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Filtered By: Ni Clear All

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

The United States government sends comic Albert Brooks and two handlers from the State Department to India and Pakistan on a mission to discover what makes the 300 million Muslim residents of those regions laugh.

Love is Thicker Than Water

In this modern-day retelling of the story of Romeo and Juliet, Arthur is a bike messenger from a working-class Welsh mining town and Vida is a cellist and daughter of a wealthy Jewish family from London. Their hipster romance takes on gratifying depth when their families—and their divergent backgrounds—come into play. The film feels simultaneously polished and experimental as it delicately explores hard questions about faith, love and devotion.

Love, Antosha

Prolific young actor Anton Yelchin was wise beyond his years and influenced everyone around him to strive for more. Love, Antosha tells the story of Yelchin's creative persistence. His devoted Russian parents nurtured his love of acting, exposing him to works of the masters. Filming himself became a tool for his transformation; reflecting on his own performance, he pushed himself to find depth in every role. Often the youngest actor on set, Yelchin's intense focus inspired many actors around him - Kristen Stewart, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pine, and John Cho share revealing insights into his character. Though he kept it a secret, Yelchin lived with a dangerous health condition, but he never became discouraged. As he grew into his craft, he continually enriched his understanding of the world, embodying an incredible authenticity. As a vivid part of the Sundance Film Festival community, Yelchin premiered in numerous independent features at the Festival: Alpha Dog (2006), Like Crazy (Grand Jury Prize in 2011), and Thoroughbreds (2017). Filmmaker Garret Price crafts a heartwarming and profound coming-of-age story of a singular young artist taken from us too early.

Love, Gilda

Rare personal recordings, hilarious clips and heartfelt interviews comprise this endearing tribute to a comedy icon.

Memoir of War

In Nazi-occupied Paris, a young Marguerite Duras strikes up a delicate, high stakes entanglement with a Vichy collaborator.

Menashe

Joshua Z. Weinstein’s Brooklyn-based Yiddish drama is an authentic, tightly written, compelling story for anyone jonesing to hear more than a bisl (little bit) of the mamaloshen (mother tongue). Menashe, a complex and lovable schlemiel, is a young widower deep in the heart of New York’s ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community who is fighting for custody of his son and struggling with his aversion to marrying again.

Milk

In 1972, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and his then-lover Scott Smith leave New York for San Francisco, with Milk determined to accomplish something meaningful in his life.

Mish Mish

Shortly after the death of his unique uncles, Didier Frenkel descends to the basement of their shared home and finds a treasure: an ancient animated archive from Egypt starring Mish-Mish Effendi, the Arabic equivalent of Mickey Mouse. His uncles have kept this surprising chapter in their lives under cover.Didier begins restoring the films and unveils the story of the rise and fall of these pioneers of Arab animation. Surprisingly, Didier’s mother strongly opposes the project.

The Museum

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

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 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 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 Polish Honeymoon | Palo Alto Opening Night

Anna and Adam, a young Parisian couple with Jewish origins, are about to travel to Poland for the first time. They are just married and technically speaking this will be their honeymoon. They will attend a ceremony in memory of the Jewish community in the village of Adam's grandfather, which was destroyed 75 years ago.

Naomi

Tight, edgy Israeli film noir sets off a ring of betrayal and deception after a radiant young Haifa artist has an affair behind the back of her much older science professor husband. An homage to the thrillers of Hitchcock past, the story features a heaping dose of repressed Jewish guilt and builds to an unexpected twist with the professor and his mother forming an unlikely alliance. [MINIGUIDE 66/70]

The Nasty Girl

An insightful, merciless black comedy - one of the most viciously funny satires to come out of Germany. Schoolgirl Sonja (Lena Stolze, featured in THE WHITE ROSE) comes from a prominent family and has gained the respect of the people in her small Bavarian town by winning a prize for best essay in a European competition.

Nazi VR

What may be the last WWII Nazi trial, was also the first to use virtual reality in the courtroom.

Netizens

This crucial and compelling doc draws connections between online harassment and older forms of persecution.

Odessa...Odessa!

Odessa...Odessa! is a poetic journey to find the Jewish soul of Odessa, Ukraine, moving poignantly from Odessa today to Brighton Beach and to Ashdod, Israel.

Off and Running

Avery, an African American teenager and the adopted daughter of two Jewish lesbian moms in Brooklyn, goes on a journey to uncover her roots.

Off White Lies

Preceded by B-BoyThough set during the Second Lebanon War of 2006, this coming-of-age story from Israeli director Maya Kenig evokes the offbeat charms of Juno. Libby, a shy 13-year-old California resident, is sent to live with her father in Israel, only to discover that he’s a well-intentioned sham. Launched on a modern-day quixotic adventure, they discover a shared talent for telling “off-white lies.” Kenig’s laconic storytelling highlights her actors’ considerable gifts. [MINIGUIDE 69/70]

On Broadway | Opening Night at the San Jose Drive-in

From composers to lyricists and producers to actors, Jews have played a pivotal role in the creation of many of Broadway’s biggest hits. This entertaining documentary tracks the breakthrough works and artists who made Broadway into a venue where you will find everything from the experimental and iconoclastic to the corporate and commercial, reflecting the diverse, complicated society in which we live.

On My Way Out: The Secret Life of Nani and Popi

What happens to a 65-year marriage when a life-long secret is finally revealed?

On the Map

Led by the magnetic Tal Brody, the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team, a combination of NBA also-rans and Israeli players, rallied a nation in its David-and-Goliath pursuit of the 1977 European Championship. Director Dani Menkin presents the context for what was a much-needed morale boost amid Israel’s sagging economy, the lingering sorrow of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the battle-weariness in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. —Sara L. Rubin

One Week and a Day

When Eyal (Shai Avivi, Sweet Mud, SFJFF 2007) finishes the week of mourning for his late son, his wife (Evgenia Dodina, Invisible, SFJFF 2011) urges him to return to their routine but instead he chooses to gets high with his young slacker neighbor. The two misfits embark on a tragicomical journey to discover that there are still things worth living for in Eyal's life. Director Asaph Polonsky's debut feature offers a humorous and moving depiction of grief and whatever comes next. Winner, International Critic's Week, Cannes Film Festival 2016- Joshua Moore

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