JFI On Demand | Jewish Film Institute

Exhibition Series

JFI On Demand

Anti-Semitism
Black History Month
ChaiFlicks
Cinegogue Sessions
Comedy
Coming of Age
Curator Picks
Filmmaker Distributed
Films for the High Holidays
Holocaust
Israeli Films
J Weekly Top 10 Israeli Films
JFI Resident
LGBTQ
Religion & Spirituality
Short Films
Social Justice
Women's History Month
Yom HaShoah: Holocaust Remembrance

Film Type

Animation
Documentary
Experimental
Feature
Narrative
Shorts Program
Television Series

Program Type

Cinegogue Sessions
Festival
Next Wave

When Palestinian Ayed Morrar learned the Israeli security barrier would veer from the border separating Israel and the Palestinian territories, and would instead cut through his West Bank village, he decided to organize, galvanizing both Palestinians and Israelis in an effective strategy of nonviolent protest. This groundbreaking documentary neither romanticizes nor demonizes the many viewpoints it reveals, instead capturing with raw intensity the power of ordinary people fighting peaceably for change.

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel has a dream—or is it a mirage?—of a casino named the Flamingo rising out of the Nevada desert. What Siegel doesn’t gamble on are construction delays or falling in love, and he falls hard for actress Virginia Hill (played to perfection by Annette Bening). Warren Beatty’s tour de force performance as the sexy, psychotic New York gangster shines among excellent turns by Ben Kingsley and Harvey Keitel.

Best Picture, 2004 Israeli Academy Awards. Rachel, a recently widowed mother of two rebellious teenage girls, hopes to start a new life by joining a religious settlement in the West Bank. But she must first win over the community’s leader, who is threatened by her independence. A nuanced, moving drama.

Censored Voices

Censored Voices

Oral histories recorded by Israeli writer Amos Oz and other young kibbutzniks in the weeks immediately following their experience during the Six Day War are brought to life in this revealing documentary. The censored 1967 recordings, coupled with striking archival images, reveal the moment that Israel’s soldiers, in their own words, went from identifying with David to Goliath. The act of trying to remember is what gives this documentary its profound resonance.

One-hundred-fifteen steps is all that separates a public housing complex from a private school for Manhattan’s elite. Class Divide shines a light on people who live a stone’s throw apart but inhabit completely different worlds. Despite grim statistics about poverty, the film is imbued with optimism as it shares stories from both sides of the street and finds common ground in the hopes and dreams of young people and their families. —Stephanie Rapp

In this quiet but intense psychological drama, director Franziska Schlotterer crafts an erotically charged story set in the remote mountains of the Black Forest during WWII. A young Jew fleeing the Nazis is saved by a German peasant couple, but soon discovers that there is an unexpected price to pay for his salvation. The spare but sumptuous cinematography captures the passion, desire and jealousy waiting to explode.

Comedy Warriors

Comedy Warriors

Five disabled Iraq/Afghanistan vets bring their painful life-altering experiences onstage, transforming tragedy into brutally fierce comedy gold, mentored by mirth masters Bob Saget, Zach Galifinakis and Lewis Black. With only days to prepare, the five are flown to Hollywood for a gig at LA’s famous Punch Line club. The big night finds the comedy warriors comprehending the healing power of humor and discovering that their lives are about to take an unexpected direction. Followed by live standup comedy by subject Joe Kashnow.

Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology

Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology

The kaleidoscope of clips in this wide-ranging documentary is so entertaining one could happily watch it with the sound off. But it would be a shame to miss Tiffany Shlain’s meditations on modern life and technology. The Bay Area–based filmmaker delves into everything from the honeybee crisis to her household’s weekly “technology shabbat” to her father’s struggle with brain cancer, all in an effort to understand our need to connect.

Crime After Crime

Crime After Crime

Yoav Potash’s documentary is a shattering chronicle of Deborah Peagler, an African American woman imprisoned for the 1983 murder of her horribly abusive boyfriend. After a law passes allowing survivors of domestic violence to appeal their sentences, two idealistic lawyers, one an Orthodox Jew, become convinced they can set her free. This is a staggering account of a fight against injustice and a suspect system still imprisoning hundreds of thousands of women across America today.

Víctor Tellez is jaded, emotionally repressed and arrogant. Not surprisingly, he is an influential but harsh film critic for a daily newspaper. Victor especially detests Hollywood romantic comedies until he meets Sofía, a spontaneous and vibrant woman. He finds himself going soft, and his movie reviews reflect this. El Critico is intelligent, funny, delightful and ultimately succumbs to the genre Víctor so derisively abhors. Love conquers all, even this cynical snob.

