Festival Schedule:

January 25, 2024

7:00 pm: The Boy (Pre-Festival Short)

The Charlotte Jewish Film Festival and the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte Present The Boy, a Pre-Festival Short.

Special Zoom Q & A from Israel with Shaylee Atary widow of Yahav Winner.

This is a FREE pre-festival event but please purchase a $0 ticket below. This is not part of the all festival pass.

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

January 27, 2024

7:30 pm: Seven Blessings

Set in Jerusalem in the early 90’s, Marie, a Moroccan-Jewish bride, is marrying Dan, the son of French Ashkenazi parents. The family wedding and the numerous gatherings that follow offer a boisterous insight into this large tribe of multi-generational characters with strong opinions and ancient customs. As the facade of celebration and joy begins to break down, the story emerges of a painful wound from the past that has impacted on many of the family members who gather together, endeavoring to ignore the traditional practice that has brought so much conflict and grief. No one can walk away unscathed, but is it possible to find the love and strength required to forgive?

Seven Blessings is the winner of 10 Ophir (Israeli Oscar) awards, including best picture.

Price: $25

Location: Temple Israel

January 28, 2024

7:30 pm: Israel Swings For Gold

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 record their own experiences. Mostly newly minted Israelis, they log unexpected battles against anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Victory for Israel comes on the playing field, even if not on the podium.

Tal Erel, Israel’s National Baseball Team Catcher will be joining us at Temple Israel for the showing of Israel Swings for the Gold and will be hosting a Q & A session after the movie.

Location: Temple Israel

January 30, 2024

7:30 pm: The Boy in the Woods

A Canadian drama film, directed by Rebecca Snow and released in 2023. Based on the memoir of the same name by Maxwell Smart, the film dramatizes Smart’s childhood experience of having to fend for himself in the forests of Poland during World War II.

Location: Temple Israel

January 31, 2024

7:30 pm: Vishniac

Difficult and flamboyant, Roman Vishniac captured iconic images of Jewish life, from the cafes of pre-war Berlin to the shtetls of Eastern Europe. But it would be up to his daughter to preserve his legacy.

Location: Temple Israel

February 3, 2024

7:30 pm: Irena’s Vow

Caught in a German roundup to be used as a slave laborer, Polish nurse Irena Gut becomes a German Army Major’s housekeeper during World War II. Irena risks her life to conceal a dozen Jews within the major’s home.

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

February 7, 2024

7:30 pm: The Monkey House

A once successful novelist tries to revive his fading career by launching a highly inventive scam. He recruits a reckless actress and trains her to assume the somber identity of a lit masters student. Their lives will alter forever.

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

February 10, 2024

7:30 pm: The Story of Annette Zelman

It was 1942, she was Jewish, and he was Catholic. Annette and Jean wanted to get married, but Jean’s parents were opposed. Annette Zelman was reported to the Gestapo by her fiancé’s father and was sent to Auschwitz.

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

February 11, 2024

2:00 pm: Bella!

Bella! - As Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi lead the nation, they travel a path blazed by several women before them, notably Bella Abzug. In 1970, when the United States was ruled by men, Bella challenged the status quo, running a successful campaign from the streets of Manhattan that elevated her all the way to the halls of Congress. With her trademark hat and Bronx swagger, Bella entered Congress swinging, battling for credit cards for women, equality for the LGBTQ community, and trailblazing a path for leadership that reflected the broad diversity of the country. But, the most recognizable woman in politics also became the target of a Washington establishment resistant to change. With her eyes set on breaking the boys’ club of The US Senate or becoming New York’s first female mayor, Bella battled mounting forces from both the right and the left, and the powers of the Nixon Administration, the CIA, FBI, and even The New York Times. Using never-before-seen home movies, audio diaries, and a vast trove of newly-discovered news footage, Bella delves into a colorful and gritty era where one woman sacrificed her own political ambitions for future generations of female leadership.

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

February 14, 2024

7:30 pm: Matchmaking

Matchmaking - An entertaining and good-hearted romantic comedy that gives a light Orthodox twist to “Romeo and Juliet”.

