Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival is This Week

The Jewish Film Festival will be held through Thursday at the Marcus North Shore Cinema.

Sponsored by the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, this year’s film festival will celebrate the best in Jewish cinema from Israel, Czech Republic/Slovak Republic, Hungary, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States.

Sunday, October 14, 7:30 PM

NICKY’S FAMILY, Czech Republic/Slovak Republic, 2011, 96 minutes, English. Director, Screenplay, Producer-Matej Mina.

NICKY’S FAMILY tells the nearly forgotten emotional and uplifting story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II. Winton, now 102 years old, did not speak about these events with anyone for more than half a century. His exploits would have probably been forgotten if his wife, fifty years later, hadn’t found a suitcase in the attic full of documents and transport plans. Thousands of children in many countries have decided to follow in his footsteps by doing something to better the world. Dozens of Winton’s “children” have been found and to this day his family has grown to almost 6,000 people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 583 recognizing his remarkable deed.

This film is made possible in cooperation with the Nathan & Esther Pelz Holocaust Education & Resource Center.

SPECIAL PRE-FILM LECTURE 6:00 PM: Free. By Professor Simone Schweiber, UW Madison, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Madison, Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies.        

Monday, October 15, 7:30 PM

KADDISH FOR A FRIEND, Germany, 2010, 93 minutes, German, Arabic, Russian with English  Subtitles. Director: Leo Khasin.

This is the story of an unlikely friendship between two lonely, displaced characters. Alexander is an 84-year-old Jewish war veteran who is desperate to remain living independently in his Berlin flat. Palestinian teenager Ali’s family arrives from a refugee camp in Lebanon. To gain acceptance from his new peers, Ali agrees to break in to his next-door neighbor’s flat. When Alexander comes back to his ransacked home, he recognizes Ali. To avoid being deported, Ali’s family send him back to repair the damage. Working side by side, their relationship evolves from mutual dislike, to understanding and finally to friendship. This coming-of-age story shows just how hard unlearning prejudice can be.

Tuesday, October 16, 7:30 PM

THE FLAT (HADIRA), Israel & Germany, 2011, 97 minutes. Hebrew & German with English subtitles. Director: Amon Goldfinger.

The flat on the third floor of a Bauhaus building in Tel Aviv is where filmmaker Amon Goldfinger’s grandparents lived since they immigrated to Palestine in the 1930s. Were it not for the view from the windows, one might have thought the flat was in Berlin. When his grandmother passed away at the age of 98 the family was called upon to clear out what was left in the flat. Objects, pictures, letters and documents, revealed traces of a troubled and unknown past. The film begins with the emptying out of a flat, develops into a riveting adventure involving unexpected national interests, a friendship that crosses enemy lines, and deeply repressed family emotions. Secrets are revealed that should have probably remained untold…

In cooperation with the Israel Resource Center of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Ro’ee Peled & Michal Makov-Peled, Community Shlichim.

Wednesday, October 17, 7:30 PM

PRIMA PRIMAVERA, Hungary, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Netherlands, 2008, 90 minutes. Hungarian with English subtitles. Director: Janos Edelenyi.

PRIMA PRIMAVERA is the story of Gabor, a mentally challenged 55 year-old man who loses everything including his caretaking mother when he tries to foil a bank heist. On the lam from the police for being an uncooperative witness, he joins up with the bohemian girlfriend of one of the bank thieves to escape to the countryside and to his childhood home. Armed with a chandelier for his Grandma, the odd pair sets out on a cross border journey to seek refuge in her house in Serbia. But Grandma, long dead, had lived on only in Gabor’s imagination and meticulous drawings. Life-changing events are in store for these two adults who still have a lot of growing up to do. Balancing between crude reality and imagination, the two manage to survive and, in the process, find peace with each other, the world, and, most difficult of all – themselves.

Thursday, October 18, 7:30 PM

Special sneak peek of a new film.

Tickets:

Movies each evening are $10 General Admission, $9 Students/Seniors.

5-Movie Pass – One ticket to each evening movie- General Admission $45 and Seniors/Students $40. For $100, the patron pass includes one RESERVED seat for each movie, $50 is tax-deductible.

Tickets cannot be purchased from the Marcus Cinemas, but ONLY through the JCC or at the JCC table at the theater entrance one hour before each movie.

For more information and tickets contact Micki Seinfeld, JCC Director of Special Events, mseinfeld@jccmilwaukee.org or 414-967-8235.