The Louisville Jewish Film Festival announces its 25th Anniversary! The festival is showcasing a spectacular hybrid season featuring 15 top-rated, thought-provoking films and 1 short film. In addition,the festival will present 7 special event programs.

The 25th Anniversary celebration will open at the Trager Family JCC with the film Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, a definitive exploration of singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, “Hallelujah.” The evening will feature beautiful prefilm entertainment with Brigid Kaelin and Cantor David Lipp performing Leonard Cohen selections.

Schedule:

Virtual Films

February 4 – February 11, 2023

The Therapy

Set in Jerusalem, this gripping documentary exposes the harmful practices of so-called conversion therapy from within. Director Zvi Landsman compassionately follows the lives of two gay men—Lev (54) and Ben (23)—who underwent conversion therapy and end up testifying before the Knesset about whether or not conversion therapy practices should be made illegal. Lev, a divorced ultra-Orthodox Jew, clings to conversion therapy because it provides the only space where he can be openly gay within a community. In contrast, Ben, seven years into conversion therapy, comes to understand that conversion therapy is extremely harmful, and despite discrimination and alienation from his family, he sets out on a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. Featuring footage from one-on-one and group sessions, this documentary is an unprecedented exposé of this abusive, tragic and terrifying practice in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in contemporary Israel. Winner of Special Jury Award at Doc Aviv Film Festival.

Cinema Sabaya

Nine women, Arab and Jewish, take part in a video workshop hosted by Rona, a young film director, who teaches them how to document their lives. With each raw homemade footage shot by the women and shared with the others, the group dynamic forces them to challenge their views and beliefs as they get to know each other and themselves better. Winner of Best Film at Ophir Awards; Winner of Best First Feature at Jerusalem Film Festival.

We are proud to feature this film, as the relationships in the film mirror the relationships developed in the Partnership2Gether Western Galilee’s Women Leading a Dialogue program. Women Leading A Dialogue is a year-long program that assists Jewish and Arab women living in Israel’s Western Galilee to get to know each other as individuals and as neighbors living in a shared society. To learn more about Partnership2Gether, Women Leading a Dialogue, and how the Annual Federation Campaign supports this program, please contact Amy Fouts at [email protected].

Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen

In this riveting and joyous film, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison’s brilliant vision to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Eastern Europe while telling a universal story about the importance of family and the fragility of tradition in his iconic musical Fiddler on the Roof. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, this film draws on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Norman Jewison and his key collaborators, including lyricist Sheldon Harnick, lead actor Topol, production designer Robert Boyle, and many others. They illuminate the untold story behind the making of Fiddler on the Roof, Jewison’s favorite movie.

Winner of best documentary at Atlanta Jewish Film Festival; Winner of Best Film at Houston Jewish Film Festival; Best Documentary at RiverRun International Film Festival.

Barren

Ultraorthodox Feigi and Naftali are a young childless couple living with Naftali’s parents. Naftali travels to Ukraine to pray at Rabbi Nachman’s grave for a child. During Naftali’s absence Rabbi Eliyahu, the barren healer, is invited to stay for the holiday with the family. Abusing Feigi’s trust and desire for a child he forces himself on her claiming it is divinely sanctioned as part of her treatment for barrenness.. When Naftali returns, the couple face a difficult crisis, which raises fundamental questions about faith and trust. Best Full-Length Feature Film Nominee at Jerusalem Film Festival.

Karaoke

Meir and Tova are an upper-middle-class Sephardic couple, seemingly resigned to live out the rest of their semi-retirement in the banal comforts of an upscale apartment complex in a Tel Aviv suburb. When Itsik, a sexy bachelor from Miami, moves into the building’s penthouse, their lives are gleefully upended. Energized by their newfound friendship with Itsik, Meir and Tova undergo personal transformations, but will their relationship as a couple be a casualty of expressing their individual desires? Taking inspiration from his own family, director Moshe Rosenthal focuses on the Sephardic middle class, largely underrepresented in Israeli cinema, as he explores issues of identity: masculinity, the institution of marriage, social status, narcissism and conformity. Karaoke is an optimistic portrait of midlife self-discovery, laced with poignant wisdom and barbed humor. Opening Film at San Francisco Film Festival; Winner of Best First Film at Jerusalem Film Festival; Winner of Best Screenplay at Raindance Film Festival.

The Last Chapter of A.B. Yehoshua

Hebrew, English, Arabic 58 minutes
Referred to as “the Israeli Faulkner” by the New York Times, A.B. Yehoshua was one of the greatest contemporary Israeli writers. In this incisive biography, director Yair Qedar follows the 84-year old writer as he reflects on the final stage of his life. Widowed and suffering from ill health, Yehoshua keeps writing despite his insistence that he no longer wants to. Still possessing a clear-eyed perspective, Yehoshua discusses his complicated heritage (Sephardic father and Moroccan mother) and his belief that both Jews and Arabs are paralyzed by the past. Despite his declining health, Yehoshua remains wholeheartedly engaged with the world and continues to be a source of inspiration.