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

February 17, 2024

7:30 pm: The Shadow of the Day

The Shadow of the Day - Set in the picturesque provincial town Ascoli Piceno in central Italy, The Shadow of the Day is a dramatic, heart-affecting love story set in the late 1930's. Luciano, a wounded World War I veteran and a sympathizer of fascism, runs a classy restaurant overlooking the town’s ancient square. He believes he can live his life according to his own set of rules. In his own bubble, he observes the world through the window of his pleasant restaurant. One day, Anna appears, looking for work. A young woman with a dangerous secret is hired for a job in the restaurant. Slowly, affection creeps in between the two, and among the many dangers Luciano now faces, including the onset of WWII, there is the greatest of all: love. Featuring an ensemble cast including Lino Musella (The Hand of God) and Vincenzo Nemolato (Gomorrah), Giuseppe Piccioni’s thoughtful melodrama reflects on fascism and the pre-war atmosphere of control and isolation.

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

February 18, 2024

2:00 pm: March 1968

March 1968  - Warsaw, 1968, students are protesting against the unlawful expulsion of their colleagues from the university and in defense of the “Dziady” (Forefathers’ Day) poster, directed by Kazimierz Dejmek, and staged at the National Theater. Hania and Janek are also among the protesting youth. Their families are on both sides of the March barricade. Young and madly in love with each other, like in Shakespeare’s drama Romeo and Juliet, in a country overwhelmed by rebellion, they fight for their affection. Will their love survive? Will they be able to overcome the adversities that fate presents them?

Location: The Independent Picture House

7:30 pm: Kidnapped

A Jewish boy is kidnapped and converted to Catholicism in 1858.

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

February 21, 2024

7:30 pm: The Catskills

“The Catskills” is a feature-length documentary film on the rise and fall of the Borscht Belt. With a trove of lost-and-found archival footage and a cast of characters endowed with the gift of gab, “The Catskills” journeys into the storied mountain getaway north of New York City that served as a refuge for Jewish immigrants fleeing poverty as well as a lavish playground for affluent Jewish families. Stand-up comedians share their best shtick while former waiters, entertainers, and dance instructors recount tales of the family-run resorts and bungalows that inspired films like “Dirty Dancing.”

Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts at Shalom Park

February 24, 2024

7:30 pm: Home

HOME - A young and recently married Orthodox man’s dream to open a computer store in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem turns into a violent nightmare when the entire neighborhood sees him as an existential threat. Turning his whole world upside down, the threat enters his home, and puts his marriage to the test, as he faces the reality of his own free will within a predetermined world.
Based on the filmmaker’s true story.

WINNER: Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, Israeli Academy Awards 2023.

NOMINEE:  Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Sound Design, Israeli Academy Awards 2023.

Location: Temple Beth El

February 25, 2024

2:00 pm: The Consultant: The Story of Arthur J. Finkelstein

The Consultant: The Story of Arthur J. Finkelstein - A new documentary feature film that exposes for the first time the enigma of Arthur J. Finkelstein one of the world’s most influential political consultants over the past four decades. Arthur’s original innovative methods of polling, micro-targeting - campaign strategy, messaging, and advising have shaped the landscape and future of major political changes, generating crucial events in the United States, Canada, Israel, and countries in central and eastern Europe.

Location: The Independent Picture House

7:30 pm: Remembering Gene Wilder

The world knows Gene Wilder as an endearing comic genius, but his gifts include writing and directing.

Including interviews, clips, and outtakes from the set, and excerpts from Wilder’s memoir in his own voice.

Location: Temple Beth El

Fest Date: January 27 - February 25, 2024

Locations:
Temple Israel, 4901 Providence Road, Charlotte, NC 28226
Shalom Park, 5007 Providence Road, Suite 102, Charlotte, NC 28226
The Independent Picture House, 4237 Raleigh Street, Charlotte, NC 28213
Temple Beth El, 5101 Providence Road, Charlotte, NC 28226

Price: $15

Click here for more information.