2018 SUMMER JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

Get ready for another summer of engaging film viewing and discussion. FJC’s Jewish Film Festival brings the best of the Jewish and International film festival circuit right here to Speen Hall, culling award-winners in both drama and documentary categories.

TUESDAYS at 2:00 & 7:30 P.M.

July 10 ITZHAK (Documentary – USA, 2017 / 1 hr 22 min)

Winner - Audience Award: Cherry Hill Jewish Film Festival & New Jersey Jewish Film Festival.

“…a joyous film about a joyous man.” – RogerEbert.com

Alison Chernick's enchanting documentary explores Perlman as a life force, looking beyond the sublime musician to see the polio survivor whose parents emigrated from Poland to Israel, and the young man who struggled to be taken seriously as a music student when schools saw only his disability. Itzhak himself is funny, irreverent and self-deprecating, and here his life story unspools in conversations with masterful musicians, family and friends, and most endearingly his devoted wife of 50 years, Toby. In English and Hebrew.

July 17 IN BETWEEN (Drama – Israel, 2016 / 1 hr 43 min)

Winner: Ophir Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress

“Maysaloun Hamoud’s film about three Palestinian women sharing an apartment in Tel Aviv, is fatalistic about the local political situation, pessimistic about men and encouraged by the power of female solidarity. In other words, whether by serendipity or prophetic insight or some combination of the two, it’s a perfect movie for the moment.” – A.O. Scott (New York Times) Director Hamoud received the Women in Motion Young Talents award at this year’s Cannes festival. Isabelle Huppert, who selected her for the award, declared that “the free spirited and joyful women [Hamoud] portrays… are true heroines of our time.”

July 24 SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME

(Documentary – USA, 2018 / 1 hr 40 min)

Multiple Award Winner:Audience Award, Nashville Film Festival, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, Denver Jewish Film Festival, Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival. Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory. This is the first major film documentary to examine Davis' enormous talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America. Director Sam Pollard captures Davis’s amazing talent and complexity.

July 31 AN ACT OF DEFIANCE (Drama– Netherlands – 2017 / 2 hrs)

Best Feature, UK Jewish Film Festival & Dayton Jewish Film Festival. Golden Calf, Best Feature Film, Netherlands Film Festival.

In this riveting historical drama, 10 political activists (including Nelson Mandela and his inner circle of Black and Jewish supporters) face a possible death sentence for conspiracy to commit sabotage after their arrest in the summer of 1963. Bram Fischer, a sympathetic lawyer, risks his career and freedom to defend them, attempting to hide the fact that he, too, frequently convened on the farm where they were arrested. Director Jean van de Velde captures a dark period in South Africa’s history in this political thriller. English and Afrikaans (with English subtitles).

August 7 FOXTROT (Drama – Israel, 2018 / 1 hr 53 min)

Winner, Grand Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival. Israeli Film 2018 Academy Ophir Awards: Best Film, Best Actor, Israel’s most noteworthy and controversial film of the year will grab your attention from its first to its last moments.

An affluent Tel Aviv couple are devastated when army officials show up at their home to announce the death of their son Jonathan. While his sedated wife rests, Michael spirals into a whirlwind of anger only to experience one of life’s unfathomable twists, which rival the surreal military experiences of his son. This unforgettable, wrenching film is directed by Samuel Maoz (Lebanon, 2009) and stars Lior Ashkenazi and Sarah Adler.

August 14 RBG (Documentary – USA, 2018 / 1 hr 37 min)

“You may love or hate her, badmouth her or bow down to her. But you have to recognize the impact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg has made to the fabric of our country. It is practically incalculable and completely invaluable.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone.

RBG provides an intimate portrait of an unlikely rock star: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “the notorious RBG,” the diminutive justice whose fragile appearance belies her outsized contributions and perseverance. With unprecedented access, filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen explore how her early legal battles changed the world for women, tracing her journey from law school through today, highlighting her legal career and her personal story, especially her most ardent champion, her husband Marty.

Many thanks to the Jewish Federation of Cape Cod for its sponsorship.