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Filtered By: Ni Clear All

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power

While many sequels do not live up to their predecessors, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power is a rare exception. A decade after An Inconvenient Truth, local filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk follow Vice President Al Gore as he continues his tireless efforts to alert the human inhabitants of this planet to the catstrophic consequences of climate change and the urgency to take action.

Inside Llewyn Davis

New York, 1962. The downtown folk scene. Solo singers, duos and trios are playing the Gaslight and cutting and releasing records. And the talented, abrasive Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is getting beaten to a pulp in the back alley... again. The picaresque and panoramic Inside Llewyn Davis, named after the protagonist's no-sell recording debut, ponders the question: how can someone be an angel when he's singing and playing and a miserable lout the instant the music stops?

The Insult

A minor incident between a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee turns into an explosive trial that ends up dividing the two communities.

Intent to Destroy

One hundred years after 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire, Academy Award–nominated documentarian and this year’s Freedom of Expression Award recipient Joe Berlinger reveals the disturbing truth behind Turkey’s well-funded campaign of genocide denial, suppression and intimidation. Berlinger utilizes the filming of The Promise, a $100 million Hollywood film production ambitiously billed as the Armenian Schindler’s List, to explore this historical tragedy and its relevance to the barbaric genocides that followed.

The Interpreter

Slovak interpreter Ali Ungar wants to find out the circumstances of his parents’ death at the hands of a Nazi officer during World War II.

Invisible

Lily and Nira share a terrible bond: They were both victims of a serial rapist in the 1970s. A chance encounter brings them together 20 years after they identified their attacker in a police lineup. Based on real-life events, Invisible builds slowly, like a crackling bonfire. Veteran documentary filmmaker Michal Aviad makes innovative use of historical footage in her first narrative film and explores the aftershocks of sexual violence with surprising restraint. [MINIGUIDE 72/70]

It Happened in Saint-Tropez

Unashamedly romantic, the comedy of manners It Happened in Saint-Tropez begins with a family wedding and funeral.

Itzhak

From Shubert to Strauss, Bach to… Billy Joel, Itzhak Perlman’s transcendent violin playing evokes the depth of the human experience. This enchanting documentary details the virtuoso’s own struggles as a polio survivor and Jewish émigré, and reminds us why art is vital to life.

Jaffa

This gut-wrenching drama has both mainstream appeal and a keen political and psychological edge. Reuven owns an auto shop where he employs his son and daughter, as well as two Arab mechanics, when an explosive argument at the dinner table sets off a tragic chain of events. Jaffa showcases a raw performance by Dana Ivgy as daughter Mali, a young woman who—against all odds—transcends the culture of fear and hatred consuming her family.

Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story

Not particularly known in the United States for their athletic prowess, Jews have surprisingly excelled in the most American of sports: baseball. Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story, narrated by Dustin Hoffman, celebrates the contributions of Jewish major leaguers and the special meaning baseball has had in the lives of American Jews. More than a film about sports, it is a story of immigration, assimilation, bigotry and the shattering of stereotypes.

Jews of Iran

After the 1979 Islamic revolution, more than 80 percent of Iran’s Jews abandoned their ancestral land. This film is a loving portrait of the remaining Jewish communities.

Joshy

After his engagement falls apart on the evening of his birthday, Joshy’s (Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley) best buddies rally together to pull off a much-needed guys-only weekend for their grieving friend. As the partying heats up, Joshy and company continue to distract themselves from their troubles until they finally have to confront the elephant in the room: their feelings. Male bonding has never been more complex . . . and comically awkward.

Just 45 Minutes from Broadway

This highly dramatic comedy is legendary independent filmmaker Henry Jaglom’s tribute to actors and the families who endure them. One daughter, the only member of the family to reject a life in show business, brings home her “civilian” fiancé (Judd Nelson) after a year of estrangement. What follows is a day and night fraught with drama as family members, self-consciously and with great gusto, play out the drama of their own lives. [MINIGUIDE 72/70]

Opening Night: Keep the Change

Under the guise of a New York romantic comedy, Keep the Change does something quite radical: In a refreshingly honest way it portrays two adults on the autistic spectrum. David desperately wants to be seen as “normal,” but Sarah accepts who she is. Together they navigate the vicissitudes of a burgeoning relationship. Writer/director Rachel Israel has an obvious affection for her characters, which infuses this poignant and funny film from the first frame to the last.

