SUN & STARS INT'L FILM FESTIVAL to Premiere 10 Films from Israel or with Jewish Themes, Jan 23-Feb 2 in WPB & Delray Beach

Arts and Entertainment

January 3, 2025

(West Palm Beach, FL – January 2, 2025) The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival© (SASIFF), presented by MorseLife, returns for its third season with screenings at the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (Jan. 23-Jan. 30, 2025) and EVO Entertainment Delray Marketplace (Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2025). Among the more than two-dozen world-class movies from all over the world are 10 cinematic offerings that will be of particular interest to Jewish film fans.

“Recognizing that among the many cultural interests represented in Palm Beach County, a passion for Jewish stories is at the top of the list for a significant number of filmgoers, the festival has put together a slate of ten Jewish-themed films with broad appeal, from historical dramas, biopics, comedies and of-the-moment documentaries” says Barbara Scharres, SASIFF Artistic Director. “Culture clash and hidden agendas are smartly mined for laughs in BAD SHABBOS and YANIV. A different perspective on the life of author Franz Kafka is revealed in THE GLORY OF LIFE, while the short star-making career of The Beatles impresario Brian Epstein is depicted in part through the lens of his Jewish background in MIDAS MAN.”

Subjects of these SASIFF films include antisemitism, white supremacy, Jewish identity, Orthodox lifestyles, the Holocaust, and the aftermath of October 7, which come in for seriously thoughtful and insightfully creative treatment by filmmakers representing a spectrum of views on what it means to be Jewish. Special guests who will be present for discussion at screenings include Tanya Gersh, the subject of TROLL STORM, and Tracy Whipple, the co-director of BROKEN DOLLS.

The 10 Jewish-themed films that will be shown during the upcoming Sun & Stars International Film Festival include:

AUCTION

(Le Tableau Volé)

(Drama, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Pascal Bonitzer. France, 91-minutes – In French, English, and German with English subtitles)

The issue of the return of Nazi-looted art to its rightful heirs makes this high-stakes art world drama as current as international headlines. A wily Paris art auctioneer gets wind of an alleged Egon Schiele painting stolen in 1939 but now come to light in a small working-class suburb. Writer/director Bonitzer creates a web of intrigue in which money over morals threatens to prevail. Worth millions if authentic, the painting triggers fevered ambition on the part of the auctioneer, his ruthless art appraiser ex-wife, and his emotionally unstable assistant. Between the auction house and the American heirs of the painting’s original owners stands a naïve and earnest young factory worker, the painting’s current owner. Co-starring Alex Lutz, Louise Chevilotte, Léa Drucker. “A ripped-from-the-headlines ensemble drama set in the crosshairs of art and high finance”—Variety.

The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

Saturday, January 25, 4 pm

BAD SHABBOS

(Comedy, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Daniel Robbins. USA, 84-minutes)

The Centerpiece Night of SASIFF presents the Audience Award winner at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. This funny film showcases family dysfunction, religious disparity, and sibling rivalry when a family on the Upper West Side invite the Midwestern Catholic family of their eldest son’s fiancée to a Shabbos dinner for a first social blending of the clans. With tensions simmering, kosher klutziness and a prank gone wrong set the scene for chaos. By the time that there’s a dead body on the bathroom floor it starts to look like Agatha Christie-meets-Woody Allen. Kyra Sedgwick is a quirky standout as an obsessive matriarch, and Cliff “Method Mad” Smith of Wu Tang Clan excels as a helpful doorman. “One of the funniest movies films ever to take place during a Shabbos dinner”—Solzy at the Movies.

The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

Thursday, January 30, 7 pm

BROKEN DOLLS

(Documentary, 2023, South Florida Premiere. Directed by Tracy Whipple and Gilles Bovon. USA, 82-minutes)

A mother’s obscured past become a daughter’s call to action in reconstructing a history altered by the Holocaust. In 1939, a mysterious benefactor enables a seven-year-old Jewish girl and her mother to escape Nazi Germany on a ship for Shanghai, where they face deprivation and an uncertain future. In the Jewish Ghetto of the international Chinese city, the child spends a decade reinventing herself. Decades later, now herself a mother with an established life in Florida, she comes full circle, seeking to lay claim to her past. In the complex quest to reclaim her German citizenship, the discovery of a shocking secret adds a new perspective to her life story.

