Highland Park
Illinois
JCC Chicago Jewish Film Festival 2025
Arts and Entertainment
February 13, 2025
From: JCC Chicago Jewish Film FestivalWe 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 1, 2025
1:00pm
Technion 10²
In 1924, the first Technion class opened in Haifa. Today, it is hard to believe that this modest class, taking place in the far reaches of the British Empire was the start of the Technion – one of the leading technological research institutions in the world. The story of this institution’s hundred years on Mount Carmel provides a fascinating prism through which to describe the history of the State of Israel. It is hard to imagine a modern-day Israel, with its strong economy and scientific and technological achievements, without the Technion playing its part. From the pre-state period, through dramatic moments in times of war, to the birth of the startup nation and breakthroughs in global-scale research – the Technion was always there.
Director: Uri Rosenwaks
77 minutes
4:00pm
The Glory of Life
Because of the power of love, the last year of Franz Kafka’s life becomes his happiest. He has never before been able to allow himself to experience intimacy, he suffers from tuberculosis and is dependent on his overbearing family. But the worldly wise Dora Diamant accepts him as he is. And he accepts her. The two meet in 1923 on the Baltic Sea coast, where he is convalescing and she is working in a Jewish Volksheim. Together they go to Berlin and, when Franz’s health deteriorates rapidly, to a sanatorium in Austria. Barely a year after they meet, he dies. The memory of their time together will shape Dora for the rest of her life.?
Director: Georg Maas, Judith Kaufmann
98 minutes
7:00pm
Midas Man
On Thursday 9 November 1961, a man named Brian descended the stairs to a cellar in Liverpool and changed the world forever. The film showcases the legendary career of Beatles manager Brian Epstein.
Director: Joseph Stevenson
112 minutes
March 2, 2025
1:00pm
Neither Day Nor Night
Neither Day Nor Night tells the story of a French family of Sephardic heritage living in the heart of the Ashkenazi community in Bnei Brak, Israel. The story centers at the struggle between the father, Shmuel, and his son’s Talmud Torah (Torah study) headmaster – a conflict that will lead to tragic, unexpected results.
It’s a summer day in Bnei Brak, Rafael had just celebrated his bar mitzvah and the fateful minor-yeshiva exams are under way. While the Talmud Torah students are studying diligently, Rafael, who is considered to be the most qualified and dedicated of his class – is heartbroken. He knows well that his familial background won’t allow his acceptance into the community’s prestigious institutes, no matter how hard he tries.
Director: Pinhas Veuillet
90 minutes
4:00pm
October H8te
From Executive Producer Debra Messing and Director Wendy Sachs, October H8te is a documentary about the explosion of anti-Semitism on college campuses, on social media and in the streets of America in the aftermath of October 7th.
Director: Wendy Sachs
100 minutes
March 8, 2025
1:00pm
Never Alone
Directed by Klaus Härö, the celebrated filmmaker behind Oscar-shortlisted The Fencer and Golden Globe-nominated My Sailor, My Love, Never Alone is a powerful and poignant true story of courage, resilience, and defiance during one of history’s darkest periods. Set against the backdrop of World War II, the film centers on Finnish businessman and philanthropist Abraham Stiller, a key figure in the Jewish community, who risks everything to protect Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany and Austria. As the Gestapo’s influence grows and deportations to Auschwitz loom, Stiller fights to save those seeking sanctuary in Finland, a country caught in an uneasy alliance with Nazi Germany. Based on actual events, Never Alone sheds light on a little-known chapter of Jewish refugees in Finland, portraying the moral dilemmas faced by a nation under pressure. As Stiller battles both external threats and internal opposition, the film captures the harrowing choices faced by those determined to stand up for humanity and the heroic efforts of individuals to resist in the darkest of times. This gripping tale of bravery and sacrifice is a testament to the enduring power of hope amidst overwhelming adversity.
Director: Klaus Härö
85 minutes
4:00pm
Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause
Raised in a Jewish household in Pittsburgh, Charles Grodin’s life embodied the concept of Tikkum Olam. The film not only celebrates Charles Grodin’s hilarious acting career, but also his remarkable, decades-long, successful fight to get wrongly convicted people – most of whom were mothers of color with young children – out of prison. The film includes interviews with Robert De Niro, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Alan Arkin, Ellen Burstyn, Marc Maron, Lewis Black, Marlo Thomas, Jon Lovitz, plus several of the women Chuck got released from prison.
Director: James Freedman
93 minutes
7:00pm
Bad Shabbos
Bad Shabbos turns a one-night-in-New-York story into a hilarious ensemble comedy. Kyra Sedgwick shines as the neurotic matriarch, with standout performances from Method Man, Catherine Curtin, and more, delivering pure comedic gold.
Director: Daniel Robbins
84 minutes
March 9, 2025
1:00pm
Shalom Passion – Never Again is Now!
Founded in the aftermath of tragedy, The Shalom Passion Initiative represents a profound reverence and love for Israel, igniting Jewish pride globally. Birthed by Carey Smolensky’s drive to channel grief into unity following the horrific terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, Shalom Passion emerged from his heartening two-week pilgrimage to Israel, where he embraced, and uplifted those ravaged by conflict. Today, it stands as a beacon of hope, advocating compassion, togetherness, and resilience through educational outreach, volunteerism, and fundraising. At its core, Shalom Passion is a vibrant movement, championing the rich heritage and unbreakable spirit of the Jewish community and their enduring connection to their ancestral homeland.
