SUN & STARS INT'L FILM FESTIVAL to Welcome Seven Cinematic VIPs in WPB & Delray Beach, Jan 23-Feb 2

Arts and Entertainment

January 17, 2025

(West Palm Beach, FL – January 16, 2025) The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival© (SASIFF), presented by MorseLife, returns next week with more than two-dozen world-class movies from all over the world, kicking off with a razzle-dazzle screening of LIZA: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story. The Florida Premiere of this sizzling documentary about superstar Liza Minnelli will be shown on Thursday, January 23, in the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse, 701 Okeechobee Blvd in West Palm Beach 33401.

Over 11 days SASIFF will offer 1 USA Premiere, 11 Florida Premieres, 1 South Florida Premiere, 6 Palm Beach County Premieres, and 8 North Palm Beach County Premieres, with seven special cinematic VIPs scheduled to appear throughout.

Opening Film:

LIZA: A TRULY TERRIFIC AND ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY

(Documentary / 2024, Florida Premiere. Directed by Bruce David Klein. USA, 104-minutes)

The Opening Night Screening of The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival©, presented by MorseLife. One film is barely enough to encompass all the facets of the glittery life and career of Liza Minnelli, but director Klein pulls it off with many a humorously bossy aside from the Oscar-winning Cabaret star herself. This portrait puts the emphasis on a lifetime of meaningful relationships with mentors including Kay Thompson, Bob Fosse, and Halston as young Liza emerges from the shadow of her famous father, film director Vincente Minnelli, and her legendary mother Judy Garland to become one of the most extraordinary artists of our time. Appearances by friends and collaborators include Mia Farrow, the late Chita Rivera, Ben Vereen, George Hamilton, and with running commentary by musician Michael Feinstein pulling it all together with his usual flair. “A gorgeous portrait of a legendary showbiz survivor, warmly celebratory but also unquestionably authentic”—The Hollywood Reporter

Note: Director Bruce David Klein will appear and answer questions at the Festival’s Opening Night screening.

Thursday, January 23 – 7:30 pm / Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse

TROLL STORM

(Documentary / Jewish, 2023, Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Eunice Law. USA, 83-minutes)

A Montana realtor’s win in a groundbreaking First Amendment court case that struck a blow to white supremacy and neo-Nazism is charted in this searing documentary. Tanya Gersh, a wife, mom, and successful businesswoman, becomes the target of a smear campaign initially launched by a neighbor. Outsider far-right extremists jump into the act, sensing an opportunity for grandstanding their antisemitic agenda. Gersh’s contact information and location is released nationally in a hate publication, resulting in a cyber storm of death threats and harassment that cause the family to fear for their safety. Steeled by a knowledge of history and a sense of solidarity with Holocaust survivors, Gersh digs in and chooses to fight back.

Note: Tanya Gersh will be present for audience discussion.

Wednesday, January 29 – 7 pm / The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

BAD SHABBOS

(Comedy / Jewish, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Daniel Robbins. USA, 84-minutes)

The Centerpiece Night of SASIFF presents the Audience Award winner at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. This funny film showcases family dysfunction, religious disparity and sibling rivalry when a family on the Upper West Side invite the Midwestern Catholic family of their eldest son’s fiancée to a Shabbos dinner for a first social blending of the clans. With tensions simmering, kosher klutziness and a prank gone wrong set the scene for chaos. By the time that there’s a dead body on the bathroom floor it starts to look like Agatha Christie-meets-Woody Allen. Kyra Sedgwick is a quirky standout as an obsessive matriarch, and Cliff “Method Mad” Smith of Wu Tang Clan excels as a helpful doorman. “One of the funniest movies films ever to take place during a Shabbos dinner”—Solzy at the Movies.

Note: Director Daniel Robbins and producer Adam Mitchell will appear and answer questions at the Festival’s screening.

+ Daniel Robbins is the film’s director and co-writer. His breakout film Pledge was a hit at Fantasia Film Festival and can be seen on Hulu, and his film Citizen Weiner premiered at Slamdance.

+ Adam Mitchell previously produced The Scary of the Sixty-First, which was awarded “Best First Feature” at the 71^st Berlin International Film Festival.

