The Mandel JCC is excited to present the 33rd year of the one and only Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival. With three weeks in person across Palm Beach County, plus a week of virtual films, this year's festival offers everything from historical dramas to laugh-out-loud comedies.

Film Schedule:

Saturday, January 21, 2023

7:00 - 8:30 PM: Opening Film: Perfect Strangers

On the night of an eclipse, seven childhood friends gather for a dinner party. Following a discussion on whether or not everyone has secrets, the group agrees to place their cell phones on the table and share every call and text message received. Soon they discover, no matter how long you’ve known someone or how well you think you know them, no one is exactly who they say they are.

Location: FAU Jupiter - OLLI, 5353 Parkside Dr, Jupiter, FL 33458

Sunday, January 22, 2023

1:00 - 3:00 PM: March '68

Two young students, Hania and Janek, meet and fall in love in the midst of social turmoil and Jewish discrimination in 1960’s Warsaw. While the young lovers are uninterested in politics, they find themselves unable to avoid it when Hania's parents lose their jobs due to the anti-Semitic purge and are forced to emigrate. Hania does not want to leave Janek, and the couple soon participate in a protest rally at the university where they discover freedom comes at a high price.

4:00 - 5:30 PM: Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen

2021 marked the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, the film Pauline Kael of The New Yorker called "the most powerful movie musical ever made." Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison's quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist, Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim puts us in the director's chair and in Jewison's heart and mind, drawing on rare behind-the-scenes footage, original storyboards, and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Norman Jewison, Topol (Tevye), composer John Williams, production designer Robert F. Boyle, film critic Kenneth Turan, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and actresses Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, and Neva Small (Tevye's daughters). The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepens Jewison as an artist and revives his soul.

7:00 - 8:45 PM: The Artichoke Season (Short) & Where Life Begins

The Artichoke Season:

10-year-old Rosalie lives in Jerusalem slums with her parents, until her father leaves home. While Rosalie escapes to gum trees in the Galapagos islands, her mother is trying to preserve the delicate ideal of a family. Both looking for hope, dive into fantasy where escapism is the cure.

Where Life Begins:

An ultra-orthodox Jewish family from Aix-les-Bains comes to a farm in southern Italy for a brief stay every year to carry out a sacred mission: harvesting citrons. Here Elio, the farm owner, meets Esther, the rabbi’s daughter, who is tired of the constraints imposed by her religion. Through this relationship, Esther will understand the importance of freedom and find her path, and, in the same way, Elio will find the peace he had lost for a long time.

Location: Cinemark Boynton Beach 14 and XD, 1151 N Congress Ave, Boynton Beach, FL 33426

Monday, January 23, 2023

4:00 - 5:45 PM: Lost Transport

Set in the spring of 1945 and inspired by true event, this film follows a trio of three woman: the fearless Russian soldier Vera, the distrustful German village girl Winnie, and the courageous Dutch Jew Simone. When a German train deporting hundreds of Jewish prisoners is abandoned near a small German village occupied by the Red Army, the village quickly turns into a chaotic refugee camp. The Soviets impose a quarantine to contain the typhus epidemic that has broken out on the train. No one is allowed to leave the village. Despite the traumas each has suffered in the war, the three women are forced by circumstance to help each other, offering a poignant example of how human beings can overcome the role of enemies as dictated by war.

7:00 - 8:30 PM: Exodus 91

A docu-narrative film that tells the story of Asher Naim, an Israeli diplomat caught between worlds and facing a crisis of faith in himself and his country. Asher, a North-African Jew himself, is sent to Ethiopia to negotiate the escape of 15,000 Ethiopian Jews from a country collapsing under famine and civil war. The feature-length film explores challenging questions of racism, white saviour-ism, homeland, cultural identity, the politics of immigration, and the hardships of these immigrants, and those that followed them, to this day.

Location: Regal, Royal Palm Movie Theater, 1003 FL-7, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

4:00 - 5:45 PM: Jewish for Lunch (Short) & Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen

Jewish for Lunch - Short:

Ruth Cohen invites her boyfriend over for lunch to meet her family for the first time. When he arrives, Ruth quickly informs him as far as her family knows he’s Jewish – which he’s not. During lunch, Ruth works relentlessly to cover up any signs of his not being Jewish, until it inevitably comes out.

Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen:

2021 marked the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, the film Pauline Kael of The New Yorker called "the most powerful movie musical ever made." Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison's quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist, Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim puts us in the director's chair and in Jewison's heart and mind, drawing on rare behind-the-scenes footage, original storyboards, and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Norman Jewison, Topol (Tevye), composer John Williams, production designer Robert F. Boyle, film critic Kenneth Turan, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and actresses Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, and Neva Small (Tevye's daughters). The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepens Jewison as an artist and revives his soul.

7:00 - 9:00 PM: Ugly Swan (Short) & My Dearest Enemy

Ugly Swan - Short:

Sarah, a young ultra-Orthodox young woman, goes out on her fourth date with Yossi, a loving and sensitive yeshiva student. But Sara carries a big secret which, if revealed, may jettison all her chances of happiness.

My Dearest Enemy:

My Dearest Enemy tells the story of the twenty-five-year relationship of Maya, a Jewish girl, and Alice, an Arab girl, who grew up together in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu-Tor, a community that is half-Jewish and half-Arab. Drawn to each other by their shared love for poetry, they develop a deep bond that grows into an impossible friendship. When Alice enters an arranged marriage she must move to Paris, but 25 years later she returns to Israel and the two women attempt to renew their friendship. My Dearest Enemy is a story of love, betrayal, shattered dreams and courage — and above all, it is a story about the hope and promise of enduring friendship.

Location: FAU Jupiter - Honors College, 5353 Parkside Dr, Jupiter, FL 33458

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

4:00 - 5:30 PM: Playing In The FM Band: The Steve Post Story

Before there was Howard Stern, there was Steve Post. An overweight, shy, Jewish kid born in the Bronx who had a complicated childhood, Post became a cult radio personality who was a trailblazer and pioneer in freeform radio, first at WBIA and later WCNY. A voice of the counterculture, Post inspired youthful aspirants find their voices and realize their radio dreams.

7:00 - 8:30 PM: Sch?chten

1960s Austria — Victor, a young Jewish-Austrian businessman, witnesses how the prosecution of a Nazi crime perpetrated against his family unjustly fails in the courtroom. At the time the political and legal system is still run by former Nazis and there is no avenue for Victor to change matters. When Victor also loses his grief-stricken father and his girlfriend's family opposes their relationship due to him being Jewish, Victor completely loses faith in the system and pursues matters via a different path.

Location: Cinemark Boynton Beach 14 and XD, 1151 N Congress Ave, Boynton Beach, FL 33426

Thursday, January 26, 2023

4:00 - 5:30 PM: 1341 Frames of Love and War

For a year and a half, the acclaimed photo-journalist Micha Bar-Am allowed director Ran Tal to enter his vast archive of negatives. Composed entirely of images that Bar-Am took over his more than fifty-year career, 1341 Frames of Love and War reveals the enormous price that comes along with documenting atrocities and wars. This film is an intimate portrait of an artist and a meditation on memory, violence, and identity. Beyond this narrative tribute, the film offers a unique cinematic, visual, and sensory experience that explores the relationship between sound and picture, movement and stillness. It is a complex love letter to the power beauty, and the personal cost of a life devoted to recording a conflict.  

7:00 - 9:15 PM: America

Visually iridescent and unexpectedly buoyant even when dealing with matters of personal tragedy, America follows Eli, an Israeli swimming instructor living in Chicago as he returns to Israel after 10 years to bury his father. A chance encounter with a beloved childhood friend and his new fiancée sets a series of events in motion that will affect all three of their lives. This story set between a flower shop and an ancient monastery, a swimming pool in Chicago and the Mediterranean — between life and death — is a bright and frangible sophomore film from the director of The Cake Maker.

Location: Regal, Royal Palm Movie Theater, 1003 FL-7, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

Saturday, January 28, 2023

7:00 - 8:15 PM: Shorts Night

Make Me A King - Short

Ari performs as a Jewish Drag King, much to the confusion of their family. Idolising real-life hero, Pepi Littman, who carved out a space for Drag Kings over 100 years ago, they use this history to open up a space for acceptance in the present.

Mazel Tov - Short

At a banquet hall in Israel, at the height of a war, Adam Weizmann’s Bar Mitzvah party turns into a glorious catastrophe. On the cusp of manhood—and on the verge of a nervous breakdown—Adam takes a crucial step toward coming to terms with his sexuality.

