The Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival is almost here! Running from April 8 – April 18, 2010, the festival brings feature films, documentaries and shorts from around the world that focus on themes of Jewish culture and identity. This year’s 20+ films run the gamut from stories of Nazi hunting to a 20 year pen-pal friendship to Israeli sumo wrestling. Check out the full lineup on the festival’s schedule page – All listings are complete with a “most appropriate for” age suggestion and let you know if you’ll get the chance to brush up on a foreign language (with subtitles, of course!).
Don’t Miss Opening Night on April 8th!
TC Jewfolk is proud to be a sponsor of the opening event: a pre-film party and screening of A Matter of Size.
Herzl is a shy 340 pound man living with his mother in the Israeli city of Ramle. Fired from his job because of his unacceptible image, and dumped by his weight loss group, he takes a job as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant. There, he discovers the one activity where girth is a virtue and fat guys can be rock stars—sumo wrestling! See what happens when they go from shame to celebration and from loneliness to love. In the process, they learn that happiness and success will only come from being true to themselves. Age 12+ Hebrew with English subtitles.
The party (with sushi and sweets) starts at 5:45 and film begins at 7:15. Tickets for the party+film are $15, $9 for just the film. Space is limited for the party, so RSVPs are highly recommended. The Opening Night Party will be held at the Hopkins Center for the Arts and the film will be shown at Mann’s Hopkins Cinema 6 (all other screenings are at the Sabes JCC).
Want to see every show? Two lucky readers will each win a pair of All-Festival Passes to see every film.
Just tell us, in the comments below, what your favorite Jewish film is and why (you can decide what makes it Jewish – the screenwriter, the story, the director…). Let us know by midnight on Friday, March 26th. We’ll draw two names randomly and notify the winners after Shabbat ends on Saturday.
Enjoy the show!
(Photo: superiphi)
Crossing Delancy because that is one of the first films I watched with my (future) husband. It was great.
The woody allen film where his mother wants his father to explain the holocaust and he says he does’t even know how the hell a can opener works.
My favorite Jewish/Israeli film is the 2008 film “Beaufort” about the Israeli base in S. Lebanon of the same name. This heavily guarded post was held since the 1982 war in Lebanon. It was a symbol not only of Israel’s most controversial campaign for military control of Lebanon, but also of a sacrificial struggle during which many Israeli soldiers lost their lives.
“Europa Europa” (1990, dir: Agnieszka Holland), a dramatic account of Solak Perel, who hides in plain sight from the Nazis by becoming a Hitler youth. The real Solomon Perel spoke at the U of M Hillel during a local screening of this movie. Quite a story and quite a man.
I cannot think of the name of that powerful Israeli movie about the settlers with the one that goes crazy and wants to blow up the mosque. Really powerful though. Dayan’s son is in it and so is Tinkerbell.
But in terms of Jewish movies– The Produceers.
Waltz With Bashir. The politics aside, I loved how the cinematography was created and that the animation was unique and moving (though now copied). The way they weaved philosophical elements like epistemology and metaphysics into a compelling storyline was fantastic. Finally, no good movie exists without a good soundtrack and this is no exception. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185616/
I still love Aronofsky’s “Pi” as well. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/
Vitali and Zachary are our winners! Congrats! We hope to see all of you on Opening Night!!!
Hey All – if you are interested in attending the opening night events and movie, get your tickets now, they are going fast! Looking forward to seeing everyone there!