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Fioretta

Online Streaming: November 22-24, 2024
Post film discussion: Monday - November 25th at 7pm
Sponsor: Robert Dixon

History enthusiast Randy Schoenberg and his reluctant son embark on a transformative journey across Europe and through the centuries to reclaim 500 years of their family story, encountering kings, mystics, and a false messiah along the way. As they navigate Europe’s tumultuous past, ‘Fioretta’ becomes a visually captivating exploration that not only reunites the shards…

This lusciously shot Jewish genealogical documentary by Israeli-American filmmaker Matthew Mishory, is clearly a labor of love, filmed by a Jewish team deeply engaged with their own culture and history, eager to share the process of this exploration with audience.  Shot mostly in Vienna, Prague and Venice, “Fioretta” is a graceful tribute to a mostly vanished Jewish European society.

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Remembering Gene Wilder

Online Streaming: December 20-22, 2024
Sponsors: Susan Sacks & Mark Sendrow, M.A.

This loving tribute to Gene Wilder celebrates his life and legacy as the comic genius behind an extraordinary string of film roles, from his first collaboration with Mel Brooks in The Producers, to the enigmatic title role in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, to his inspired on-screen partnership with Richard Pryor in movies like Silver Streak. It is illustrated by a bevy of touching and hilarious clips and outtakes, never-before-seen home movies, narration from Wilder’s audiobook memoir, and interviews with a roster of brilliant friends and collaborators like Mel Brooks, Alan Alda, and Carol Kane.

This film is a thoroughly researched documentary about a man to whom millions worldwide owe smiles.  More than a superficial star study. It digs into the complexities of Wilder’s character, both onscreen and off.  Remembering Gene Wilder shines a light on an essential performer, writer, director, and all-around mensch.

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Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic

Online Streaming: January 10-12, 2025
Sponsor: Mindy and Bill Brant

Leonard Bernstein was one of the most celebrated Jewish musicians of all time. The Museum and the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra has presented this program to explore Leonard Bernstein’s remarkable legacy in Israel.

Bernstein’s musical career in Israel began in 1947, when he first conducted a symphony in Tel Aviv for the Palestine Symphony Orchestra. The next year, he conducted an open-air concert for Israeli troops in the middle of the desert during Israel’s War of Independence, within earshot of retreating Egyptian forces. Over the next several decades, he went on to conduct and perform in dozens of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s concerts, including leading their first American tour. This 2022 film tracks the decades-long relationship between the maestro and the Orchestra, and includes interviews, archival images, and special video footage.  It is hosted by playwright, actor, and pianist Hershey Felder. 

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Ver Vet Blaybn? Who Will Remain?

LIVE, IN-PERSON SCREENING
Tuesday, February 11th at 7pm
This screening is co-sponsored by the Yiddish Book Center, Amherst, MA

Ver Vet Blaybn?(Who Will Remain?) tells the story of Hadas Kalderon, Avrom Sutzkever’s granddaughter, as she attempts to better understand her grandfather. Kalderon, an Israeli actress, travels to Lithuania, using her grandfather’s diary to trace his early life in Vilna and his survival of the Holocaust. Sutzkever (1913–2010) was an acclaimed Yiddish poet—described by the New York Times as the “greatest poet of the Holocaust”—whose verse drew on his youth in Siberia and Vilna, his spiritual and material resistance during World War II, and his postwar life in Israel. Kalderon is determined to connect with what remains of the poet’s bygone world and accept the personal responsibility of preserving her grandfather’s literary legacy.

Woven into the documentary are family home videos, newly recorded interviews, and archival recordings, including Sutzkever’s testimony at the Nuremberg trials. Recitation of his poetry and personal reflections on resisting Nazi forces as a partisan fighter reveal how Sutzkever tried to make sense of the Holocaust and its aftermath. As Kalderon strives to reconstruct the stories told by her grandfather, the film examines the limits of language, geography, and time.

To download the flier: CLICK HERE

Troll Storm

LIVE, IN-PERSON SCREENING
Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 2pm
Sponsorship Opportunity Available 

Streaming March 21-23, 2025
Sponsorship Opportunity Available 

Set in the heart of Whitefish, Montana, a seemingly idyllic ski town, antisemitic attacks against Tanya Gersh start soon after Donald Trump wins the presidential election. As the storm of online harassment intensifies, the Whitefish community is forced to confront the alarming local rise of far-right extremism. Tanya, overwhelmed by being the focal point of the attacks and at the threat of imminent danger, courageously takes a stand against hate, fear, and prejudice by filing a lawsuit against her perpetrators.

