Arts and Entertainment
January 11, 2025
From: Louisville Jewish Film FestivalSchedule Of Events:
February 8 – February 23, 2025
FREE Film-Louisville Jewish Film Festival: I See You (Virtual Only Short Film)
A poignant portrait of Danny Layani, who, after 25 years of total blindness, regains his sight and sees his wife and four children for the very first time. However, the newfound light in Danny’s life begins to dim. Through intimate family archives and meticulous animated paintings, Danny shares his captivating story of resilience, self-discovery, and the profound power of perspective.
Cost: FREE
February 8 – February 15, 2025
Louisville Jewish Film Festival: The Milky Way (Virtual ONLY)
Desperate to support her baby, single mother and offbeat musician Tala takes a job at the Milky Way, producing breast milk sold to new mothers who cannot or do not produce their own. In this dystopian dark comedy, Tala juggles motherhood and employment, while sneaking a glimpse into the wealthy lives of those who buy her breast milk.
February 8 – February 15, 2025
Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Running On Sand (Virtual)
Eritrean refugee Aumari is slated for deportation from Israel on a technicality. After ducking immigration authorities at the airport, he becomes the unlikely and very perplexed recipient of a hero’s welcome. He is mistaken for an eagerly anticipated Nigerian soccer player who is supposed to arrive at the same time, Though lacking a fundamental knowledge of the sport, he finds himself the face of the franchise.
February 8 – February 15, 2025
Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Where Life Begins (Virtual)
An ultra-orthodox Jewish family from Aix-les-Bains comes to a farm in Calabria for a brief stay every year to carry out a sacred mission: harvesting etrog citrons for Sukkot. When Elio, the farm owner, meets Esther, the rabbi’s daughter, who is tired of the constraints imposed by her religion, their relationship sparks a lasting change for each of them.
February 8, 2025
7:30 pm – 10:00 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Bad Shabbos
In this off-beat comedy, two couples – Abby and Benjamin, and David and Meg (freshly converted to Judaism) – gather for a traditional Shabbat dinner, but things spiral faster than you can say “hamotzi” when an accidental death (or is it a murder?) derails the evening entirely.
Location: Trager Family JCC 3600 Dutchmans Ln, Louisville, KY
February 11, 2025
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: The Very Narrow Bridge
The Very Narrow Bridge is a journey into the souls of four people – two Jews and two Palestinians – who have lost a child or parent to violent conflict as they transform their grief into a bridge for reconciliation. They all belong to Israeli Palestinian Bereaved Families, a controversial grassroots movement of broken-hearted people, who stand side-by-side to end the violence and build a future based on dignity and equality. Despite fierce political and family opposition, they refuse to give up.
Location: Trager Family JCC 3600 Dutchmans Ln, Louisville, KY
February 13, 2025
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: The Boy in the Woods
The Boy in the Woods follows the true story of Max, a Jewish boy escaping Nazi persecution. After he is separated from his family, Max finds temporary refuge with a Christian peasant (Richard Armitage). After a tense stand-off with Nazi police. Max must live in the woods and learn to survive alone in a landscape crawling with Jew-hunters and, partisans and haunted by ghosts. He and Yanek, another boy in hiding like Max, rescue a baby girl, but their heroic act comes at a tragic price. Based on the best-selling memoir by Holocaust survivor Maxwell Smart.
Location: Adath Jeshurun KY
February 15, 2025
7:30 pm – 10:00 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Kidnapped
Legendary Italian director Marco Bellocchio’s film tells the scandalous true story of a six-year old Jewish boy who, in mid-19th century Bologna, was abducted from his family by the church under the Pope’s orders and raised as a Catholic.
Location: Trager Family JCC 3600 Dutchmans Ln, Louisville, KY
February 16 – February 23, 2025
Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Come Closer (Virtual)
In this poignant drama, a young woman’s life is shattered by her beloved younger brother’s tragic death. Consumed by grief, Eden takes increasingly desperate measures to fill the void left by her brother’s absence. Her journey takes a passionate and dangerous turn when she discovers her brother had a secret girlfriend.
February 16 – February 23, 2025
Louisville Jewish Film Festival: No Name Restaurant (Virtual)
In this spirited and absurdist culture-clash comedy, two very different men must work together to survive in the Sinai Desert. One is the lost and befuddled Ben, an ultra-Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn who has missed his flight to Alexandria, where he is to help the dwindling Jewish community in need of a 10th man for its Passover celebration. The other is the dyspeptic Adel, a Bedouin man trying to track down his runaway camel. The men travel across the desert on foot, sharing details of their personal lives and love of food, giving their plans a chance to go increasingly haywire.
February 16 – February 23, 2025
Louisville Jewish Film Festival: The Boy in the Woods (Virtual)
The Boy in the Woods follows the true story of Max, a Jewish boy escaping Nazi persecution. After he is separated from his family, Max finds temporary refuge with a Christian peasant (Richard Armitage). After a tense stand-off with Nazi police. Max must live in the woods and learn to survive alone in a landscape crawling with Jew-hunters and, partisans and haunted by ghosts. He and Yanek, another boy in hiding like Max, rescue a baby girl, but their heroic act comes at a tragic price. Based on the best-selling memoir by Holocaust survivor Maxwell Smart.
February 16, 2025
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Where Life Begins
An ultra-orthodox Jewish family from Aix-les-Bains comes to a farm in Calabria for a brief stay every year to carry out a sacred mission: harvesting etrog citrons for Sukkot. When Elio, the farm owner, meets Esther, the rabbi’s daughter, who is tired of the constraints imposed by her religion, their relationship sparks a lasting change for each of them.
Location: Baxter Theatre KY
February 18, 2025
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: No Name Restaurant
In this spirited and absurdist culture-clash comedy, two very different men must work together to survive in the Sinai Desert. One is the lost and befuddled Ben, an ultra-Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn who has missed his flight to Alexandria, where he is to help the dwindling Jewish community in need of a 10th man for its Passover celebration. The other is the dyspeptic Adel, a Bedouin man trying to track down his runaway camel. The men travel across the desert on foot, sharing details of their personal lives and love of food, giving their plans a chance to go increasingly haywire.
Location: The Temple 5101 U.S. Highway 42, Louisville, KY
February 20, 2025
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Running On Sand
Eritrean refugee Aumari is slated for deportation from Israel on a technicality. After ducking immigration authorities at the airport, he becomes the unlikely and very perplexed recipient of a hero’s welcome. He is mistaken for an eagerly anticipated Nigerian soccer player who is supposed to arrive at the same time, Though lacking a fundamental knowledge of the sport, he finds himself the face of the franchise.
Location: Baxter Theatre KY
February 22, 2025
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Come Closer
In this poignant drama, a young woman’s life is shattered by her beloved younger brother’s tragic death. Consumed by grief, Eden takes increasingly desperate measures to fill the void left by her brother’s absence. Her journey takes a passionate and dangerous turn when she discovers her brother had a secret girlfriend.
Location: Baxter Theatre KY
February 23, 2025
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm - Louisville Jewish Film Festival: Sabbath Queen
This feature documentary, filmed over 21 years, follows Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie’s epic journey as the dynastic heir of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis including the Chief Rabbis of Israel. He is torn between rejecting and embracing his destiny and becomes a drag-queen rebel, a queer bio-dad and the founder of Lab/Shul—an everybody-friendly, God-optional, artist-driven, pop-up experimental congregation.
Location: Speed Art Museum Cinema
Date: February 8 - February 23, 2025
Location: Various Venues in Louisville, KY and Online