Note: Director Tracy Whipple will be present for audience discussion.

EVO Entertainment Delray Marketplace

Sunday, February 2, 1 pm

THE GLORY Of LIFE

(Die Herrlichkeit Des Lebens)

(Historical Drama, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Judith Kaufmann and Georg Maas. Germany/Austria, 98-minutes – In German with English subtitles)

A tender love story with Franz Kafka at the center would seem to run counter to the popular image of the author of such deeply paranoid works as The Metamorphosis and The Trial as a solitary, alienated man. For the filmmakers of THE GLORY OF LIFE, that is precisely the point as this bittersweet tragic tale unfolds the loving and life-affirming relationship between 40-year-old Kafka, already in poor health with tuberculosis, and Dora Diamant, the young children’s caregiver he meets in 1923. From the early days of their passionate attraction through a forced separation and a final reuniting in wintry Berlin, love, faith, and humor come to the fore with a lightness that puts Kafka’s personal story in a new perspective. Co-starring Sabin Tabrea and Henriette Confurius.

The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

Saturday, January 25, 7 pm

MIDAS MAN

(Musical Biopic of The Beatles / 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Joe Stephenson. UK, 112-minutes)

Often called “the Fifth Beatle,” manager/impresario Brian Epstein burned brightly as the man who catapulted the Fab Four to international fame then tragically died at 32. This brisk and wonderfully evocative film is a fictionalized capsule of early Beatles history from Liverpool’s grungy Cavern Club to the flower-power years, set against the background of Epstein’s short life. Jewish, closeted gay, and energized by the rocking tunes of the underground culture, Epstein (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) talks his way into managing the band of four scruffy lads. Also starring Emily Watson, Eddie Izzard, and Jay Leno as Ed Sullivan, MIDAS MAN brings to life one beloved chapter in the rock ‘n’ roll story with color and spirit, underlining the toll success took on the man who made it happen.

The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

Friday, January 24, 7 pm

NEVER ALONE

(El Koskaan Yskin)

(Drama, 2025, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Klaus Härö. Finland, 85-minues – In Swedish, Yiddish, Russian, Hebrew, English, Finnish, and German with English subtitles.)

Many heroes of Jewish resistance to the Nazis are still relatively unknown decades after WWII. In the hands of director Härö (The Fencer), the story of a risky maneuver by Jewish Helsinki businessman Abraham Stiller to save the lives of eight refugees comes to the screen with immense heart and impressive period veracity. Even as Finland appeared to be a haven for Jews fleeing the Nazis, the government forms an alliance with Nazi Germany against Russia. Stiller, wealthy, respected, and well-connected in political circles, calls in every favor and puts his life, reputation, and business on the line to mount a clandestine mission to save the eight Jewish men scheduled for deportation to a death camp. Co-starring Ville Virtane and Karl Hietalahti.

The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

Tuesday, January 28, 7 pm

OF DOGS AND MEN

(Al Klavim Veanashim)

(Drama, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Dani Rosenberg. Israel, Italy, 82-minutes – In Hebrew with English subtitles)

Following the October 7 attacks, Israeli director Rosenberg (The Vanishing Soldier) felt compelled to process the emotions and the pain by making a film. Operating from a fictional framework but within the total reality of place, 16-year-old Dar (Ori Avinoam, the production’s only professional actor) travels to the ravaged Nir Oz Kibbutz within sight of the border in search of her lost dog. The missing dog stands in for many things that cannot be spoken of, including the disappearance Dar’s mother. The girl’s many encounters include soldiers, an outspoken taxi driver, an 80-year-old kibbutz resident, and a woman who rescues abandoned pets. All are real non-actors whose presence and participation put a complex human face on the tragedy. Co-starring Yamit Avital. “A sober attempt to address the unthinkable, avoiding intrusiveness and sensationalism”—Screen Daily.