Thursday, January 30 – 7 pm / The Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse

BROKEN DOLLS

(Documentary / Jewish, 2023, South Florida Premiere. Directed by Tracy Whipple and Gilles Bovon. USA, 82-minutes)

A mother’s obscured past become a daughter’s call to action in reconstructing a history altered by the Holocaust. In 1939, a mysterious benefactor enables a seven-year-old Jewish girl and her mother to escape Nazi Germany on a ship for Shanghai, where they face deprivation and an uncertain future. In the Jewish Ghetto of the international Chinese city, the child spends a decade reinventing herself. Decades later, now herself a mother with an established life in Florida, she comes full circle, seeking to lay claim to her past. In the complex quest to reclaim her German citizenship, the discovery of a shocking secret adds a new perspective to her life story.

Note: Director Tracy Whipple will be present for audience discussion.

Sunday, February 2 – 1 pm / EVO Entertainment Delray Marketplace

Closing Film:

THE FRENCH ITALIAN

(Comedy, 2024, Florida Premiere. Directed by Rachel Wolther. USA, 92-minutes)

The Closing Night Film of SASIFF 2025. A white lie about a plate of cookies is the first tipoff to the flexible ethics of 30-something Manhattan hipsters Valerie (Catherine Cohen) and Doug (Aristotle Athari). Trouble brews in the haven of their Upper West Side rent-controlled apartment when horrendous noise from below begins to punctuate their days. Rather than confronting the couple downstairs, the pair plan to trap their neighbor’s actress girlfriend with a complex revenge scheme involving auditions and rehearsals for a non-existent play. Spinning a comic clash of New York types and lifestyles, director/co-writer Wolther escalates the action to the tipping point of a fake opening night, where Emmy-nominated comedian Ikechukwu Ufomadu manages to steal the show in a tour de force performance. Co-starring Chloe Cherry. “The funniest New York movie in years”—The Daily Beast.

Note: Producer Miranda Kahn and Actor Ikechukwu "Ike" Ufomadu will be present for audience discussion.

+ Miranda Kahn, the film’s producer. She is the Founder, CEO, and Executive Producer of MIRMADE Productions, a female-run boutique production company. She began her career working on network television shows like HBO’s Girls, ABC’s Forever, and Bradley Cooper’s Limitless, before transitioning to the indie film scene as an Assistant Director and Production Manager, eventually earning DGA membership. Ms. Kahn has taken projects to prestigious festivals, including the Emmys, Sundance, Cannes, Venice, and Tribeca. In 2019, she founded MIRMADE, expanding her work into commercials and music videos, collaborating with Oscar-winning producers, Grammy-winning artists like Lady Gaga and Nas, and entities such as A24, HBO, and Vogue. She has produced four feature films (including one shot in Florida) and over a dozen shorts, including The French Italian, which premiered at Tribeca 2024, and Say Hi After You Die, which won the 2024 Sundance U.S. Fiction Jury Award. Most recently, she executive produced Moon Lake, which screened at Venice Film Festival. Committed to empowering female filmmakers, Miranda has also ventured into directing, with her debut short Fame and Other Four Letter Words in post-production.

+ Ikechukwu "Ike" Ufomadu is an actor/comedian who was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2022 for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Dama Series. He has appeared in the movies Judas and the Black Messiah and Inspector Ike, six episodes of the Showtime talk show Ziwe, and the off-Broadway play Dance Nation (where the cast received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble).

Sunday, February 2 – 7 pm / EVO Entertainment Delray Marketplace

For more information about the SASIFF or to purchase tickets, please visit www.sasiff.org.

About The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival:

The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival©, presented by MorseLife, aims to bring highly anticipated, critically acclaimed, and thought-provoking films to Palm Beach County. As a world-class film festival, The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International represents a major contribution to the cultural life of Palm Beach County. SASIFF returns for a new season with screenings at the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (Jan. 23-Jan. 30, 2025) and EVO Entertainment Delray (Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2025). For more information, please visit www.sasiff.org, www.facebook.com/DME.SASIFF and www.twitter.com/dmesasiff or www.instagram.com/dme_sasiff or contact [email protected] or 561.220.6735.

About MorseLife:

MorseLife serves more than 3,600 seniors every day on its campus in West Palm Beach and through its community outreach programs. Founded in 1983, MorseLife is a provider of health care and residential services for seniors in Palm Beach County. A charitable, not-for-profit organization, its programs also include short-term rehabilitation, long-term care, independent and assisted living, memory care assisted living, hospice, home health care, care management, meals-on-wheels, and PACE. Since its beginnings, MorseLife has built a reputation and tradition of caring for seniors with excellence, dignity, and compassion. For more information, visit morselife.org, www.facebook.com/MorseLife, www.twitter.com/MorseLifeHealth, www.instagram.com/morselifehealth or www.linkedin.com/company/morselife-inc-/ or contact [email protected].