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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In Person
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
Short Film: 6 film(s)
400 Miles to Freedom
World PremiereAvishai Yeganyahu Mekonen & Shari Rothfarb Mekonen | USA/Israel | 2012 | 60m
Categories: Documentary, Israel
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 11: 3:45pm
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 18: 6:00pm
In 1984, the Beta Israel—a secluded 2,500-year-old community of observant Jews in the northern Ethiopian mountains—began a secret and dangerous journey of escape. Co-director Avishai Mekonen, then 10 years old, was among them. In this film, he breaks his 20-year silence about the kidnapping he endured as a child in Sudan during his community’s exodus. This life-defining event launches an inquiry into identity, leading him to other African, Asian and Latino Jews in Israel and the U.S.
DIRECTORS AVISHAI YEGANYAHU MEKONEN AND SHARI ROTHFARB MEKONEN WILL ATTEND.
Watch the trailer
preceded by
A young Israeli has a meltdown during his army exam. A typical teenager, he is an attractive smart aleck with attitude.
Dressing America: Tales From The Garment CenterNew York PremiereSteven Fischler & Joel Sucher | USA | 2011 | 57m
Categories: Documentary
Buy Tickets: Mon Jan 16: 1:00pm
Buy Tickets: Tue Jan 24: 8:15pm
From the directors of From Swastika to Jim Crow (NYJFF 2000) comes this fascinating documentary exploring the post-World War II heyday of the garment district in Manhattan. Mavens of the “shmatte” business pay tribute to the Jewish immigrant roots of the garment industry, when Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long was a top musical hit and American designers challenged the hegemony of Paris fashion.
DIRECTORS STEVEN FISCHLER AND JOEL SUCHER WILL ATTEND.
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preceded by
In this short drama, a young girl ponders her place and develops a crush on a waiter at her father’s second wedding.
Mabul (The Flood)New York PremiereOPENING NIGHT
Guy Nattiv | Israel/Canada/France | 2010 | 101m
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 11: 1:00pm
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 11: 6:00pm
Buy Tickets: Wed Jan 11: 8:45pm
Everything is complicated in Yoni’s life. He’s almost 13 and smart, but physically underdeveloped. His classmates bully him and his parents barely say a word to each other. As if this weren’t enough, his 17-year-old autistic brother Tomer returns home from an institution right before Yoni’s bar mitzvah. Buried secrets come to light and Yoni’s bar mitzvah Torah portion—Noah and the flood—becomes a metaphor for the family’s fragile and frozen existence. Nominated for six Ophir Awards (Israeli Academy Awards), Mabul features unforgettable performances by Ronit Elkabetz (The Band’s Visit), Tzahi Grad (Eyes Wide Open, NYJFF 2010; Someone to Run With, NYJFF 2008) and Michael Moshonov (Tehilim, NYJFF 2008).
ACTOR MICHAEL MOSHONOV WILL ATTEND.
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preceded by
HowlU.S. PremiereNatalie Bettelheim & Sharon Michaeli | Israel | 2011 | 7m
Categories: Animation, Israel, Short Film
An intriguing hand-drawn animated short featuring a “wild child” wolf girl and her loving mother.
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.
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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.
The Queen Has No CrownTomer Heymann | Israel | 2011 | 82m
Categories: Documentary, Israel
Buy Tickets: Sun Jan 22: 8:30pm
Buy Tickets: Mon Jan 23: 3:30pm
Tomer Heymann (Paper Dolls) brings us this poignant meditation on family and loss using 8 and 16mm home movies and more recent footage he shot over the past decade to navigate the intimate lives of five brothers and their mother. Three of the Heymann sons take their families and leave Israel for "better" lives in America. They fulfill their own dreams, but shatter those of their mother. She is left in Israel with her two bachelor sons—one straight and the other, Tomer, gay. Exploring the politics of belonging, displacement and sexuality, the film examines the hard decisions one family has to make and the intractable bonds that unite them in the face of difficult life choices.
DIRECTOR TOMER HEYMANN WILL ATTEND.
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preceded by
Do all grandmothers give socks and underwear as birthday presents? 10-year-old Leo is much more intrigued by his grandpa’s gift—a Super-8 movie camera.
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.
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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.