Ramona Star - Short

Ramona Star has big dreams: to become a great and famous drag queen and to make the world a more tolerant place. After growing up in fear in Brazil, can he feel at home in Tel Aviv?

Sin and Repent - Short

20-year old Yaakov, who lost his faith, seeks forgiveness of his father, a cantor in a synagogue, on the eve of Yom Kippur. The encounter between the father’s conservative world, and the son, who turned to another path, leads to a storm of emotions.

Location: FAU Jupiter - OLLI, 5353 Parkside Dr, Jupiter, FL 33458

Sunday, January 29, 2023

1:00 - 2:15 PM: The Victorias (Short) & Xueta Island

The Victorias - Short

Seven former museum “costume interpreters” reflect on sharing the role of a 14-year-old-immigrant and being laid off together during the pandemic.

Xueta Island

This documentary explores the fascinating legacy of the Xuetas: a unique group of families on the Balearic Island of Majorca who are believed to be descendants of the island’s Inquisition-era Jewish population. While most of the families were forced to renounce their Judaism and convert, many continued to practice their Judaism in secret. Current-day Majorca is a compelling study for silenced Judaism, as practicing Catholic families cite Jewish “traditions” that date back centuries, without ever being openly acknowledged or explained.

4:00 - 5:15 PM: The New Jew & Light Inside the Darkness with Live Q&A

The New Jew

Ever wonder how Israelis perceive American Jews? The New Jew, created and hosted by one of Israel’s most popular comedians and TV personalities, explores just this. In the summer of 2018, Guri Alfi and his family moved to the United States. Like many Israelis abroad, he found himself experiencing an identity crisis, questioning what his Jewishness looks like outside of the Jewish State. The documentary follows Guri as he embarks on a journey across North America, exposing viewers to some of the most vibrant and creative expressions of Jewishness today through his eyes. Fast-paced, hilarious, and deeply insightful, The New Jew is a spirited, and ultimately hopeful, journey through modern American Jewry.

Light Inside the Darkness - Short

In Overland Park, Kansas, Elizabeth Bonney grew up a devout Christian, on the path to take over her small church. At the young age of 13, she experienced trauma that changed her life and relationship with God forever. While evaluating her past, she recalls her trauma and how her choices lead her to find her new love for religion and God in an unexpected place: Judaism.

7:00 - 8:30 PM: Valiant Hearts

Valiant Hearts tells the true story of exceptional bravery and survival against all odds. In August 1942, six Jewish children were forced to take refuge in a place where no one will ever think to look for them: amidst the Louvre Museum artworks hidden in the Château de Chambord. Between fear, outbursts of laughter, and unexpected encounters, the children learn about independence and discover solidarity and friendship in the midst of tumultuous circumstances.

Location: Cinemark Boynton Beach 14 and XD, 1151 N Congress Ave, Boynton Beach, FL 33426

Monday, January 30, 2023

4:00 - 6:00 PM: Our Son (Short) & Flowers Gate - Bab El Ward

Our Son - Short

A young Haredi woman is called in to her son's school. She comes, determined to fight for his place and her own.

Flowers Gate - Bab El Ward

An “all-in-the-family”, slice of life drama-comedy. The Vaknins, a God-loving and traditional family, live in a remote town in Israel, longing for the good old motherland, Morocco, and trying to make some sense of their lives. One of the sons is addicted to gambling and is always looking for a “quick-fix”. His constant attempts to make a lot of money in no time drags the family into a financial crisis, which threatens to tear them to pieces. Flowers Gate is a classic immigrant family drama, full of laughter and tears, nostalgia and folklore, color and cooking. It chronicles the daily struggles and moments of grace of people who still carry their beloved motherland in their heart.

7:00 - 8:30 PM: Paris Boutique

When Neta, a down-on-her-luck, aspiring hotel owner, becomes the driver for Louise, a Jewish-Parisian lawyer in Israel to finalize an important real estate deal, Neta immediately realizes the economic benefits of sticking with Louise at any cost. A laugh-out-loud comedy of mistakes set in the heart of magical Jerusalem, and a story about friendship between two women at critical points in their lives.

Location: Regal, Royal Palm Movie Theater, 1003 FL-7, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

4:00 - 5:15 PM: Something Blue (Short) & Alice’s Book: How the Nazis Stole my Grandmother’s Cookbook

Something Blue - Short

Two ultra-Orthodox Jewish young women, Chaya and Shoshana, are forced to face up to what will happen to their relationship when they come together as bride and bridesmaid on Chaya's wedding day.

