Venues
Walter Reade Theater: 165 West 65th StreetElinor Bunin Munroe Film Center: 144 West 65th Street
All screenings are at the Walter Reade Theater unless otherwise noted.
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Walter Reade Theater Box Office
165 W 65th Street, hours
By Category
Animation, Classic, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, France, Germany, Holocaust, Israel, Poland, Romance, Short FilmAll Films
Admission
$13 General Public$9 Student, Senior & Child
$8 The Jewish Museum & Film Society Members
Holocaust: 6 film(s)
Lea and Darija
U.S. PremiereBranko Ivanda | Croatia | 2011 | 101m
Buy Tickets: Sun Jan 22: 3:20pm
Buy Tickets: Mon Jan 23: 8:30pm
A captivating drama tells the story of Lea Deutsch, known as the Croatian Shirley Temple, and her friend and dancing partner Darija Gasteiger. The two talented and exuberant 13-year-old girls were great stars in Zagreb on the eve of World War II. They played to sold-out houses around Europe, were filmed by Pathé Paris and Berlin’s UFA and lived in the rarefied world of the 1930s Croatian National Theater’s “Children’s Realm.” The Nazi persecution of Jews and later, German nationals’ flight from communists, tests their friendship.
DIRECTOR BRANKO IVANDA WILL ATTEND.
Watch the trailer
The Lost Love DiariesYasmine Novak | Israel | 2011 | 53m
Categories: Documentary, Holocaust, Israel, Romance
Buy Tickets: Mon Jan 16: 3:15pm
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 18: 8:30pm
On the morning of her wedding day, Ellis receives a package in the mail. It contains a diary kept by the first love of her life, Bernie, during his time underground in World War II. When Bernie did not return, Ellis married another man and moved with him to Palestine. She kept the diary hidden for 65 years until her historian daughter prevailed upon her to read it and try to find out what happened to Bernie. This gripping documentary is a combination detective story and love saga.
Watch the trailer
preceded by
Popular Israeli rock musician Dudu Tassa embarks on a mission to revive his grandfather’s traditional Iraqi songs by remixing the tunes for contemporary listeners. Salah and his brother Daud al-Kuwaiti were highly acclaimed Jewish musicians in 1930s Iraq. They arrived in Israel in the 1950s and found they were unknown and unappreciated. In this musical documentary, Tassa engages in a labor of love to research and perform his family’s musical past.
DIRECTOR GILI GAON WILL ATTEND.
My Father EvgeniAndrei Zagdansky | USA/Ukraine | 2010 | 77m
Categories: Documentary
Buy Tickets: Tue Jan 17: 9:00pm [at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center]
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 18: 3:30pm
Andrei Zagdansky (Interpretation of Dreams, NYJFF 1992) returns to the NYJFF with a moving portrait of his father, who was editor-in-chief of the Kiev Popular Science Film Studio. Father and son worked in the same studio for 11 years, until Andrei immigrated to New York with his family. Evgeni’s letters to Andrei and Andrei’s narrative of his father’s life intertwine, creating a portrait of the man and a particular moment in Soviet culture.
DIRECTOR ANDREI ZAGDANSKY WILL ATTEND.
Watch the trailer
preceded by
Three PromisesWorld PremiereEdward Serotta | Serbia/USA | 2011 | 19m
Categories: Documentary, Holocaust, Short Film
Through family photographs, sisters Breda and Matilda Kalef take us into the world of Sephardic pre-World War II Serbia and the dramatic story of their flight to safety. The family photo album, containing 169 pictures, remained in Belgrade. When the Kalefs returned after the war, the album was still there, but nearly all those in it had been killed.
RemembranceNew York PremiereAnna Justice | Germany | 2011 | 105m
Categories: Drama, Germany, Holocaust, Romance
Buy Tickets: Mon Jan 16: 6:00pm
Buy Tickets: Tue Jan 17: 3:15pm
Inspired by actual events, Remembrance depicts a remarkable love story that blossomed in the terror and squalor of a Nazi concentration camp in 1944 Poland. In a daring escape, Tomasz, a young Polish prisoner, rescues his Jewish lover, Hannah. In the chaos of the end of the war, they are forcibly separated and each is convinced that the other has died. More than 30 years later in New York City, Hannah believes she has seen her Tomasz interviewed on television and she begins to search for him again. Anna Justice (Max Minsky and Me, NYJFF 2009) directs this powerful and artfully crafted drama.
