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General Admission: $7 per film
Movie Lover's Package: $45 (One ticket to each event)
OPENING EVENT
Saturday, February 6 • 8:00 p.m.
A Matter of Size
• Nominee, Best Picture, Israeli Academy Awards (2009)
 Life changes when four overweight guys decide to make the most of their size instead of fighting it with perpetual diets and fitness regimes. Herzl, a 340 lb. chef, still lives with his mother. His dieting club, “Weight Losers,” rejects him for gaining 28 pounds in two months, and he is fired from his job for his “unpresentable” image. His luck changes when he lands a job in a Japanese restaurant and discovers a place where large guys are honored and respected -- the world of sumo wrestling! But in a diet-obsessed world, can Herzl and his three chubby pals make the working-class town of Ramle,
Israel appreciate a sport involving "two fatsos in diapers and girly hairdos"?
This touching, feel-good comedy, à la The Full Monty, is about self-acceptance and determination. Watch the video»»
Directed by Sharon Maymon & Erez Tadmor — 2009, Israel/Germany/France, Hebrew/Japanese with English subtitles
Running time: 92 minutes
Monday, February 8 • 7:30 p.m.
A Case for Israel: Democracy's Outpost
• Remi Winner, WorldFest, Houston International Film Festival, 2009
• Official Selection for Haifa, Atlanta, Los Angeles & San Diego Film Festivals
This landmark feature documentary with renowned attorney Alan Dershowitz is a point-by-point defense of the Jewish state. Utilizing archival footage and compelling interviews with top experts, the film presents a vigorous case for Israel—for its basic right to exist, to protect its citizens from terrorism and to defend its borders from hostile enemies. In particular, Dershowitz challenges former President Jimmy Carter and his provocative book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, which drew fire for characterizing Israeli policy in the territories as an apartheid system. Nearly 30 commentators lend their viewpoints, including former Israeli Prime Ministers, Barak, Netanyahu and Peres; Middle East envoy Dennis Ross; and Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky.
Vist the website www.thecaseforisrael.com. Watch the video»»
Directed by Michael Yohay — 2008, United States, English
Running time: 77 minutes
Wednesday, February 10 • 7:30 p.m.
Spring 1941
• Best Feature Fiction, Boston Jewish Film Festival, 2008
Starring Joseph Fiennes, star of the TV series FlashForward
and films Running with Scissors & Shakespeare in Love |
In 1971, world-famous cellist Clara Plank returns to her homeland of Poland for the first time since World War II. She is to be the guest of honor at a gala concert in her hometown. Seeing the familiar sights and faces that still haunt her, her mind wanders back to that one spring, 30 years ago, when the war came to destroy her world. Spring 1941 is the story of that younger Clara, her husband and two daughters, a Jewish family seeking shelter to survive as Nazis storm Poland. They find a safe house in the farm of Emilia, their local grocer, whose husband is missing in action. Surrounded by the horrors of war and death, an impossible love triangle erupts. This fragile arrangement is tested again and again. Is it love or the will to survive?
Watch the video»»
Directed by Uri Barabash — 2008, Israel/Poland, English
Running time: 122 minutes
Thursday, February 11 • 7:30 p.m.
Holy Land Hardball
• Audience Award, Best Documentary, Boston Jewish Film Festival, 2008
 When Boston bagel maker Larry Baras wanted to create a professional baseball league in
Israel, his idea was met with incredulity, dismissal and even hostility. He attempted it anyway. This award-winning documentary follows the unlikely formation of the Israel Baseball League, the first ever in the Middle East, from tryouts in Massachusetts, Miami, the Dominican Republic and the Holy Land itself through the league’s scheduled first pitch in
Israel in 2007. Baras, the team managers, who were all former Jewish major leaguers, and his recruits had the challenging task of drawing the Israeli people to a sport they've never had in 5767 years. This entertaining film shows a side of
Israel far from the news headlines — one of peace, normalcy and discovering the joys of the great American pastime.
