AJW Staff Report
It is now the 24th season of the Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival. Already a partnership between the Sabes JCC and the St. Paul JCC, this year the festival takes on a new partner: The Twin Cities Film Fest, which will offer the possibility of Jewish Film Festival screening throughout the year.
This October, the festival will offer the following films and events:
Humor Me: Sam Hoffman, the creator of the web series Old Jews Telling Jokes, wrote and directed this comedy in which a down-on-his-luck playwright (Jemaine Clement) must move in with his father (Elliott Gould). Film screens 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20 at the St. Paul JCC, 1375 St. Paul Ave., St. Paul.
Operation Wedding: Filmmaker Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov is the daughter of two of the participants in the Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair, a failed scheme by Soviet refuseniks to steal a civilian aircraft to escape to the west. Zalmanson-Kuznetsov documents the story, which brought international attention to the experience of Jews in the Soviet Union. Film screens 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21 at ShowPlace Icon, 1625 West End Blvd., Minneapolis.
The Testament: An Israeli drama about a historical researcher engaged in debate with Holocaust deniers discovers records that suggest his mother, a survivor, is not who she claims to be. Film screens 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21 at ShowPlace Icon, 1625 West End Blvd., Minneapolis.
93Queen: Co-produced by American Documentary, this film examines the world of New York’s Hasidic community through the experiences of a collection of women in Borough Park, Brooklyn, who create New York’s first all-female volunteer ambulance corps. Film screens 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21 at ShowPlace Icon, 1625 West End Blvd., Minneapolis.
Across the Waters: A Danish drama inspired by the true story of the Danish recue of Jews, telling of a family of Jews who, in 1942, must flee their home in Denmark to seek refuge in Sweden and escape deportation by the Nazis. Film screens 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23 at ShowPlace Icon, 1625 West End Blvd., Minneapolis.
Who Will Write Our History: Acclaimed documentarian Roberta Grossman looks at the story Emanuel Ringelblum and the Oyneg Shabes Archive, the secret archive he created and led in the Warsaw Ghetto. This was a vast archive of day-to-day stories from the ghetto, from which more than 35,000 documents have been recovered. Film screens 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24 at ShowPlace Icon, 1625 West End Blvd., Minneapolis
Shoelaces: An Israeli drama and Ophir Award nominee telling the story of a father and his complicated relationship with his special-needs son. Film screens 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25 at ShowPlace Icon, 1625 West End Blvd., Minneapolis.
Doubtful: An Israeli drama, inspired by actual events in the life of the filmmaker, telling of a screenwriter and poet sentences to community service teaching juvenile delinquents. The film is cast with juvenile actors who previously had no experience with acting. Film screens 8:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27 at ShowPlace Icon, 1625 West End Blvd., Minneapolis.
Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me: Director Sam Pollard draws from a wealth of previously unseen photographs and interviews to tell the story of Sammy Davis, Jr., the extraordinary showman who was also one of the most visible black Jews of the mid-20th century. Film screens 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 at the Sabes JCC, 4330 Cedar Lake Rd., St. Louis Park.
An Act of Defiance: Dutch filmmaker Jean van de Veldetells the story of Nelson Mandela and nine others, who stand trial on charges of committing sabotage and violent acts against the government during the apartheid era in South Africa. Film includes a dramatization of the work of Bram Fischer, the Jewish lawyer who represented the men. Film screens 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 at the Sabes JCC, 4330 Cedar Lake Rd., St. Louis Park.
My Hero Brother: A 2016 documentary film directed by Israeli filmmaker Yonatan Nir, telling the story of a group of young people with Down syndrome that embark on a demanding trek through the Indian Himalayas, accompanied by their brothers and sisters. Film screens 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18 at the Sabes JCC, 4330 Cedar Lake Rd., St. Louis Park.
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For more information visit tcjfilmfest.org.