Crossing Delancey

Crossing Delancey

A contemporary romantic comedy in which single, sophisticated Isabelle confronts family tradition when her grandmother hires a matchmaker to find her a marriage prospect.

Dancing in Jaffa

Dancing in Jaffa

World champion ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine has a dream: to see Jewish and Palestinian Israeli children dance together. A passionate man with humble beginnings in Jaffa, he returns to attempt what seems to be an impossible feat: teaching children ballroom dance in a divided society. With warmth and tenderness, this inspiring documentary captures the children’s amazing transformation, offering hope that for a new generation Dulaine’s dream will become reality.

A dazzling trip through the entertaining life of Danny Fields, the little-known Jewish godfather of punk rock and provocative record "company freak" who discovered legendary underground music pioneers the MC5, Iggy Pop, and the Ramones. Drawn from a breathtaking trove of rare footage and audio recordings, this fascinating chronicle is capped by the wry and wistful reminiscence of Fields himself, the tastemaker who just may have been responsible for breaking up the Beatles.

About This Film

Dealers Among Dealers

Dealers Among Dealers

About This Film

Israeli director Yoav Shamir (Checkpoint, Five Days) explores the ways contemporary Jews learn and think about anti-Semitism, both real and perceived. Spending time with the Anti-Defamation League’s crusading director Abe Foxman, and with Israeli teens at Auschwitz who assume “everybody hates the Jews,” Shamir worries about the future of the Jewish soul in an atmosphere of persecution. But while he is willing to poke a stick at a sacred cow, he’s too nuanced a filmmaker to let ideology trump thought. A daring documentary.

Description of a Memory

Description of a Memory

Chris Marker’s landmark documentary about Israel, Description of a Struggle, thoroughly examined, critiqued and predicted the newly created state’s past, present and future. Nearly 50 years later, director Dan Geva looks to answer many of the questions originally raised by Marker as he attempts to track down the people featured in Marker’s film, with surprising and emotionally complex results, in Description of a Memory.

Disturbing The Peace

Disturbing The Peace

This inspiring documentary finds a spirit of compassion and empathy in an unexpected place: among combatants from both sides of the Israeli/Palestinian divide. Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters come together to form Combatants for Peace, a nonviolent group that uses dialogue, theater and art to try to end the conflict. Disturbing the Peace doesn’t shy away from harsh realities and, somehow, still leaves you inspired. —Tamar FoxDirector Stephen Apkon in personPreceded by Hitchhikers, Dir. Yair Agmon

Dogs: The Rise and Fall Of An All-girl Bookie Joint

Dogs: The Rise and Fall Of An All-girl Bookie Joint

About This Film

Dorfman in Love

Dorfman in Love

By all appearances, single 28-year-old accountant Deb Dorfman had embraced a life of suburban mediocrity. When a promise to house-sit for her long-time crush—a hunky war correspondent—uproots her from her sheltered San Fernando Valley home and thrusts her into the hub of a newly revitalized downtown LA, Deb’s world is poised to crack open. Transformation is inevitable, but is love? Elliot Gould co-stars in this delightfully quirky indie romantic comedy. [MINIGUIDE 70/70]

After 100 years in business, Nat’s (Jonathan Pryce) third generation Kosher Bakery is in a downward spiral. His customers are moving or dying, and his son has no interest in the family business. Nat reluctantly hires a young Muslim immigrant, Ayyash, a fast learner who accidentally creates a batch of cannabis-infused challah. Soon, business is booming, and things begin to look up for both men, while a new friendship sprouts despite the gulfs of age, race and religion.

East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem

East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem

In the spirit of determined optimism legendary Israeli singer/songwriter David Broza pierces the divide with a new music album East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem. Broza’s vision brings him to the heart of the conflict, a divided Jerusalem where his musician friends, including Grammy-winning Steve Earle, Palestinian Israeli singer Mira Awad and Iraqi Israeli Yair Dalal, take a remarkable journey outside the political walls that is rich with musical improvisation and performance.

Hollywood screenwriter Robert Riskin’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town won him a 1937 Oscar. Less well known is Riskin’s series of short films, produced to aid America’s WWII effort. The films’ American values reflect his own Jewish, left-leaning principles, countering foreigners’ negative stereotypes of United States citizens. With narration by John Lithgow, director Peter Miller skillfully brings this effort to light. Preceded by shorts Ed & Pauline and Autobiography of a Jeep.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

...

Need help using JFI On Demand? See our FAQ page.