Alice’s Book: How the Nazis Stole my Grandmother’s Cookbook

What happened to the books the Nazis could not afford to burn? In 1939, the unknown author Rudolf Rösch published the cookbook, So Kocht Man In Wien! (This is How You Cook in Vienna!). It was a bestseller and is still available today. But Rudolf Rösch never wrote this book and may never have existed. This documentary follows German historian, Karina Urbach as she delves into the story of her own grandmother, a Viennese-Jew named Alice Urbach. Alice was a Julia-Child-like star that founded her own cooking school in pre-War Vienna, only to have to flee the country and lose the rights to her bestselling cookbook under Hitler.

7:00 - 8:30 PM: The Jewish Jail Lady and the Holy Thief with Live Q&A

The Jewish Jail Lady and the Holy Thief

How can two people that made so many mistakes, end up saving thousands of lives and changing the recovery community in Southern California forever? That’s the story of Harriet Rossetto and Rabbi Mark Borovitz, The Jewish Jail Lady and the Holy Thief. Explore their dark, troubled, often unbelievable pasts which not only lead them to one another, but to the formation of Beit T’Shuvah, a one-of-a-kind recovery and treatment center known around the globe.

Location: FAU Jupiter - Honors College, 5353 Parkside Dr, Jupiter, FL 33458

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

4:00 - 5:30 PM: 1341 Frames of Love and War

For a year and a half, the acclaimed photo-journalist Micha Bar-Am allowed director Ran Tal to enter his vast archive of negatives. Composed entirely of images that Bar-Am took over his more than fifty-year career, 1341 Frames of Love and War reveals the enormous price that comes along with documenting atrocities and wars. This film is an intimate portrait of an artist and a meditation on memory, violence, and identity. Beyond this narrative tribute, the film offers a unique cinematic, visual, and sensory experience that explores the relationship between sound and picture, movement and stillness. It is a complex love letter to the power beauty, and the personal cost of a life devoted to recording a conflict.  

7:00 - 9:00 PM: The Man in the Basement

In this psychological thriller, a benign real estate deal becomes a sinister standoff between a bourgeois French couple and a dangerous negationist. A Parisian architect sells his flat’s unused cellar to a man who is well-mannered and seemingly normal. But when the buyer takes up residence in the cellar, his secret life as an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist emerges. As the couple struggles to rescind the sale, the increasingly menacing buyer turns the family’s idyllic world upside down. Provocative and superbly acted, this nightmare scenario based on a true story will keep audiences guessing from one unsettling moment to the next.

Location: Cinemark Boynton Beach 14 and XD, 1151 N Congress Ave, Boynton Beach, FL 33426

Thursday, February 2, 2023

4:00 - 5:47 PM: Barren

In his debut feature film, documentary filmmaker Mordechai Vardi tells the story of a childless young ultra-orthodox couple, Feigi and Naftali, who face issues with fertility while dealing with the stress of living with Naftali’s parents. During the holiday Naftali travels to Ukraine to pray for a child at Rabbi Nachman’s grave. In his absence, the family invites a guest to stay, Rabbi Eliyahu who introduces himself to Feigi as a barren healer. When the difference between good and bad is unclear, the family must deal with unresolved secrets that raise fundamental questions about religion and faith.

7:00 - 9:00 PM: Love Gets a Room

A play-within-a-film set in the Warsaw ghetto of 1942. In Love Gets a Rooms a group of vibrant young actors is determined to focus all their energies on bringing some joy into the desperate lives of others as they perform the musical Love Gets an Apartment for an audience who is not allowed to clap but must drum their feet on the floor for applause. Meanwhile offstage, the actors face personal dramas. Full of equal parts joy and despair, the film is a homage to the transformative power of theatre.

Location: Regal, Royal Palm Movie Theater, 1003 FL-7, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

Saturday, February 4, 2023

7:00 - 8:30 PM: Paris Boutique

When Neta, a down-on-her-luck, aspiring hotel owner, becomes the driver for Louise, a Jewish-Parisian lawyer in Israel to finalize an important real estate deal, Neta immediately realizes the economic benefits of sticking with Louise at any cost. A laugh-out-loud comedy of mistakes set in the heart of magical Jerusalem, and a story about friendship between two women at critical points in their lives.

