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20th Annual JCC Rockland International Jewish Film Festival 2023

Arts and Entertainment

March 22, 2023

From: JCC Rockland International Jewish Film Festival

Schedule:

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

7:00 PM: Opening Night: The Devil's Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapeste for best short film - AMC Palisades IMAX

The Devil's Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes

In previously unheard bombshell audiotapes, the architect of Hitler’s Final Solution boasts about his role and motives during the Holocaust. Six decades after his trial and execution in Israel, these long-hidden recordings surface of Adolf Eichmann talking with a Dutch Nazi journalist in 1957 Argentina. Before facing justice, the candid admissions expose Eichmann’s visceral antisemitism and zeal for mass murder, contradicting his later claims that he was merely a functionary following orders. Investigative filmmaker Yariv Mozer, who tracked down the original recordings, posits why the evidence was concealed during trial. Staged reenactments of Eichmann’s own chilling words, as well as colorized courtroom footage, offer a dramatic rebuttal to notions of the banality of evil.

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

7:00 PM: March 1968 - AMC Palisades IMAX

In this gripping coming-of-age story set against the volatile backdrop of late-1960s Communist Warsaw, Hania, a student at the state theater school, experiences political awakening and her own personal revolution. At first, Hania is blinded by love, falling intensely for technology student Janek, whom she meets at a play opening; gradually, however, she comes to realize that her fellow Jewish citizens—including Hania’s doctor father—are being persecuted in a series of antisemitic purges conducted in response to the hate-fueled rhetoric of Poland’s leader, W?adys?aw Gomu?ka. When her family decides to emigrate for their own safety, Hania doesn’t want to join them, and instead tries to build a life with Janek. However, things spiral out of control, leading to a powerful climax set during the infamous events of March 1968. Inspired by a moment in time that shaped the social consciousness of director Krzysztof Lang, the film depicts the momentous collision of history and romance.

Thursday, April 20, 2023

7:00 PM: Boy on the Run: An Extraordinary Story of Survival - AMC Palisades IMAX

Facing horrific circumstances - the invasion of Nazi Germany, separation from his family, and the traumatic impact of Antisemitism in 1940s Europe - Paul Galan recounts the unbelievable story of his survival of the Holocaust as a child.

Sunday, April 23, 2023, 

7:00 PM: Our Almost Completely True Story - JCC Rockland

A life-affirming dramedy that “sparkles with wit and depth as it celebrates love and romance while reflecting on the challenges of growing older.”(Broadway World) To say that Mariette Hartley and Jerry Sroka make an unlikely couple is an understatement. She is a tall, elegant screen star who worked with Hitchcock and Peckinpah; he is a short, pudgy voice actor known for Antz and Family Guy. Both, however, bond over the indignities of being out-of-work actors of a certain age, while navigating the seniors singles scene. Initially indifferent to his advances, Hartley is eventually won over by Sroka’s quirky humour and innate goodness. Written by Hartley and Sroka, this charming film also features memorable cameos by Bernie Kopell, Morgan Fairchild and Tess Harper. Directed by Don Scardino (30 Rock).

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

7:00 PM: Farewell Mister Haffmann - AMC Palisades IMAX

Occupied Paris, 1941: all members of the Jewish community are instructed to come forward and identify themselves to authorities. Dedicated jeweler Joseph Haffmann (Auteuil), fearing the worst, arranges for his family to flee the city and offers his employee François Mercier (Gilles Lellouche) the chance to take over his store until the conflict subsides. But his own attempts to escape are thwarted, and Haffmann is forced to seek his assistant’s protection.
It’s a risky proposition for both men, and one that Mercier’s wife Blanche (a wonderful Sara Giraudeau) is skeptical of. As the couple move into the Haffmann home, the agreement turns into a Faustian bargain, one that will forever change the fate of all...

Superbly directed by Fred Cavayé, Farewell Mister 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.

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

7:00 PM: Israel Swings for Gold - AMC Palisades IMAX

In 2021, Israel’s baseball team competed in the Olympics for the first time. With no media allowed in Tokyo’s Olympic Village, the players are given cameras to record their own experiences. The majority of Team Israel is American-born. Bombarded by Hamas rockets, they become citizens of Israel. Harassed by anti-Israel protesters, they play exhibition games in the States. When Team Israel finally reaches the Olympics, they discover a competition absent of the goodwill it is intended to promote. The Munich massacre is memorialized during the opening ceremony, but for the first time in fifty years. Heightened security measures are supposed to prevent a similar tragedy, but provide no shelter from the anti-Semitism that still thrives. The players get the cold shoulder from fellow athletes and death threats from spectators. Victory for Team Israel arrives on the playing field, even if not on the Olympic podium. Israel Swings for Gold follows the 2018 hit Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel, about Israel’s Cinderella run at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Thursday, April 27, 2023

