We are proud to announce the 2025 JCC Chicago Jewish Film Festival!

Our mission is to showcase culturally diverse, Jewishly inspired films that will entertain, educate, and inspire audiences of all generations. Our carefully curated films honor Jewish filmmakers, writers, and actors—and those committed to repairing the world through brave, artistic expression. Many films are Chicago Premieres and will include special select post-film Q&As with filmmakers, actors, and subject matter experts.

This March, for our 12th season, we will be showing 19 films in-person over three weeks!

Schedule

March 16, 2025

1:00pm

The Two Mariettes

A secret kept for 70 years, and a woman, Mariette, who dares to tell it. A film that follows the perspectives of four generations when what had been hidden finally comes to light.

How long can a person keep a secret? The film’s protagonist, Mariette, did it for 70 years. Now, at a threshold in her life, she finally decides to speak up. Afraid of betraying her mother, who did everything she could to keep the secret hidden, Mariette faces her world filled with doubt, fearing rejection and prejudice.

Director: Poli Martínez Kaplun

80 minutes

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4:00pm

The Hungarian Dressmaker

Slovakia’s official entry for the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film is a powerful period drama delving deeply into maternal instincts and the fierce struggle for survival during World War II. Based on Petr Krištúfek’s novella, the film follows Marika, a widowed Hungarian dressmaker living near the Slovak-Hungarian border during the turbulent years of World War II. With her husband missing and her job with a Jewish tailor lost amid the deportation of Jews to German-occupied Poland, Marika is left to manage the family farm on her own. Her world is further upended when she discovers a young Jewish boy hiding in her barn—a discovery that could cost them both their lives. As she risks everything to protect the boy, the film offers a deeply human perspective on the horrors of war, capturing her resilience and the boy’s harrowing journey for survival. Through their intertwined stories, the film presents a moving portrayal of courage, compassion, and the enduring impact of war on ordinary lives.

Director: Iveta Grófová

129 minutes

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Date: Mar 1 - 23, 2025