Falmouth Jewish Congregation's 2014 Summer Series brings together members and the community for six award-winning films that educate, inspire, and entertain. All take place on Tuesday evenings at 7:30 P.M. in Speen Hall (in the Blanche & Joel D. Seifer Community Center) and are open to the public. Doors open at 7:00 P.M. and refreshments are included in the ticket price of $7 for members and $10 for non-members. A discounted Season "Reel Pass" is $36 for congregation members and $50 for non-members. Passes may be purchased in person at the congregation’s office, at the door, or by sending a check in advance. Pass holders will have "easy pass" access, bypassing the ticket lines at each screening.
Below you will find a full list of the Tuesday evening films, all acclaimed by critics and audiences at Jewish film festivals around the world. Additional information can be found on the website's calendar.
The Falmouth Jewish Congregation Blanche & Joel D. Seifer Community Center is located at 7 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth. Facilities are handicap accessible and all are welcome at this Reform Jewish congregation serving the Upper Cape and beyond. This year’s Summer Series is supported, in part, by a grant from the Jewish Federation of Cape Cod. For further information please call 508-540-0602
July 1 BETHLEHEM
Israel’s Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Nominee for 12 Israeli Ophir Awards. “Terrific…kind of like a West Bank Wire.” – A.O. Scott, New York Times.
“A tightly wound, clock-ticking thriller.” - Leslie Felperin, Variety. The story of the complex relationship between Razi, an Israeli Secret Service officer, and his teenage Palestinian informant Sanfur.
July 8 THE JEWISH CARDINAL
Winner, Audience Award – Boston Jewish Film Festival. "The Jewish Cardinal is both emotionally rich and intellectually satisfying...handled with rare balance, sense and suitable passion,” Allen Ellenzweig, The Jewish Daily Forward. The gripping, amazing true story of Jean-Marie Lustiger (1926-2007), son of Polish-Jewish immigrants to France, who maintained his cultural identity as a Jew even after converting to Catholicism at a young age and later joining the priesthood.
July 15 POLICEMAN
NY Times Critics’ Pick. “Mr. Lapid…traces the line between the group and the individual in a story that can be read as a commentary on the world as much as on Israel.” – Manohla Dargis, New York Time. “Israel's fractured psyche is plumbed via narrative splintering in Policeman, Nadav Lapid's compelling drama about his homeland's burgeoning social unrest.”- Nick Schager, SLANT Magazine. An elite special operations agent is forced to confront class warfare in his country, and his very beliefs, when he and his team face anti-capitalist anarchists who storm an affluent wedding and take high-profile hostages.
July 22 AFTERMATH
Audience Award, Seattle Jewish Film Festival. Yad Vashem Chairman's Award Jerusalem Film Festival 2013. Los Angeles Times Critics’ Pick. One of the Best Films of the Year. “Gripping, excellent. A bombshell disguised as a thriller.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times. "Riveting. A must-see film. In a sophisticated way, it does a better job of communicating the power and destructiveness of anti-Semitism than almost any other film." – Abe Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League, The Huffington Post. Gripping drama of a Polish village unhinged when secrets about WWII are unearthed.
July 29 DANCING IN JAFFA
Audience Award, Washington Jewish Film Festival. “Mad, Hot Ballroom with a Middle Eastern Twist” – The Jerusalem Post. World ballroom dancing champion Pierre Dulaine fulfills a life-long dream when he takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa, and teaches Jewish and Palestinian Israeli children to dance together.
August 5 IDA
New York Times Critics’ Pick: “One of the finest European films in recent memory,” A.O. Scott, The New York Times. “Bracing, beautifully wrought, and provocative.” – J. Hoeberman, Tablet. “A film of exceptional artistry.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times. A moving and intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, makes a shocking discovery about her past.