7:00 PM: Lost Transport - AMC Palisades IMAX

Thrown together in the turbulent last days of WWII, three vastly different women must conquer danger and distrust, in this gripping drama inspired by true events. Under attack by the advancing Red Army, the Nazis are forced to abandon a transport of Jewish prisoners from Bergen-Belsen, turning a German village into an impromptu refugee camp. In the chaos that ensues, a fateful bond forms between a wary German village girl, a fearless Russian sniper, and a brave Dutch survivor of the camps. Facing illness and a scarcity of basic supplies, as well as grief and resentments, they are compelled to cooperate in order to survive. Nuanced, layered characters bring a unique, often neglected female perspective to this deeply human wartime tale of courage and friendship.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

7:00 PM: The Shadow of the Day - AMC Palisades IMAX
Set in the picturesque provincial town Ascoli Piceno in central Italy, The Shadow of the Day is a dramatic love story set in the late 1930s. Luciano (Riccardo Scamarcio, "Where Life Begins"), a wounded World War I veteran and a sympathizer of Fascism like most Italians at the time, runs a classy restaurant overlooking the town’s ancient square. One day, Anna (Benedetta Porcaroli, Baby) appears, looking for work. A young woman with a dangerous secret, she is hired for a job in the restaurant. Slowly, affection creeps in between the two and among the many dangers Luciano faces, there is the greatest of all: love.

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

7:00 PM: Ankie: The Olympic Widow - AMC Palisades IMAX

Munich, 1972. During the Olympics, a group of Palestinians attacks the Israeli team. The hostage situation ends in a bloodbath, but the German authorities never reveal what really happened. Ankie Spitzer, wife of the Israeli fencing coach Andre Spitzer, has been fighting for the truth about the murder of her husband ever since. In this two-part documentary, Spitzer finds answers to questions that have been hidden for 50 years. How did Andre die, who did it, and most important, what happened to the murderer? Due to newly uncovered documents and testimonies of eyewitnesses who have never spoken up, the truth finally reveals itself.

Thursday, May 4, 2023

7:00 PM: Dedication - JCC Rockland

New York pianist Roger Peltzman’s one-man show, Dedication, recounts his family’s tragic history fleeing the Nazis in war-torn Europe using drama, powerful images, and musical performances of everything from blues to Chopin. Drawn into the story of people he never knew, Peltzman develops a 'relationship' with his uncle, Norbert Stern, the finest pianist in Belgium, until he was murdered in Auschwitz at age 21. A singular tale from the Shoah that is at once extraordinary and relatable, Dedication is also a coming to terms with second-generation survivor trauma and the role of music in helping to manage wounds that will never fully heal.

Sunday, May 7, 2023

7:00 PM: America - JCC Rockland

Following the international success of his acclaimed romantic drama The Cakemaker, writer, director, and editor Ofir Raul Graizer presents an enveloping and visually sumptuous story about sexual identity and personal trauma, following a man whose return to Israel triggers a series of life-altering events. Having lived in Chicago for a decade, Israeli swimming coach Eli (Michael Moshonov) goes back to Tel Aviv after the sudden death of his estranged father. While there, he visits his childhood friend Yotam (Ofri Biterman) and Yotam’s fiancée, Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet), with whom he runs a flower shop; however, the reunion leads to a shocking turn of events that will affect everyone’s lives forever. The patient storytelling style Graizer forged in his previous film is in full evidence in America, a penetrating, tactile study of the inner lives of three people who will forever be physically and emotionally entwined, set in dramatic natural locations.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

7:00 PM: Closing Night: The Jews And The Blues - JCC Rockland

The Jews and the Blues is a musical journey that along the way becomes something much more; created by Drew Stone, a documentary filmmaker, musician, and talk show host born and raised in New York City. Join him as he follows his passion for music and adventure as he travels to Israel and discovers how the blues tie into this incredible mix of cultures. Arab, Ethiopian, Moroccan, Jewish, Israeli, united through the universal tie that binds us together.... music. Experience the sights, sounds and the unexpected on this expedition into uncharted territory.

Date: April 18 - May 9, 2023

Locations:

JCC Rockland, 450 West Nyack Road, West Nyack, NY 10994

AMC Palisades IMAX, 4403 Palisades Center Drive, West Nyack, NY 10994

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