The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

Monday, January 27, 4 pm

PINK LADY

(Drama, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Nir Bergman. Israel, Italy, 106-minutes – In Hebrew with English subtitles)

Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community is the setting for this story of a marriage in crisis when the husband’s secret desires are outed by criminals intent on blackmail. Bati (Nur Fibak), a mother of three happily married to devout and seriously observant Lazer (Uri Blufarb) receives a mysterious envelope in the mail containing graphic photos of her husband kissing another man. Amid denials and flimsy claims of Photoshopping, Bati takes a new look at her man. An unexpected encounter with a very unusual woman causes her to take a fresh look at herself. The film opens a Pandora’s Box of issues: Orthodox family values, homosexuality and conversion therapy.

The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

Friday, January 24, 4 pm

TROLL STORM

(Documentary, 2023, Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Eunice Law. USA, 83-minutes)

A Montana realtor’s win in a groundbreaking First Amendment court case that struck a blow to white supremacy and neo-Nazism is charted in this searing documentary. Tanya Gersh, a wife, mom, and successful businesswoman, becomes the target of a smear campaign initially launched by a neighbor. Outsider far-right extremists jump into the act, sensing an opportunity for grandstanding their antisemitic agenda. Gersh’s contact information and location is released nationally in a hate publication, resulting in a cyber storm of death threats and harassment that cause the family to fear for their safety. Steeled by a knowledge of history and a sense of solidarity with Holocaust survivors, Gersh digs in and chooses to fight back.

Note: Tanya Gersh will be present for audience discussion.

EVO Entertainment Delray Marketplace

Wednesday, January 29, 7 pm

YANIV

(Comedy, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Ammon Carmi. USA, 80-minutes)

Consider a Bronx high school drama teacher getting around budget cuts by funding the school’s spring musical with illegal gambling loot. That’s the wacky plot premise cooked up by writer/director Carmi and co-writer/actor Benjamin Ducoff, a real-life NYC high school teacher. Desperate for funding, the teacher gets tipped off to a high-stakes underground gambling ring where Yaniv, “the Blackjack of the Jewish people,” is the game of choice. The catch? The secret basement nightclub is run by and for a tight-knit group of Hasidic men, and the teacher and his pal don’t have a ghost of a chance at passing, until…they don Orthodox disguises complete with fake beards, and it is game on. Co-starring Annabelle Steven. “A fun and funny thriller with a lot of heart”—FilmThreat.

The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center

Sunday, January 26, 1 pm

For more information about the SASIFF or to purchase tickets, please visit www.sasiff.org.

About The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival:

The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival©, presented by MorseLife, aims to bring highly anticipated, critically acclaimed, and thought-provoking films to Palm Beach County. As a world-class film festival, The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International represents a major contribution to the cultural life of Palm Beach County. SASIFF returns for a new season with screenings at the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (Jan. 23-Jan. 30, 2025) and EVO Entertainment Delray (Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2025). For more information, please visit www.sasiff.org, www.facebook.com/DME.SASIFF and www.twitter.com/dmesasiff or www.instagram.com/dme_sasiff or contact [email protected] or 561.220.6735.

About MorseLife:

MorseLife serves more than 3,600 seniors every day on its campus in West Palm Beach and through its community outreach programs. Founded in 1983, MorseLife is a provider of health care and residential services for seniors in Palm Beach County. A charitable, not-for-profit organization, its programs also include short-term rehabilitation, long-term care, independent and assisted living, memory care assisted living, hospice, home health care, care management, meals-on-wheels, and PACE. Since its beginnings, MorseLife has built a reputation and tradition of caring for seniors with excellence, dignity, and compassion. For more information, visit morselife.org, www.facebook.com/MorseLife, www.twitter.com/MorseLifeHealth, www.instagram.com/morselifehealth or www.linkedin.com/company/morselife-inc-/ or contact [email protected].