Knowledge Is the Beginning

Conductor Daniel Barenboim believes that “a life without music is impoverished.” In the 1990s, Barenboim and the late Palestinian-born writer Edward Said created the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, comprising talented young musicians from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia. The film, an unusual hybrid of a concert movie and a documentary about artistic diplomacy, eloquently chronicles the life of the orchestra.

A la vie (To Life)

Three women, Auschwitz survivors, are reunited 15 years after the war. They spend a holiday at a seaside resort in northern France. Set at the start of the ’60s, the era’s bright colors and cheerful music mark the end of one period in their lives and the start of another. Friendships forged in horror begin anew with tasty ice cream cones, stylish bikinis, a romantic adventure and basking in the sun.

The Last Suit

A cantankerous 88-year-old has waited to fulfill a promise to a friend who helped him escape the Holocaust.

The Last White Knight

Forty-three years after being assaulted by notorious Klansman Delay de la Beckwith on the way to a courthouse in Greenwood, Mississippi, filmmaker and activist Paul Saltzman returns to the same spot to face his former adversary. What follows is a chilling conversation about history and the current state of race relations. Mississippi transplant Morgan Freeman and singer/activist Harry Belafonte comment on that ugly time, not so long ago.

Lepke

Tony Curtis is mesmerizing as Louis “Lepke” Buchalter in Menahem Golan’s epic drama about the feared leader of Murder, Incorporated. The film reads like a who’s who of New York Jewish gangsters: Dutch Schultz, Gurrah Shapiro, Mendy Weiss, Kid “Twist” Reles and their nemesis, Thomas Dewey. Lepke provides a unique window into the Jewish immigrant experience in the trajectory of a man driven to achieve one version of the American dream.

Levinsky Park

Over the past five years, tens of thousands of refugees from sub-Saharan Africa have sought relief and safety in Israel only to find a society bitterly divided on how to treat them. Filmmaker Beth Toni Kruvant examines Israel’s moral obligation to extend aid and comfort to the refugees and the role that race and religion play in the willingness of a community to accept them in their midst.

Life After Beth

In this Jewish zombie romcom, Zach (Dane DeHaan) is devastated by the unexpected death of his girlfriend, Beth (Aubrey Plaza). But when she miraculously comes back to life, Zach takes full advnatage of the opportunity to share and experience all the things he regretted not doing with her before.

Little Caesar

Edward G. Robinson (born Emmanuel Goldenberg) is riveting as the ruthless Italian American mobster Caesar Enrico Bandello in this classic gangster film set in Prohibition era Chicago. One of the great iconic Jewish actors of the last century, Robinson seethes as Caesar (known as Rico), a maniacal, ambitious crook whose archetypal journey inspired Martin Scorsese to call the film "a morality play."

Little Stones

This inspiring documentary profiles four women, each putting tremendous effort into helping women around the world in unique ways. A Brazilian graffiti artist speaks out against domestic violence; a Senegalese hip-hop musician educates young women about the perils of genital mutilation; a classically trained dancer in India helps heal victims of sex trafficking through movement therapy; and a young American finds high-end U.S. markets for poor Kenyan women’s hand-sewn clothing.

Live and Become

In this sweeping, emotional saga from the director of Train of Life, an Ethiopian boy from a Sudanese refugee camp is airlifted to Israel during Operation Moses, which transported 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984. Adopted by a Mizrahi family, Shlomo grows up, falls in love and serves in the Israeli army but is plagued throughout by two secrets: He was not born a Jew and is not an orphan. Radu Mihaileanu has created a monumental drama following one young man’s epic quest for his roots and identity.See also: Spotlight On: Ethiopian Jews and Jews of Color

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