Location: FAU Jupiter - OLLI, 5353 Parkside Dr, Jupiter, FL 33458

Sunday, February 5, 2023

1:00 - 3:00 PM: Sky Raiders

13-year-old Yotam is obsessed with flying, but his overprotective mother won't let him anywhere near planes, especially after he lost his father in a jet crash a few years ago. When Yotam and his classmate Noa find a rare antique plane in the local junkyard, they team up with Morris, an 80-year-old grumpy loner who used to be a pilot. Together they try to bring the plane back to life, just in time for Israel's Independence Day Air Show.

4:00 - 6:00 PM: Rock Camp: The Movie

Summer camp meets Spinal Tap as we journey to Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, where dreamers from across America and around the world gather to practice with their heroes - and learn to rock like the legends. Follow four campers through their journey to shred with their heroes and see how they overcome their fears and transform their lives. Rock stars remember their humble beginnings and reconnect with their love of music.

7:00 - 9:00 PM: Favorite Daughter (Short) & One More Story

Favorite Daughter - Short

An intimate portrait of the director’s mother Janet Isa and grandmother Sylvia Weinstock as they shelter in place together in a lower Manhattan apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sylvia was living alone for the first time in her life when after her partner of 69 years passed away. Then her youngest daughter, Janet, moved in. This short documentary is both raw and charming, melancholy and funny-a portrait of two women with vastly different experiences coming together and supporting one another through the uncertainty of spending the next chapters of their lives "alone," without a partner.

One More Story

A couple on a first date decides the only way to break the ice and alleviate the tension is to share the story of the worst thing they’ve ever done. Yarden, an ambitious young writer for a daily newspaper, decides to tell her date about the Faustian bargain struck with her sleazy editor and lover: In exchange for his help in publishing her book, she will undertake a series of columns about modern romance, based on the dating disasters of her best friend. All is going according to plan until her best friend meets his soulmate in a chance encounter.

Location: Cinemark Boynton Beach 14 and XD, 1151 N Congress Ave, Boynton Beach, FL 33426

Monday, February 6, 2023

4:00 - 5:30 PM: Playing In The FM Band: The Steve Post Story

Before there was Howard Stern, there was Steve Post. An overweight, shy, Jewish kid born in the Bronx who had a complicated childhood, Post became a cult radio personality who was a trailblazer and pioneer in freeform radio, first at WBIA and later WCNY. A voice of the counterculture, Post inspired youthful aspirants find their voices and realize their radio dreams.

7:00 - 8:45 PM: The Rock Collection (Short) & Trust

The Rock Collection - Short

A girl seeks to find the best rock as a gift for her father.

Trust

When Kate learns of her mother’s suicide, she reluctantly drops everything to return home for the funeral and shiva — and to face the chaotic relationship with her siblings and philandering father. As the three siblings attempt to reconcile, they are torn between mourning and greed. When things are not as expected with the reading of the will, inheritance brings out the worst in their family.

Location: Regal, Royal Palm Movie Theater, 1003 FL-7, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

4:00 - 5:15 PM: 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 home and all its possessions. The Levys of Monticello 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 anti-semitism that runs throughout the course of American history.

7:00 - 8:45 PM: Valiant Hearts

Valiant Hearts tells the true story of exceptional bravery and survival against all odds. In August 1942, six Jewish children were forced to take refuge in a place where no one will ever think to look for them: amidst the Louvre Museum artworks hidden in the Château de Chambord. Between fear, outbursts of laughter, and unexpected encounters, the children learn about independence and discover solidarity and friendship in the midst of tumultuous circumstances.

Location: FAU Jupiter - Honors College, 5353 Parkside Dr, Jupiter, FL 33458

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

4:00 - 5:45 PM: 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 home and all its possessions. The Levys of Monticello 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 anti-semitism that runs throughout the course of American history.

7:00 - 8:40 PM: My Neighbor Adolf

South America, 1960. Mr. Polsky, a lonely and grumpy Holocaust survivor convinces himself that his new neighbor is none other than Adolf Hitler. Not being taken seriously by the local government, he starts an independent investigation to prove his claim. 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.

