Arts and Entertainment
January 2, 2024
From: Mobile Jewish Film FestivalSchedule:
Sunday, January 7,2024
MY NEIGHBOR ADOLF
South America, 1960.
A lonely and grumpy Holocaust survivor convinces himself that his new neighbor is none other than Adolf Hitler.
Not being taken seriously, he starts an independent investigation to prove his claim, but when the evidence still appears to be inconclusive, Polsky is forced to engage in a relationship with the enemy in order to obtain irrefutable proof.
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Tuesday January 9,2024
ROCK IN THE RED ZONE
Half a mile from the Gaza border, rockets rain down on Sderot. But underground, musicians in this besieged Israeli town continue to create a sound all their own.
Introduction by Shoshana Treichel
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Wednesday January 10,2024
RABBI ON THE BLOCK
Tamar Manasseh, the charismatic rabbi and community activist from the south side of Chicago, wants African Americans and Jews to become closer allies. With one foot firmly in each of these two communities, Black Jews like Tamar are the natural bridge to help overcome decades of fear, misunderstanding, and lack of communication.
Zoom Q&A with Producer/Director Brad Rothschild
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Thursday January 11,2024
YOU WILL NOT PLAY WAGNER
Richard Wagner’s music had been informally banned in Israel on the grounds that the German composer was promoted during the Nazi era as Hitler’s favorite composer.
But could Wagner's music transcend the anti-semitic views of its creator? When Ya'akov, an Israeli conductor, announces he will play Wagner in the finals of a prestigious international competition for conductors, he comes into conflict with Esther, a Holocaust survivor, who resolutely stands against the idea, but is now faced with an unexpected moral dilemma: whether the trauma of the past justifies stifling the future of young talent.
Guest Speaker: Roy Hoffman
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Saturday, January 13,2024
Reita Franco Memorial Film: MATCHMAKING
Moti Bernstein is the son every mother wants, a student every Rabbi loves to teach, the ideal Yeshiva Bucher, the perfect match for every bride.
He has it all: a good family, a brilliant mind, and he is not bad-looking either. In search of a wife, he will meet the best girls in the Jewish Orthodox world but will fall for the one girl he can never have.
The only one he wants. Against everything he knows and every value he holds dear, Moti will be forced to go out on a limb in the most unexpected and unusual of ways.
Who will win? The system or the inner voice?
Tuesday January 16,2024
THE LEVY'S OF MONTICELLO
When Thomas Jefferson died in 1826, he left behind a mountain of personal debt, which forced his heirs to sell his beloved Monticello home and all of its possessions.
The Levys of Monticello is a documentary film that tells the little-known story of the Levy family, which owned and carefully preserved Monticello for nearly a century – far longer than Jefferson or his descendants. The remarkable story of the Levy family also intersects with the rise of antisemitism that runs throughout the course of American history.
Introduction by David Meola
Thursday, January 18,2024
THE SHOAH AMBASSADORS
Two young individuals living in Detroit embark on a journey to tell the story of the Holocaust through their own artistic medium in order to carry on the history for generations to come.
Q&A with the Director of the Film to follow.
Sunday, January 21,2024
REMEMBER THIS
"All I can say is that I saw it, and it is the truth." In a virtuoso solo performance, Academy Award nominee David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck, Lincoln, Nomadland) portrays Jan Karski in this genre-defying true story of a reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness. After surviving the devastation of the Blitzkrieg, Karski swears allegiance to the Polish Underground and risks his life to carry the first eyewitness reports of war-torn Poland to the Western world, and ultimately, the Oval Office. Escaping a Gestapo prison, bearing witness to the despair of the Warsaw ghetto and confronted by the inhumanity of a death camp, Karski endures unspeakable mental anguish and physical torture to stand tall in the halls of power and speak the truth. Strathairn captures the complexity and legacy of this self-described "insignificant, little man" whose timely story of moral courage and individual responsibility can still shake the conscience of the world.
Zoom Q&A with Writer of the film.
Date: January 7 - January21,2024
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