Film Archive | Jewish Film Institute

Exhibition Series

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Motherless Haya

About This Film

Mountain

This haunting debut feature from Israeli director Yaelle Kayam explores religious themes in a tale of a young woman’s struggle to find herself. It depicts an Orthodox woman suffering in a loveless marriage, searching for companionship amidst the tombstones, pimps and prostitutes of Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives. Even as the plot turns dark, actress Shani Klein (Zero Motivation, SFJFF 2014) imbues the character Tsiva with an unforgettable tenderness. —Emily Kaiser Thelin

The Mountain

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Mourning in Lod

An emotionally stirring account of the interconnected fates of three people and their families drawn together by a single senseless act in the unceasing cycle of violence that typifies the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Mourning Suit

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Moving Heaven and Earth

Moving Heaven and Earth tells the fascinating story of the Abayudaya, a community of Jews in rural Uganda, and explores the unique Jewish identity, music and culture of these African Jews.

Mr. Bernstein

After Debbie hears about her father's life-changing musical experience in a refugee camp, she tracks down the famous conductor years later, with unexpected consequences.

Mr. Cortisone, Happy Days

If you are a sucker for love stories and unexpected angles, the evocative cinematography, dialogues with doctors, dogs named Fellini and mirrors in this intimate tour de force are visceral. Some call this a powerful documentary of a spirited man confronting a cancer. But it’s much more. The director with his oh-so-Jewish wit is looking for salvation. He finds it by creating a cinematic masterpiece.—Erica Marcus

Mr. Gaga

Inspiring and tough, charismatic yet prickly, Ohad Naharin is Mr. Gaga, Israel’s rock star choreographer and the artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company. He is the subject of this exciting new documentary from returning SFJFF favorite, Tomer Heymann. Naharin invented his own playful style of movement called Gaga and returned to Israel to create some of the most provocative and physically demanding choreography of the 21st century. Winner, Audience Award, SXSW 2016.

Mr. Kaplan

Jacob Kaplan has built a happy life in Uruguay after fleeing from Poland during World War II. But at 76 his health falters, and he fears that he is a failure. He rashly concocts a scheme to kidnap a man he’s convinced is a Nazi and ship him to Israel to stand trial. His bungled, Wiesenthal-esque quest not only makes for scenic viewing, it yields a genuinely surprising resolution.

Mr. Predictable

Adi Levi is such a steady and reliable husband and father, everyone in his life takes him for granted—until he’s misdiagnosed with cancer and told he has only weeks to live. Everyone in his life continues to take him for granted, but in this endearing Israeli romantic comedy, he is finally forced to choose whether to stand up for himself or continue to let life push him around.

Mrs. Moscowitz and the Cats

Mrs. Moskowitz’s lone life is renewed after an accident places her in a geriatric ward, where she rediscovers compassion (through sharing a room with Alegra, who suffers chronic shortness of breath) and love (through meeting a charming and witty ex–soccer player). A sweet and touching film superbly acted (Best Actress, Rita Zohar, 2009 Jerusalem International Film Festival), Mrs. Moskowitz & The Cats explores the inherent loneliness and vulnerabilities of aging with estimable grace.

Murer–Anatomy of a Trial

A transfixing drama about the “Butcher from Vilnius,” one of the most shameful trials of the century.

Murray Avenue: A Jewish Community In Transition

About This Film

The Muses of Isaac Bashevis Singer

Whether you know nothing about Yiddish writer and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer or if you have read every one of his fanciful stories, you will be riveted by this portrait of the women who inspired him. Singer’s novels and stories were written by him alone, but this documentary shows that they were reborn in English through a collaborative (and sometimes desire-laden) process of translation.

The Museum

The Israel Museum poses for its own complex portrait in this elegant observational documentary.

Music Man Murray

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Musical Passage

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Mussa

Although he has lived in Israel for five years, twelve-year-old Mussa is unable to speak. Refugees from Darfur, Mussa's parents, like thousands of Sudanese immigrants in Israel, struggle to make a new life in their adopted country. We follow Mussa as he silently navigates between worlds of poverty and privilege. At once heartbreaking and hopeful, Mussa allows its subject to finally speak, and movingly demonstrates the human impact of immigration policy. Preceded by Greenland.

The Mute's House

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My Amulet

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My Awkward Sexual Adventure

This raunchy yet oddly sweet romantic sex comedy features writer/actor Jonas Chernick as Jordan, a nerdy accountant, so hopeless in bed that his frustrated girlfriend has begun to nod off during sex. After she breaks up with him, Jordan awakes one morning on the couch of a wise and charming stripper, Julia, who agrees to be his erotic mentor in exchange for sound financial advice.

My Country Left Me

About This Film

My Dad is Baryshnikov

Preceded by Catherine the GreatIn 1986 Moscow, Boris Fishkin is a scrawny and struggling 14-year-old student at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy with a sideline selling Soviet kitsch on the black market, when a bootleg video convinces him he is actually the gifted child of the great Mikhail Baryshnikov—a dose of patrimonial chutzpah that does wonders. But is Fishkin really the Soviet Billy Elliot? Time will tell in this charming comedy of underdogs and new beginnings. [MINIGUIDE 71/70)

My Daughter, My Love

On a trip to Paris, Shimon stays with his daughter, Alma, and her family. When he senses that something is wrong with her marriage his inquiries reveal the unimaginable.

My Fantasia

The Darwish brothers are Iraqi Jews who run an Israeli menorah factory. Beyond that, nothing is simple in My Fantasia as the filmmaker probes the family secrets of his silent father and quirky uncles.

My Father and Me

Documentarian Nick Broomfield has never made a movie more distinctly personal than this complex and moving film about his relationship with his humanist-pacifist father, Maurice Broomfield, a factory worker turned photographer.

My Father and the Man in Black

Utilizing an impressive array of found footage, recreations, letters and audio-taped journals, director Jonathan Holiff reconstructs the memories of his late father Saul Holiff, longtime manager of music legend Johnny Cash. A close examination of two strong characters, the documentary sheds light on a tumultuous yet fruitful relationship between the star and his agent, and the immense toll it took on his family.

My Father's Palestinian Slave

This intimate and gripping documentary portrays the unlikely friendship between an undocumented Palestinian worker and his Israeli employer, veteran peace activist Moshe Amirav. Their relationship unfolds before the camera of Moshe’s 19-year-old Swedish son.

My Favorite Neoconservative

Yael Luttwak (SFJFF 2012 Filmmaker in Residence) returns home and turns her camera on her father, famed Department of Defense military strategist Edward Luttwak. The film offers a rare and complex glimpse of beltway politics through these political polar opposites.

My Four Children

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My Fuehrer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler

Swiss-born Jewish director Dani Levy breaks long-held taboos about how German films should portray Nazism in this wicked and controversial parody. A depressed Adolf Hitler seems incapable of delivering an important inspirational speech, so his former acting teacher, a Jew, is released from a concentration camp to help the Fuehrer reclaim his charisma. Levy satirizes recent Hitler psychobiography and stages a farcical revenge fantasy with serious overtones.

My Grandmother Loves Me

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My Heart Belongs to Daddy

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My Jewish Grandfather

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My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports

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