February 4 – February 19, 2023  

Holy Holocaust

In this sophisticated animated feature, a dark family secret is revealed unexpectedly and opens an abyss between two close friends. Jennifer, a German black woman, discovers that she is the granddaughter of a notorious Nazi commander, a shocking discovery which has the potential to destroy her 22-year friendship with Noa, an Israeli Jew.

Winner of Best Short Film at Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival; Winner of Best Short Documentary at Centre Film Festival.

February 12 – February 19 , 2023  

The Levys 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 and all of its possessions. The Levys of Monticello is a documentary film that tells the little-known story of the Levy family, who 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 antisemitism that runs through American history. Winner of Building Bridges Jury Award at Atlanta Jewish Film Festival

Farewell Mr. Haffmann

Occupied Paris, 1941: all members of the Jewish community are instructed to come forward and identify themselves to authorities. Talented jeweler Joseph Haffmann (Daniel Auteuil), fearing the worst, arranges for his family to flee the city and offers his browbeaten employee François Mercier (Gilles Lellouche) the chance to take over his store until the conflict subsides. But his attempts to escape are thwarted, and Haffmann is forced to seek his assistant’s begrudging protection and to make an unusual pact with Mercier’s wife. Winner of Audience Award and Best Narrative of San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2022; Audience Award of Gold Coast International Film Festival 2022; Audience Award of Cleveland Jewish Film Festival 2022

Last Flight Home

Through intensely intimate verité footage recorded by his middle child, LAST FLIGHT HOME documents the heartbreaks and triumphs of Eli Timoner’s life, from the founding of Air Florida through devastating setbacks in his business and health to the end he himself chooses. Director Ondi Timoner, a two-time winner of the Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize, provides enlightening insight into her family’s heart-wrenching journey to find closure, and finally, to embrace death. Woodstock Film Festival Winner of Grand Jury Prize Award; Key West Film Festival Winner of Critic’s Choice Award.

Reckonings

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, German and Jewish leaders met in secret to negotiate compensation for the survivors of the largest mass genocide in history. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Roberta Grossman, Reckonings is the first documentary feature to chronicle the harrowing process of negotiating German reparations for the Jewish people, which resulted in the groundbreaking Luxembourg Agreements of 1952. Filmed in six countries and featuring new interviews with Holocaust survivors, world-renowned scholars and dignitaries and the last surviving member of the negotiating delegations, the film powerfully models how political will and a moral imperative can join forces to bridge an impossible divide.

My Tree

My Tree documents Jason Sherman’s journey as an adult to find the tree that was planted in his name in Israel in honor of his Bar Mitzvah. When he discovers that it stands on the remains of a Palestinian village that was destroyed in 1967, he embarks on another journey — to determine his responsibility in helping to cover up the destruction. Official Selection of Hot Docs Film Festival

One More Story

Romantic comedy, Israeli style! An ambitious young journalist, Yarden, is put to the test when her boss (who is also her lover) assigns her to do a story about blind dating in hopes of chasing ratings. Even cynical young millennials believe in true love, right? Yarden’s boss promises to publish her first novel if she poses as a prospective date in order to the write the piece. One More Story is the directorial debut of Israel’s beloved comedian and TV personality, Guri Alfi, and it was based on Omer Barak’s bestseller, “Wedding Rush,” which received the highest price ever paid for movie rights in Israel.

Saturday, February 4, 2023

7:00pm – 10:30pm: Opening Night Film and Celebration featuring Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song Live Film

A definitive exploration of singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, “Hallelujah.” This feature-length documentary weaves together three strands: the songwriter and his times, the song’s dramatic journey from record label reject to chart-topping hit, and moving testimonies from major recording artists for whom “Hallelujah” has become a personal touchstone. Approved for production by Leonard Cohen just before his 80th birthday in 2014, the film accesses a wealth of never-before-seen archival materials from the Cohen Trust including Cohen’s personal notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage, and extremely rare audio recordings and interviews.

Live Special Event: Our opening night of our 25th Anniversary celebration with pre-film live entertainment, hors d’oeuvres, cake and champagne beginning at 7 p.m. at the Trager Family JCC. A highlight of the evening will feature live entertainment with Brigid Kaelin and Cantor David Lipp performing Leonard Cohen selections.