As Tanya attempts to understand and process what’s happening to her family, she finds in Holocaust survivor Stephen Jacobs’ story an uncanny parallel between the rise of white nationalism in the United States and the rise of fascism in Germany. Directed by Eunice Lau and produced by Brooke Swaney and Zachary Kerschberg, Troll Storm chronicles the harrowing journey of a woman who transforms from a victim of cyber hate into a courageous advocate for justice and free speech. The documentary captures the spirit of resilience, the power of community, and the pursuit of justice in the face of adversity. By telling her story, Tanya renders visible the architecture of oppression that holds us down. More than ever, this film captures the zeitgeist of our present turmoil.

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The Jewish Nazi?

Streaming April 25-27, 2025
Sponsorship Opportunity Available 

"An Extraordinary, jaw-dropping story.”

This film tells the staggering story of Melbourne’s Alex Kurzem, a young boy who escaped the massacre of his family’s shtetl in Belarus in 1941. He survived in the woods during one of the coldest winters on record, only to be captured by a Latvian battalion. Instead of killing him, they took pity on him and gave him a new name, adorned him with a uniform and a gun, and made him their child mascot, “Hitler’s youngest soldier.” Building on the international bestselling book ‘The Mascot’ and an award-winning ABC documentary, the film goes above and beyond, tracing Alex’s journey to Australia with his adopted Latvian family, and his eventual life in the Melbourne suburb of Altona

A staggering story of secrets and lies, identity and family…One Holocaust survivor. Four false identities. Two fake reunions…

The Jewish Nazi? tells the remarkable story of a Jewish child who survives the Holocaust as the Nazi’s youngest soldier, hides his shocking secret in Australia for 50 years, has had four false identities, been wrongly 'reunited' with two long-lost families and now – thanks to a DNA breakthrough – discovers his true identity in the twilight of his life.

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Secret Sabbath

LIVE, IN-PERSON SCREENING
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at 7pm
Sponsorship Opportunity Available 

STREAMING: May 16-18, 2025
Sponsorship Opportunity Available 

Explore a little-known aspect of Mexican history as four Christians embark on a quest to discover their Jewish heritage.

This fascinating film explores the journeys undertaken by diverse Jewish people in Mexico and the Southwestern US to uncover long-hidden family secrets passed down through generations. As they delve deeper, they discover a compelling fusion of their Hispanic and Jewish cultural heritage, a less explored and often marginalized facet of their identities. Rejecting strict identity categories, they embrace who they are instead, drawing inspiration from the life and experiences of Luis de Carvajal the Younger, a historical figure who met a tragic end in 16th-century Inquisitorial Mexico. He was condemned to be burned at the stake due to his commitment to adhering to the Law of Moses, exemplifying the profound struggles faced by those who dared to challenge societal norms and religious authorities during that era.

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Live at Mr. Kelly’s

LIVE, IN-PERSON SCREENING
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at 7pm
Sponsor: Stuart Siefer 

STREAMING: June 13-15, 2025
Sponsorship Opportunity Available 

The legendary Mister Kelly’s, once called a “supernova in the local and national night life firmament,” illuminated Chicago's legendary Rush Street, and the entire country, by launching talents including Barbra Streisand, Herbie Hancock, Bette Midler, and Richard Pryor. Its visionary owners George and Oscar Marienthal smashed color and gender barriers to put fresh, irreverent voices in the spotlight and transform entertainment in the 50s, 60s, and ’70s.

Now, with the club long gone, and its star talent reaching its golden years, George’s son David and acclaimed director/screenwriter Ted Bogosian go on a quest to collect the memories of the club before they are lost. Interviews with Lily Tomlin, Bob Newhart, the Smothers Brothers, Dick Gregory, Lainie Kazan, Dick Cavett, Shecky Greene, David Steinberg, Robert Klein, Ramsey Lewis and others are paired with voices of local musicians, staff, family, and patrons. Through historical footage, photos, music, and song, the history of Mister Kelly's illustrates the most beloved and famous talent of our time at the decisive moments when they first showed up, dug deep, and broke in.