Schedule Of Events:

Monday, October 16, 2023

7:30 pm - Martha Liebermann: A Stolen Life

It is a story about courage and resistance, about pride, dignity and trust as well as about a woman's unshakeable love for her husband and his work.The ARD drama Martha Lieberman – A Stolen Life. The year is 1943 the artist's widow Martha Liebermann is threatened like all Jews in Germany with deportation to a concentration camp. In her apartment, that she hardly ever leaves, art treasures hang on the walls works by her husband, Max. The elderly lady is assisted by her maid Luise (Lana Cooper) and a group of resistance fighters. Her daughter Käthe had already immigrated to the USA five years earlier. Martha Liebermann stayed in Berlin because she didn't want to leave her husband's paintings. The artist's wife could not have imagined that the situation in Germany would actually get that bad and therefore did not flee with her daughter. When things became more and more dangerous for Jews, Martha Liebermann applied for emigration to Switzerland and Sweden, despite her concerns about the pictures. However, because her accounts were frozen by the Nazis, she cannot raise the sums required for emigration. Her helpers suggest selling pictures, but that's not an option for Martha Liebermann. Director Stefan Bühling shows the secret and dangerous deployment of the resistance fighters around Hanna Solf (Fritzi Haberlandt) as well as the great loyalty of the non-Jewish housekeeper Luise to her boss in haunting images and almost chamber play-like scenes. When the Gestapo visits Martha Liebermann, Luise bravely, almost carelessly, opposes the men. The relationship between Martha and Luise plays a special role in the film. In the gloomy apartment of the painter's widow, the women stick together – until Martha makes a hard decision to protect Luise, who is now considered a traitor and is also threatened. When the Gestapo put the painter's widow on the deportation list, a race against time began.

Running time: 88 minutes

Sunday, October 22, 2023

5:00 pm - The Way to Happiness

A Viennese Holocaust survivor becomes a boisterous restaurateur in Brussels, feeding his devoted diners Jewish delicacies while nourishing his outsized love of cinema, to cover and thwart his past emotional trauma, in this enchantingly inventive tale. Saul Birnbaum runs a lively delicatessen adorned with film posters and movie paraphernalia, staffed by waitresses on roller skates. He spontaneously spouts dialogue, usually in English, from his favorite films, or croons with gusto a nearly accent-free version of Sinatra's "New York." But having barely escaped the Shoah by Kindertransport to Belgium in the early forties, he is haunted by memories of separating from his parents and his ever-present yearning as a youngster to reunite with them.

Endeavoring to confront and overcome his profound sadness, Saul works with his protege Joakin, a young Chilean director, to write a screenplay of his childhood story replete with specific recollections, for instance, a teacher ostracizing and rejecting him for being Jewish in a mostly gentile school. With his large and affable personality, he persuades a film critic to polish the rough script into a truly professional piece the filming of which is woven through the narrative. And his vigorous charisma also wins him attention from the ladies and affection from his delightful cast of employees.

Despite Saul's joviality and sprightly generosity as he awards food and drinks to winners of his impulsive movie trivia contests, we get a keen sense of the inner anguish he endures. Alternating present-day 1987, set mostly in his cafe, with flashbacks of being with his parents as the Nazi menace loomed, and his life with a foster couple who lovingly nurtured him into his teen years, we feel as he does: the past is always with us flirtatious and spirited is just a facade.

Running time: 112 minutes


Tuesday, October 24, 2023

7:30 pm - Paris Boutique

Paris Boutique is a delightful romantic comedy about love and friendship. French-Jewish lawyer Louise takes a break from planning her lavish wedding in Paris to go on a short business trip to Jerusalem, where she hopes to seal a multimillion-euro property deal. Landing in Israel, she has the misfortune of being met at the airport by Neta, a broke (and heartbroken) cab driver who tries to swindle her wealthy client out of just enough money to cover her debts. What starts as a hellish visit, however, ends with both women becoming not only fast friends but also head over heels in love – this time, with the right men. A comedy of mistakes in the heart of magical Jerusalem, and a story about friendship between two women at a critical point in their lives.

Running time: 81 minutes

Sunday, October 29, 2023

5:00 pm - Exodus 91

A docu-narrative film that tells the story of Asher Naim, an Israeli diplomat caught between worlds and facing a crisis of faith in himself and his country. Asher, a North-African Jew himself, is sent to Ethiopia to negotiate the escape of 15,000 Ethiopian Jews from a country collapsing under famine and civil war. Working with his Ethiopian-Israeli colleagues who, themselves, immigrated to Israel a decade earlier, Asher and his partners begin to question if the Israeli government is serious or using the operation as part of an elaborate publicity stunt against claims that "Zionism is Racism." With rebel forces closing in on the capital, Asher's faith in his mission is put to the test as he navigates the treacherous world of bureaucracy and politics in Ethiopia, Israel, and the US. Exodus 91 takes viewers behind the scenes – and behind the spin – of Operation Solomon, the diplomatic and military mission to bring thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the midst of Ethiopia's brutal civil war. The feature-length film explores challenging questions of racism, white saviour-ism, homeland, cultural identity, the politics of immigration, and the hardships of these immigrants, and those that followed them, to this day. Archival footage, dramatic reenactments, and a blend of real and staged interviews, bring into relief the interplay of fact and fiction in storytelling and diplomacy, as well as in national and cultural identity.

Running time: 91 minutes

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

7:30 pm - The Story of Annette Zelman

This true-life Romeo and Juliet-esque tale takes place in 1940s wartime France. Annette was Jewish. Jean was Catholic. They wanted to get married, but Jean's parents were opposed. Annette Zelman was reported to the Gestapo by her fiance's father and was sent to Auschwitz. A quintessential statement on love and romance, this riveting drama presents a story of extraordinary quality based on actual events recounted in the book Denoncer les Juifs sous l'Occupation (Informing on Jews during the Occupation) by Laurent Joly. In today's world, the film has added resonance with the recent rise of anti-Semitism.

Menemsha Films will launch the film on the North American film festival circuit, with the intention of releasing it in cinemas the first quarter of 2024. The Story of Annette Zelman is a true discovery in all its magnificence, highlighted by the captivating lead performance of young French actress Ilona Bachelier. The film is a heartfelt drama with true emotions that we are confident audiences will adore.  Marie-Laure Hebrand of Film & Picture Distribution says: "In French, the appropriate expression is "coup de coeur."

Running time: 93 minutes

Date: October 16,22,24,29, 2023 - November 1, 2023

Location: The Cranford Theater, 25 North Ave West, Cranford, NJ 07016

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