blessed with many children, to raise as her own. This was an unwritten agreement, sanctioned by the community, which viewed it as an altruistic, noble and empathetic act.

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7:00 PM: The Shadow of the Day

Directed by Giuseppe Piccioni
Italy, 2023
Drama

Set in the picturesque, provincial town Ascoli Piceno in central Italy, The Shadow of the Day is a dramatic and gripping love story set in the late 1930s. Luciano, a wounded World War I veteran and a sympathizer with fascism, runs a classy restaurant overlooking the town’s ancient square. He believes he can live his life according to his own set of rules. In this bubble, he observes the world through the window of his pleasant restaurant. One day, Anna appears looking for work. A young woman with a dangerous secret, she is hired to work in his restaurant. Slowly, affection creeps in between the two and among the many dangers Luciano faces, including the onset of WWII, there is the greatest danger of all: love. Featuring an ensemble cast including Lino Musella (The Hand of God) and Vincenzo Nemolato (Gomorrah), Giuseppe Piccioni’s thoughtful melodrama reflects on fascism and the pre-war atmosphere of control and isolation.

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September 17, 2024

1:30 PM: The Shadow of the Day

Directed by Giuseppe Piccioni
Italy, 2023
Drama

Set in the picturesque, provincial town Ascoli Piceno in central Italy, The Shadow of the Day is a dramatic and gripping love story set in the late 1930s. Luciano, a wounded World War I veteran and a sympathizer with fascism, runs a classy restaurant overlooking the town’s ancient square. He believes he can live his life according to his own set of rules. In this bubble, he observes the world through the window of his pleasant restaurant. One day, Anna appears looking for work. A young woman with a dangerous secret, she is hired to work in his restaurant. Slowly, affection creeps in between the two and among the many dangers Luciano faces, including the onset of WWII, there is the greatest danger of all: love. Featuring an ensemble cast including Lino Musella (The Hand of God) and Vincenzo Nemolato (Gomorrah), Giuseppe Piccioni’s thoughtful melodrama reflects on fascism and the pre-war atmosphere of control and isolation.

Buy Ticket

7:00 PM: The Catskills

Directed by Lex Gillespie
United States, 2023

"The Catskills" is a feature-length documentary film on the rise and fall of the Borscht Belt.

With a trove of lost-and-found archival footage and a cast of characters endowed with the gift of gab, "The Catskills" journeys into the storied mountain getaway north of New York City that served as refuge for Jewish immigrants fleeing poverty as well as a lavish playground for affluent Jewish families.

Stand-up comedians share their best shtick while former waiters, entertainers, and dance instructors recount tales of the family-run resorts and bungalows that inspired films like "Dirty Dancing."

Buy Ticket

September 22, 2024

1:30 PM: All About the Levkoviches

Directed by Ádám Breier
Hungary, 2024
Drama

The generous but stubborn boxing coach, Tamás gets along well with everyone but his own son. They have not spoken since the boy, Iván moved to Israel and became religious in an orthodox community. When Tamás' beloved wife, Zsuzsa dies unexpectedly, Tamas agrees with his son that he can come and sit the Shiva in his house as long as he brings his grandson, Ariel with him. As past conflicts resurface, they embark on an unexpected journey of self- reflection and reconciliation. Father and son are not just obliged to face their old grievances during the one-week religious mourning but to help Ariel deal with his own grief and his obsession that grandma's spirit is still in the house.

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7:00 PM: SHTTL

Directed by Ady Walter
Ukraine, 2023
Drama

A filmmaker returns from Kyiv to his rural village to marry the love of his life. He is expected to marry the Rabbi’s daughter, which disrupts the balance of the whole town. In one unflinching shot, this film presents a day in the life of a Jewish village before it disappears. SHTTL is the story of the inhabitants of a Yiddish Ukrainian village at the border of Poland, 24 hours before the Nazi invasion, known as Operation Barbarossa. Today, there are no such villages in existence; the production fully reconstructed a traditional ‘Shtetl’ outside of Kyiv, which is planned to be turned into a museum.

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September 23, 2024

1:30 PM: SHTTL

Directed by Ady Walter
Ukraine, 2023
Drama

A filmmaker returns from Kyiv to his rural village to marry the love of his life. He is expected to marry the Rabbi’s daughter, which disrupts the balance of the whole town. In one unflinching shot, this film presents a day in the life of a Jewish village before it disappears. SHTTL is the story of the inhabitants of a Yiddish Ukrainian village at the border of Poland, 24 hours before the Nazi invasion, known as Operation Barbarossa. Today, there are no such villages in existence; the production fully reconstructed a traditional ‘Shtetl’ outside of Kyiv, which is planned to be turned into a museum.

Buy Ticket

7:00 PM: Savoy

Directed by Zohar Wagner
Hybrid Film / Fiction-Docu
Israel, 2022

A young housewife becomes a fearless hostage mediator, only to be defamed, in this gripping tale of a Tel Aviv terrorist siege. In a new hybrid documentary, filmmaker Zohar Wagner tells the story of Kochava Levy, the forgotten heroine of the deadly 1975 Savoy Hotel terror attack in Tel Aviv.

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September 24, 2024

1:30 PM: Savoy

Directed by Zohar Wagner
Hybrid Film / Fiction-Docu
Israel, 2022

A young housewife becomes a fearless hostage mediator, only to be defamed, in this gripping tale of a Tel Aviv terrorist siege. In a new hybrid documentary, filmmaker Zohar Wagner tells the story of Kochava Levy, the forgotten heroine of the deadly 1975 Savoy Hotel terror attack in Tel Aviv.

Buy Ticket

7:00 PM: All About the Levkoviches

Directed by Ádám Breier
Hungary, 2024
Drama

The generous but stubborn boxing coach, Tamás gets along well with everyone but his own son. They have not spoken since the boy, Iván moved to Israel and became religious in an orthodox community. When Tamás' beloved wife, Zsuzsa dies unexpectedly, Tamas agrees with his son that he can come and sit the Shiva in his house as long as he brings his grandson, Ariel with him. As past conflicts resurface, they embark on an unexpected journey of self- reflection and reconciliation. Father and son are not just obliged to face their old grievances during the one-week religious mourning but to help Ariel deal with his own grief and his obsession that grandma's spirit is still in the house.

Buy Ticket

Date: September 15 - 24, 2024

Location:

Chelsea Theater - 1129 Weaver Dairy Rd Suite AB Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Tickets

$15 for non-members // $12 for Chelsea & Jewish For Good members

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