Location: Trager Family JCC 3600 Dutchmans Ln, Louisville, KY

Sunday, February 5, 2023

3:00pm – 5:30pm: Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life

This touching film documents a community’s response to hate and antisemitism in the aftermath of the assault on three congregations at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. The lives of eleven people were taken on October 27, 2018 in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. As the Jewish community experiences tremendous grief, they face the resurgence of age-old threats that lead to horrific violence.  Together with their neighbors, they meet fear with courage as they confront hate and strengthen the connections they have been building for years. Against the backdrop of a tumultuous period in the country, a traumatized community works together to heal as they experience the impact and dangers of anti-Semitism, racism, hate speech, and gun violence.  Winner of Audience Award at San Francisco Film Festival; Winner of Best Documentary at Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festival.

Location: Adath Jeshurun Synagogue

Saturday, February 11, 2023

7:30pm – 9:30pm: Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen

In this riveting and joyous film, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison’s brilliant vision to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Eastern Europe while telling a universal story about the importance of family and the fragility of tradition in his iconic musical Fiddler on the Roof. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, this film draws on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Norman Jewison and his key collaborators, including lyricist Sheldon Harnick, lead actor Topol, production designer Robert Boyle, and many others. They illuminate the untold story behind the making of Fiddler on the Roof, Jewison’s favorite movie. Winner of best documentary at Atlanta Jewish Film Festival; Winner of Best Film at Houston Jewish Film Festival; Best Documentary at RiverRun International Film Festival

Live special event before the film: 7:30 p.m. at the Trager Family JCC A brief live performance prior to the film featuring CenterStage Academy showcasing Fiddler favorites such as “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” and “Matchmaker.”

Location: Trager Family JCC 3600 Dutchmans Ln, Louisville, KY

Sunday, February 12, 2023

1:00pm – 3:00pm: The Last Chapter of A.B. Yehoshua

Virtual Special Event: Dr. Ranen Omer-Sherman, JHFE Endowed Chair in Judiac Studies at the University of Louisville, will moderate a discussion with Director Yair Qedar about the life and influence of A.B. Yehoshua.? Yehoshua who died last year at the age of 85, was long one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers and public intellectuals. Deeply aware of the way Israeli writers are seen as prophets by their own people, he was one of the main doves in the Israeli literary scene. Dr. Ranen Omer-Sherman worked closely with Yehoshua during his book tour to the U.S. and interviews in Israel.? Yair Qedar is an Israeli documentary filmmaker, social activist and former journalist. Chronicling the lives of Jewish and Israeli figures of the modern Hebrew literary canon, Qedar’s 19 feature length documentaries have all premiered at film festivals and have won the director over 20 prizes.?

Location: Virtual

Monday, February 13, 2023   

7:00pm – 8:00pm: The Levys of Monticello

American history textbooks can only teach so much, so where can we turn to learn more about our nation’s many diverse stories? Join Dr. Abby Glogower, curator of Jewish collections at the Filson Historical Society, and Garret McCorkle, education associate at the Muhammad Ali Center, for an interactive conversation about the roles of museums and archives—past, present, and future—in expanding and deepening our understanding of the American story. Bring your curiosity, questions, and passion for complex and inclusive American history!

Location: Virtual

Thursday, February 16, 2023

7:00pm – 9:00pm: La Haine

France | 98 minutes
Our featured film commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Louisville Jewish Film Festival, originally presented in 1999.  Mathieu Kassovitz took the film world by storm with La Haine, a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low-income districts on Paris’s outskirts. Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui)—a Jew, an African, and an Arab—give human faces to France’s immigrant populations, their bristling resentment at their marginalization slowly simmering until it reaches a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La Haine is a landmark of contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis. Winner of Best Film at Lumiere Awards, 1995; Winner of Best Foreign Film at Film Critics Circle of Australia, 1997; Winner of Young European Film of the Year at European Film Awards, 1995

Location: Baxter Theatre

Sunday, February 19, 2023

4:00pm – 6:00pm: Farewell Mr. Haffmann

Occupied Paris, 1941: all members of the Jewish community are instructed to come forward and identify themselves to authorities. Talented jeweler Joseph Haffmann (Daniel Auteuil), fearing the worst, arranges for his family to flee the city and offers his browbeaten employee François Mercier (Gilles Lellouche) the chance to take over his store until the conflict subsides. But his attempts to escape are thwarted, and Haffmann is forced to seek his assistant’s begrudging protection and to make an unusual pact with Mercier’s wife. Winner of Audience Award and Best Narrative of San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2022; Audience Award of Gold Coast International Film Festival 2022; Audience Award of Cleveland Jewish Film Festival 2022

Location: Speed Art Museum Cinema

Date: Saturday, February 4, 2023 – Sunday, February 19, 2023

Location: Various Venues in Louisville, KY

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