The Nashville Jewish Film Festival (NJFF) is a program of the Gordon Jewish Community Center. This year, the NJFF will celebrate its 24th year of bringing educational, entertaining and thought-provoking Jewish-themed films to the Nashville community.

Schedule of Events:

October 15, 2024

5:00 PM: Opening Night Dinner

You're invited to our Opening Night Dinner at 5pm at AB!

Please RSVP (yes only) by October 10th if you plan to attend the Opening Night Dinner.

After the celebration, we will cross the street to our cherished Belcourt Theatre to launch the festival with our Opening Night Film at 7pm. (Reserve your ticket for the film separately.)

Venue: AB, 2111 Belcourt Ave., Nashville, TN 37212

7:00 PM: Remembering Gene Wilder

Join us as we kick off the 2024 Nashville Jewish Film Festival at the historic Belcourt Theater with special guest, Harriet Schiftan, MSW, MAJCS, President and CEO Gilda's Club of Middle Tennessee!

Venue: Belcourt Theatre, 2102 Belcourt Ave, Nashville, TN 37212

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October 19, 2024

7:00 PM: Yaniv

This film is a madcap, absurd comedy that shines light on American education, Jewish identity, and a fun Israeli card game. A teacher (played by real-life Bronx high school teacher Benjamin Ducoff), loses funding for the school musical that is important to his students. In an effort to raise the needed funds, he enlists a fellow teacher, coincidentally a recovering gambling addict, to help by getting him into the popular Israeli card game, Yaniv, run by Hasidic Jews.

Venue: Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Blvd. Nashville, TN 37205

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October 21, 2024

7:00 PM: Avenue of the Giants

Avatar actor Stephen Lang plays Herbert Heller, who kept his miraculous escape from Auschwitz a secret from his family for more than 60 years. It is only when he finds out that he is ill that he is able to confront his past and agree to an oral history video. In the process doing that, he befriends Abbey, an isolated and troubled teenager. Based on a true story.

Venue: Belcourt Theatre, 2102 Belcourt Ave, Nashville, TN 37212

October 22, 2024

7:00 PM: Shoshana

Set in 1930s and 40's British Mandate Palestine, this thriller is inspired by real events. The story follows the love affair of Shoshana Borochov, daughter of one of the founders of Socialist Zionism, and a British policeman whose job is to hunt down and eliminate Zionist militant Avraham Stern. As the Irgun undertakes a violent campaign to evict the British, the police adopt a zero-tolerance towards the resistance. Meanwhile, Shoshana is put in danger because she dares to fraternize with the enemy.

October 28, 2024

12:00 PM: Martha Liebermann: A Stolen Life

In 1943 Berlin, Martha Liebermann, widow of world-famous artist Max Liebermann, could never fathom leaving her beloved homeland - when she realizes her only chance to survive is to leave Germany or be deported. Pressured into an illegal sale of her husband's paintings to finance her escape with a resistance group, the Nazis find a way to set a trap for her and other opponents of the regime. When the situation becomes dire, Frau Liebermann shows her true wisdom and greatness.

Venue: Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Blvd. Nashville, TN 37205

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October 29, 2024

7:00 PM: Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara

In 1858 Bologna, 6-year-old Edgardo Montara was seized by the authorities of the Papal State and taken away from his Jewish family because he had been secretly baptized by his babysitter without his parents' knowledge. The child would be claimed and raised as a Catholic, citing a Papal State policy that Christians must be raised by Christians. The family is given the choice to keep the child if they all convert or let the child be taken away to be raised by the Church. The parents' fight to keep their son was the center of international dispute, court cases, and publicity that directly led to the rejection of Papal rule.

Venue: Belcourt Theatre, 2102 Belcourt Ave, Nashville, TN 37212

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October 31, 2024

12:00 PM: Irena's Vow

Irena Gut Opdyke, played by Sophie Nelisse, sheltered one dozen Jewish men and women in the home of the Nazi officer, Edward Rugemer (Dougray Scott), where she was the housekeeper. This is the true story of a 19-year-old Polish nurse who made small, brave decisions, risking her life in order to do what she believed to be right. The film is based on the life of Irena Gut, who is honored as a righteous gentile at Yad Vashem.

Venue: Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Blvd. Nashville, TN 37205

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November 2, 2024

7:00 PM: Running on Sand

Eritrean refugee Omari is dishwasher in Tel Aviv who is about to be deported. When he shows up at the airport to be escorted to the plane taking him back to Eritea, he manages to escape. As he hides at Ben Gurion, he is mistaken for a Nigerian soccer star who is supposed to arrive to play for Maccabi Netanya--and who luckily for Omari doesn't show up. Treated as a star, all Omari has to do is learn how to play soccer. And live the high life of an athlete.

Venue: AMC Bellevue 12, 8125 Sawyer Brown Rd, Nashville, TN 37221

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November 4, 2024

7:00 PM: Home

Yair, an ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva student, opens an electronics shop in Geula, a neighborhood that is the shopping epicenter for the entire ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem. The religious character of the neighborhood is enforced by the Geula Committee, and Yair strictly adheres to their rules. His shop is introducing a world of advanced technology that becomes an overnight magnet for every ultra-Orthodox household, but the increasing intrusion of modernity is an affront to the committee, leading to an inevitable conflict that forces Yair into a desperate struggle for survival.

November 7, 2024

7:00 PM: The Catskills

The Catskills is a humorous and nostalgic tribute to the "Borscht Belt," the area in the Catskill Mountains which became a place of resistance against anti-Semitic exclusion and a flourishing site for Yiddishkeit and future comedians (Danny Kaye, Mel Brooks, Shecky Green, and more). Former entertainers, waiters, and dancers tell their stories and show their keepsakes from the family run resorts (like Grossingers and Kutschers) that served as the inspiration for films like Dirty Dancing and Marjorie Morningstar.

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Date: October 15 - November 7, 2024

Location: Various Venues in Nashville, TN

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