Full Description
The Ma’aleh School of Television, Film and the Arts is the only film school of its kind in the world. SFJFF celebrates 20 years of the Jerusalem-based academy, which trains filmmakers to produce work inspired by their Jewish heritage, fostering a unique connection between the world of media and Jewish culture. The rigorous and unusual program at Ma’aleh encourages storytelling by gifted young filmmakers, giving voice to the issues and concerns of a new generation of Jews,¬ many of them Orthodox or more traditionally observant than their counterparts in other film schools worldwide. Ma’aleh creates a safe haven where even difficult subjects such as women’s roles in Orthodox Judaism, spiritual doubt and sexuality can be creatively explored. The school also seeks to build bridges between the religious and secular worlds. SFJFF is honored to present four short films by Ma’aleh filmmakers and to welcome the school’s director, Neta Ariel, to the festival.
Separation
Twelve-year-old Noa’s family is unraveling. Her parents barely speak to each other, and her asthmatic younger brother looks to Noa for answers. After overhearing her mother and father’s plans to divorce, she devises a desperate and dangerous plan that, while intended to bring her family closer together, may in fact destroy it.
A Shabbos Mother
In this Bergman-like family drama involving death, religion, birth and infertility, three very different sisters gather at their mother’s house for the Sabbath. Over the course of Shabbat, family dynamics are tested, relationships threatened and old wounds reopened.
Rosenzweig Born to Dance
Dancing saved Avigdor’s life during the Holocaust, and at 88 years of age, he hasn’t stopped dancing yet. Even behind a cumbersome walker and in the sterile halls of the nursing home he resides in, Avigdor can still be seen doing a soft-shoe routine with a smile on his face.
And Thou Shalt Love
Chaim Elbaum’s Jerusalem Film Festival prize–winning film centers on the inner turmoil faced by a closeted Orthodox Israeli soldier who falls in love with his study partner. Timely and profound, this deeply moving film raises difficult questions about the extent to which religion has a role in one’s life.