Director: OBD
64 minutes
4:00pm
Of Dogs and Men
A teenage girl sets out on a journey back to look for her dog who went lost during the recent terror attack. She navigates through the horrors while encountering the stark reality of the unfolding disaster just beyond the fence.
Director: Dani Rosenberg
82 minutes
March 12, 2025
7:00pm
The Spoils
Amid the rise of the far-right in Germany, as the spoils of post-WW2 collections hit the world art market afresh, lawyers, curators, politicians, and Jewish groups the world round are duking it out, painting by painting, sketch by sketch, over questions of ownership, history, and morality.
A series of failed attempts by the city of Du?sseldorf to honour German-Jewish art dealer Max Stern, who barely escaped the war, settled in Montreal and became Canada’s most successful art dealer, cuts to the heart of the current crisis in Germany and the art world beyond around the restitution of Nazi-looted art.
Through a combination of exclusive interviews, actuality captured over a four- year period, and a gold-mine of rarely seen stock footage, The Spoils traces the sometimes tragic, often irony-laced strokes in this ongoing battle.
Director: Jamie Kastner
104 minutes
March 15, 2025
1:00pm
Conquering Time: Agnes Keleti
An intimate portrait of Ágnes Keleti, the oldest living Olympic Champion. An all-time star of gymnastics who made sport history in the 20th century winning 10 Olympic medals. The film follows her over a period of one year until her 101st birthday. The observational footage of her everyday life has been complemented by intimate discussions about the meaning of life and her values. The film is composed from extracts of her diary, old and new interviews, handmade animation, and a rich mix of archive footages. Ágnes was born into a Jewish family on January 9, 1921, in Budapest. As a child she wanted to be a cello player, but gymnastics took over as her primary passion. Ágnes’s full life is inseparable from the historical events she has lived through. War, hiding, loss of family members, emigration, and statelessness. Despite the indescribable physical and mental suffering the weight of history has borne on her, nothing could tear her away from gymnastics. Silently suffering, Ágnes Keleti has conquered time more than once, proving that we can remain ourselves, do not to have to live as others dictate, we must not conform to others, but be faithful to our own principles. Agnes passed away in December 2024, just shy of her 104th birthday.
Director: Katalin Oláh
78 minutes
4:00pm
Nathan-ism
What Happens When Memories Take On A Life Of Their Own?
At the end of World War II, Nathan Hilu, the son of Syrian Jewish immigrants to New York, received a life-changing assignment from the U.S. Army: to guard the top Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. This experience fueled a lifetime of artistic inspiration for Nathan, a virtually unknown “outsider artist”, who spent the next 70 years obsessively creating a visual narrative from his memories.
Filmmaker Elan Golod’s documentary is a portrait of the aging artist that begins as a peek at a unique witness to history and grows into an absorbing study of the function of art as an archive and invention.
Daring to question an artist’s stories, Nathan-ism is a fascinating look at one man’s need to share truths with a world that doesn’t always want to listen.
Director: Elan Golod
79 minutes
7:00pm
The Blond Boy From The Casbah
A celebrated filmmaker returns to Algiers with his young son in a bittersweet semi-autobiographical dramedy, reflecting on the loss of his multicultural community during the Algerian War of Independence. Having emigrated to France with his family years earlier, Antoine (Léo Campion) reconnects with his roots in a neighborhood of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Nostalgic memories flood back—school, friends, his Sephardic upbringing, and his early fascination with cinema—as he presents his new film, an account of his childhood shaped by the unrest that ultimately forced them to flee. As father and son bond over shared history, this sentimental sojourn, adapted from Alexandre Arcady’s memoir, is brought to life on the vibrant streets of Algiers, evoking a bygone time.
Director: Alexandre Arcady
128 minutes
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
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
March 19, 2025
7:00pm
06:30
An exceptional documentary capturing the harrowing events of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel with profound sensitivity. It features firsthand accounts from survivors at seven different attack sites, each story vividly brought to life through the creative use of miniature models and animations. The strength of 06:30 lies in its nuanced depiction of that terrible day. This approach conveys the horror without explicitly showing it, offering a restrained yet deeply impactful portrayal.
Director: Alon Daniel
65 minutes
March 23, 2025
11:00am
The Jewish Nazi?
A staggering story of secrets and lies, identity and family…One Holocaust survivor. Four false identities. Two fake reunions…The Jewish Nazi? tells the remarkable story of a Jewish child who survives the Holocaust as the Nazi’s youngest soldier, hides his shocking secret in Australia for 50 years, has had four false identities, been wrongly ‘reunited’ with two long-lost families and now – thanks to a DNA breakthrough – discovers his true identity in the twilight of his life.
Director: Dan Goldberg
86 minutes
2:00pm
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire
Told largely through his own words and eloquent voice, Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire seeks to penetrate to the heart of the known and unknown Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) – his passions, his conflicts and his legacy as one of the most public survivors of the trauma of the Holocaust. With unique access to personal archives, original interviews and hand painted animation, the film illuminates Wiesel’s biography as a survivor, writer, teacher and public figure. Oren Rudavsky is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and several National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts grants. Rudavsky produced, directed and co-wrote the American Masters documentary Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People which was nominated for a Critics Choice award. His film A Life Apart: Hasidism in America was short-listed for the Academy Awards.?
Director: Oren Rudavsky
90 minutes
Date: Mar 1 - 23, 2025
Venues
Wayfarer Theater - 1850 2nd Street, Highland Park, IL 60657
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center - 9603 Woods Dr., Skokie, IL 60077