Many years ago when discussing our annual Film Festival, I made the statement that the Film Festival is the best thing that we do.  Bill quickly and politely corrected me by stating that the Film Festival is one of the many great things that we do.  Thanks Bill, you are correct again.  

So why is the Film Festival one of the many great things that we do.  Firstly, it checks all the boxes of our mission statement which is to plan for the philanthropic, social, cultural and educational advancement of the Jewish community and to foster cooperation among local Jewish organizations directed toward that end.

Secondly, it brings us together as a community for a shared experience that challenges our perspectives about religion, identity and purpose.  

Thirdly, our films are very entertaining and thought provoking.

Federation is very excited to be able to return our festival to its traditional four consecutive Thursday evenings in late February and early March after a two year hiatus due to the pandemic.  We were pleased to find a way to hold three one night “festivals” during the pandemic, but it was not the same.  Remember we will also be hosting excellent meals catered by Paula and Dave Binus at the AAC Social Hall prior to each film.

In our 24^th year, our Annual International Jewish Film Festival will feature four excellent films.  We are leading with SHARED LEGACIES, a documentary that recounts the crucial historical lessons of Black-Jewish cooperation during the Civil Rights movement.  This potent, inspiring story of unity, empathy and partnership validates the ubiquity of the human experience, and how freedom and equality for all can be achieved only when people come together. 

NEIGHBOURS tells the story of a young boy faced with a new teacher who arrives with the goal of making strapping Panarabic comrades out of Kurdish children and orders the veneration of Assad and preaches hate of the Zionist enemy, the Jews. With a fine sense of humor and satire, the film depicts a childhood which manages to find light moments between dictatorship and dark drama. 

“THE RITCHIE BOYS” is the untold story of a group of young men who fled Nazi Germany and returned to Europe as soldiers in US uniforms. At Camp Ritchie, Maryland, they were trained in intelligence and psychological warfare. Not always courageous, but determined, bright, and inventive they fought their own kind of war. They saved lives. They were victors, not victims.

Our final film, FAREWELL MR. HAFFMANN masterfully guides the viewer through the world of Vichy France, where lives are irrevocably shaped by the twin scourges of war and the black market. Rich in moral complexity and empathy, with several twists too good to spoil, this is grand, big-screen adult entertainment at its finest.

Please join us for as many films as possible, I believe you will be educated, inspired, challenged and, of course, entertained.  I will see you, at the movies.