SCREENWRITER PAM KATZ AND ACTOR DAVID RASCHE WILL ATTEND JAN 16 SCREENING.
Watch the trailer
The Silent HistorianU.S. PremiereSimonka de Jong | The Netherlands | 2011 | 55m
Categories: Documentary, Holocaust
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 25: 3:00pm
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 25: 8:30pm
A fascinating documentary about the filmmaker’s grandfather, the prominent Dutch historian Loe de Jong, known for his research on the history of the Netherlands during World War II. De Jong grew to national prominence when the war history of public figures such as Prince Claus came to light. After his death, the family made a discovery—Loe had concealed personal documents about his twin brother, Sally, who didn’t survive the war. Why did Loe never give these letters to Sally’s children, who spent their lives looking for information about the family that was broken apart by the war?
DIRECTOR SIMONKA DE JONG WILL ATTEND.
preceded by
Joann Sfar Draws From MemoryWorld PremiereSam Ball | USA/France | 2012 | 46m
Categories: Documentary, France
Sam Ball (Poumy, NYJFF 2005 and Pleasures of Urban Decay, 2000) returns with another fascinating documentary portrait, turning his lens on graphic novelist and filmmaker Joann Sfar, author of the popular The Rabbi’s Cat series and director of the recent film, Serge Gainsbourg (Vie Héroïque). The film follows Sfar to his favorite neighborhood spots, as he muses on his artistic process and the influence of his Algerian and East European family heritage.
DIRECTOR SAM BALL AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER RABBI VALERIE JOSEPH WILL ATTEND.
White: A Memoir in ColorWorld PremiereJoel Katz | USA | 2012 | 59m
Categories: Documentary
Buy Tickets: Thu Jan 12: 1:30pm
Buy Tickets: Thu Jan 12: 6:00pm
In this personal documentary, Joel Katz (Strange Fruit, NYJFF 2002) explores what it means to be white in America through the story of his own family across generations. His father’s role as a white professor at Howard University, a traditionally black college, during the civil rights era comes to bear on his and his wife’s decisions about race and adoption. Original score by Don Byron.
DIRECTOR JOEL KATZ AND COMPOSER AND MUSICIAN DON BYRON WILL ATTEND.
Watch the trailer
preceded by
An elegantly made short based on correspondence from the director’s great-aunt Freda, written as she traveled through Germany and Austria in the American Army Women’s Corps in 1945.
This year’s New York Jewish Film Festival was selected by Rachel Chanoff, Independent Curator, Scott Foundas, Associate Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center; Richard Peña, Program Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center; and Aviva Weintraub, Associate Curator and Director of The New York Jewish Film Festival, The Jewish Museum; with assistance from Jaron Gandelman, Curatorial Assistant for Media and Film Festival Coordinator, The Jewish Museum.
Acknowledgements
Susan Barocas, Washington JFF; Natalia Babinski, Polish Cultural Institute, NY; Laurie Cearley, Olli Chanoff, Nadine Goellner, The Office; Nicola Galliner, Berlin JFF; Stuart Hands, Toronto JFF; J. Hoberman, The Village Voice; Andrew Ingall, Foundation for Jewish Culture; Annette Insdorf, Columbia University; Judy Ironside, UK Jewish Film; Aviva Kempner; Joshua Moore, Jay Rosenblatt, San Francisco JFF; Sharon Rivo, Lisa Rivo, National Center for Jewish Film; Sara L. Rubin, Boston JFF; Karen Small, Rutgers JFF; Alla Verlotsky, Seagull Films; Isaac Zablocki, The JCC in Manhattan; The Film Society of Lincoln Center staff; The Jewish Museum staff; Interns: Sophia Grais, Lyudmyla Bua; Volunteers: Marlene Josephs, Linda Lipson.