Location: Cinemark Boynton Beach 14 and XD, 1151 N Congress Ave, Boynton Beach, FL 33426

Thursday, February 9, 2023

4:00 - 5:10 PM: Miss (Short) & Back in Berlin

Miss - Short

When Olive’s new flatmate Nina tells her that she is planning to enter a beauty pageant, Olive has no reason to suspect that the innocent competition is in fact a very ugly business. Inspired by true events, this thought-provoking short sheds light on new forms of antisemitism in Britain today.

Back in Berlin

After his father’s death, Bobby discovers a suitcase full of documents, letters, and photos tracing the story of his family who perished in the Holocaust - a story he never knew. To translate the documents, he turns to his friend Manuel. Manuel reveals he too has uncovered a dark family secret: his great uncle was the infamous Nazi filmmaker, Veit Harlan, director of Jud Suss - which is considered to be the most notorious anti-Semetic propaganda film in history. In the face of their respective pasts, they go to Berlin to discover more.

7:00 - 8:40 PM: My Neighbor Adolf

South America, 1960. Mr. Polsky, a lonely and grumpy Holocaust survivor convinces himself that his new neighbor is none other than Adolf Hitler. Not being taken seriously by the local government, he starts an independent investigation to prove his claim. 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.

Location: Regal, Royal Palm Movie Theater, 1003 FL-7, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

Saturday, February 11, 2023

7:00 - 8:45 PM: The Jews And The Blues - Closing Film

The Jews and the Blues is a musical journey that becomes something much more. Follow documentary filmmaker, musician, and talk show host, Drew Stone as he travels to Israel to discover how the blues ties into this incredible mix of cultures. Arab, Ethiopian, Moroccan, all Jewish, all Israeli, united through the universal tie that binds us together...music. Experience the sights, sounds, and the unexpected on this expedition into uncharted territory.

Location: FAU Jupiter - OLLI, 5353 Parkside Dr, Jupiter, FL 33458

February 12, 12:00 AM - February 18, 11:55 PM, 2023

Virtual

America:

Visually iridescent and unexpectedly buoyant even when dealing with matters of personal tragedy, America follows Eli, an Israeli swimming instructor living in Chicago as he returns to Israel after 10 years to bury his father. A chance encounter with a beloved childhood friend and his new fiancée sets a series of events in motion that will affect all three of their lives. This story set between a flower shop and an ancient monastery, a swimming pool in Chicago and the Mediterranean — between life and death — is a bright and frangible sophomore film from the director of The Cake Maker.

Back in Berlin:

After his father’s death, Bobby discovers a suitcase full of documents, letters, and photos tracing the story of his family who perished in the Holocaust - a story he never knew. To translate the documents, he turns to his friend Manuel. Manuel reveals he too has uncovered a dark family secret: his great uncle was the infamous Nazi filmmaker, Veit Harlan, director of Jud Suss - which is considered to be the most notorious anti-Semetic propaganda film in history. In the face of their respective pasts, they go to Berlin to discover more.

Barren:

In his debut feature film, documentary filmmaker Mordechai Vardi tells the story of a childless young ultra-orthodox couple, Feigi and Naftali, who face issues with fertility while dealing with the stress of living with Naftali’s parents. During the holiday Naftali travels to Ukraine to pray for a child at Rabbi Nachman’s grave. In his absence, the family invites a guest to stay, Rabbi Eliyahu who introduces himself to Feigi as a barren healer. When the difference between good and bad is unclear, the family must deal with unresolved secrets that raise fundamental questions about religion and faith.

Best of Shorts:

A selection of Best Shorts as voted by the audience during the in-person screenings.

Labyrinth of Peace:

Labyrinth of Peace - Part 1

1945. The war is over. Switzerland, the neutral small country at the heart of Europe, was all but spared. Klara, her fiancé Johann, and his brother Egon are looking bright-eyed into the future. While Klara tries to mend the wounds of the war by caring for young, displaced Holocaust survivors, Johann hopes to save and modernize his soon-to-be father in-law's well-established, yet troubled textile company. Just home from military service, Egon takes his first steps in the Attorney General's office. His mission: to hunt down escaped Nazis. Quickly, all three realize the façade of peace is bought with the blood of the victims of war.

Labyrinth of Peace - Part 2

Love Gets a Room:

A play-within-a-film set in the Warsaw ghetto of 1942. In Love Gets a Rooms a group of vibrant young actors is determined to focus all their energies on bringing some joy into the desperate lives of others as they perform the musical Love Gets an Apartment for an audience who is not allowed to clap but must drum their feet on the floor for applause. Meanwhile offstage, the actors face personal dramas. Full of equal parts joy and despair, the film is a homage to the transformative power of theatre.