Visit the website www.holylandhardball.com. Watch the video»»
Directed and written by Brett Rapkin & Erik Kesten — 2008, English
Running time: 84 minutes
Sunday, February 14 • 2:00 p.m.
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg looks at the life and career of Gertrude Berg, the creator, writer and star of The Goldbergs, a popular 1930’s radio show that became a weekly TV program. Berg pioneered the family-based sitcom format that has proven to be television's most durable and popular genre. More remarkably, she did it by presenting
America with an outwardly Jewish family that wore its immigrant heritage on its sleeve. The film also examines the stand Berg took against McCarthyism, when she refused to fire her long-time co-star, Philip Loeb, who resigned to prevent the cancellation of the show and later committed suicide. The film includes interviews with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actor Ed Asner, producers Norman Lear (All in the Family) and Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties), and NPR correspondent Susan Stamberg.
Visit the website www.mollygoldbergfilm.org. Watch the video»»
Directed by Aviva Kempner — 2009, English
Running time: 92 minutes
Sunday, February 14 • 7:30 p.m.
Hello Goodbye
Starring Gérard Depardieu (Cyrano de Bergerac) and Fanny Ardant (The Secrets)
in a romantic comedy about the misadventures of a married French Jewish couple |
 Alain and Gisèle enjoy all the trappings of a comfortable life — until their only son announces he plans to marry a Catholic girl — in a church no less. Facing an empty nest and midlife crisis, they decide on a whim to leave their posh Paris home and travel to Israel in search of their neglected Jewish roots. The trip is a dream vacation that gives their relationship an unexpected second wind, eventually sparking a radical decision against the advice of their family and friends. However, not everything goes according to plan, and their marriage is soon put to the test. Will their love prevail?
Watch the video»»
Directed by Graham Guit — 2008, France, French with English subtitles
Running time: 95 minutes
Tuesday, February 16 • 7:30 p.m.
Tickling Leo
 Elderly Holocaust survivor Warren Pickler is descending into mental and physical decay in his isolated home in the Catskills. Persuaded to intervene by his Israeli uncle,
Warren 's son Zak decides to pay a visit to his estranged father for Yom Kippur. The family gathering quickly spirals into a tumultuous drama as pieces of the family's dark wartime secret are unveiled. Gripping and poignant, Tickling Leo breathes new life into the controversial story of Rudolf Kasztner's freedom train out of
Hungary. The cast includes Eli Wallach, Lawrence Pressman, Daniel Sauli, Annie Parisse, Ronald Guttman, Victoria Clark and was executive produced by Mary Stuart Masterson.
Visit the website www.ticklingleothemovie.net. Watch the video»»
Directed by Jeremy Davidson — 2009, English
Running time: 91 minutes
CLOSING EVENT
Wednesday, February 17 • 7:30 p.m.
Mary and Max
• Opening Night Selection, Sundance Film Festival, 2009
Narrated by Barry Humphries with the voices
of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette |
Mary and Max is a unique, claymation animation by Academy Award–winning filmmaker Adam Elliot (Harvie Krumpet). It tells the simple story of a 20-year, pen-pal friendship between two very different people--Mary Dinkle, a chubby, lonely 8-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horowitz, a 44-year-old, severely obese, Jewish man, with Asperger’s syndrome, living an isolated life in New York City. It is very much a triumph of emotion, insight and eccentricity -- a complete delight. The film’s central focus is the letters shared between Mary and Max and the stories behind their life and the lives of people around them. It is a journey that is innocent but not naïve and explores among other things, friendship, autism, psychiatry, taxidermy, alcoholism, where babies come from and obesity.
Visit the website www.maryandmax.com. Watch the video»»
Directed by Adam Elliot — 2008, Australia, English
Running time: 92 minutes
For information and tickets, please call 954-434-0499, ext. 336.
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