Lost Transport:

Set in the spring of 1945 and inspired by true event, this film follows a trio of three woman: the fearless Russian soldier Vera, the distrustful German village girl Winnie, and the courageous Dutch Jew Simone. When a German train deporting hundreds of Jewish prisoners is abandoned near a small German village occupied by the Red Army, the village quickly turns into a chaotic refugee camp. The Soviets impose a quarantine to contain the typhus epidemic that has broken out on the train. No one is allowed to leave the village. Despite the traumas each has suffered in the war, the three women are forced by circumstance to help each other, offering a poignant example of how human beings can overcome the role of enemies as dictated by war.

March '68:

Two young students, Hania and Janek, meet and fall in love in the midst of social turmoil and Jewish discrimination in 1960’s Warsaw. While the young lovers are uninterested in politics, they find themselves unable to avoid it when Hania's parents lose their jobs due to the anti-Semitic purge and are forced to emigrate. Hania does not want to leave Janek, and the couple soon participate in a protest rally at the university where they discover freedom comes at a high price.

My Dearest Enemy:

My Dearest Enemy tells the story of the twenty-five-year relationship of Maya, a Jewish girl, and Alice, an Arab girl, who grew up together in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu-Tor, a community that is half-Jewish and half-Arab. Drawn to each other by their shared love for poetry, they develop a deep bond that grows into an impossible friendship. When Alice enters an arranged marriage she must move to Paris, but 25 years later she returns to Israel and the two women attempt to renew their friendship. My Dearest Enemy is a story of love, betrayal, shattered dreams and courage — and above all, it is a story about the hope and promise of enduring friendship.

The Man in the Basement:

In this psychological thriller, a benign real estate deal becomes a sinister standoff between a bourgeois French couple and a dangerous negationist. A Parisian architect sells his flat’s unused cellar to a man who is well-mannered and seemingly normal. But when the buyer takes up residence in the cellar, his secret life as an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist emerges. As the couple struggles to rescind the sale, the increasingly menacing buyer turns the family’s idyllic world upside down. Provocative and superbly acted, this nightmare scenario based on a true story will keep audiences guessing from one unsettling moment to the next.

Xueta Island:

This documentary explores the fascinating legacy of the Xuetas: a unique group of families on the Balearic Island of Majorca who are believed to be descendants of the island’s Inquisition-era Jewish population. While most of the families were forced to renounce their Judaism and convert, many continued to practice their Judaism in secret. Current-day Majorca is a compelling study for silenced Judaism, as practicing Catholic families cite Jewish “traditions” that date back centuries, without ever being openly acknowledged or explained.

All films shown during the virtual week of PBJFF will be available to watch on Eventive, an on-demand streaming platform. Virtual films will only be available February 12 – 18.

Individual Virtual Tickets: $18 per household

All Film Festival Passholders (including Hamsa, Chaverim, Star Arts, and Film Meyvn membership levels) and 10-ticket package holders may begin purchasing tickets and selecting seats on December 19.

10-ticket package holders may begin purchasing tickets on December 19. All Film Festival Passholders' tickets will be automatically pre-load¬ed onto their Eventive account and be found in the ‘My Tickets’ section of the website.

Non-passholders may browse the festival program at www.PBJFF.org. Once tickets are purchased, you will receive a confirmation email and link to the film screening page. Virtual screenings will not become available until the indicated screening date and time.

Once started, you have 48 hours to finish watching a film before it expires and is no longer available.

For your ease, please use a computer with the most up-to-date browser and operating system, an iPhone/iPad using Safari, or Android using Chrome. Once the film is open on your device, you can easily connect to your TV. You can also download the Eventive App using Apple TV, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV device. If you are having trouble with any technical issues, launch the live chat support at www.watch.eventive.org/help

Fest Date:
In-Person: January 21 - February 11, 2023
Virtual: February 12 - 18, 2023

Locations:
FAU Jupiter - OLLI, 5353 Parkside Dr, Jupiter, FL 33458
Regal, Royal Palm Movie Theater, 1003 FL-7, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411
Cinemark Boynton Beach 14 and XD, 1151 N Congress Ave, Boynton Beach, FL 33426

Click here for more information.