The Washington Jewish Film Festival is an annual event that promotes the preservation of Jewish culture by showing films with Jewish themes and encouraging a dialogue about a variety of issues. The film festival, sponsored by the Washington DCJCC, features world, East Coast and mid-Atlantic premieres, filmmaker and cast appearances, and a curated line-up of screenings, festivities and other programs.
Among the programs scheduled to take the festival beyond the screen are the 5th Annual Community Education Day on Arab Citizens of Israel, a day of in-depth exploration of the daily lives and challenges of Israel’s Arab population through a keynote address by the president of Al-Qasemi College of Engineering and Science, and a panel discussion among Middle East experts.
Dates: February 19-March 1, 2015
2015 Festival Highlights
- Opening Night will feature Magic Men, in which a 78-year-old Greek-born atheist and his estranged Hasidic rapper son travel from Israel to Greece searching for the magician who saved the father’s life during World War II. Their Adriatic road trip erupts into constant bickering but also has moments of affection, humor, and good will, as father and son reconnect during their adventure. Opening Night will be held Thursday, February 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, and The Opening Night Party will be held at the Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza immediately following the screening.
- WJFF’s Centerpiece Evening will take place at the AFI Silver Theatre on Saturday, February 21, at 7 p.m. and feature an extended Q&A session with Theodore Bikel, the unstoppable performer whose career spans more than 150 screen roles (including an Oscar-nominated turn in The Defiant Ones) and countless stage and musical productions. In Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem, portraits of two beloved icons—Sholom Aleichem and Theodore Bikel—are woven together in an enchanting new documentary. The two men have much in common: wit, wisdom and talent, filled with deep humanity and Yiddishkeit.
- The Annual WJFF Visionary Award recognizes creativity and insight in presenting the full diversity of the Jewish experience through the moving image. The 2015 honorees are Carol Kane and Joan Micklin Silver. Carol Kane will be present at a screening of her Oscar-nominated performance in Silver’s humorous and poignant movie, Hester Street, about a traditional Jewish woman who arrives with her son to America in the 1890s, only to discover that her cheating husband has assimilated and resents his wife’s old-fashioned ways. The WJFF Visionary Award will be presented Tuesday, February 24, at 7:15 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre.
- Israeli-Palestinian singer Mira Awad and songwriter Steve Earle will join legendary singer-songwriter David Broza for a 45-minute musical set and Q&A following a screening of East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem on Thursday, February 26, at 7 p.m. at Sidney Harman Hall of the Shakespeare Theater Company. In the film, Broza journeys to East Jerusalem to record his latest album with Israeli, Palestinian and American musicians.
- The WJFF will come close on March 1, at 7:30 p.m. with a screening of Uruguay’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, Mr. Kaplan. In Uruguayan director Alvaro Brechner’s 2014 feature film, 76-year-old Jacob Kaplan, fed up with his community and his family’s lack of interest in its own heritage, becomes convinced that his German neighbor is a runaway Nazi and secretly takes on the role of a spy, but he is no match for the forces of age. This heartwarming comedy tells the truth of life that transcends time and ideology. The Closing Night Reception and Audience Award announcements follow the screening.
Festival Venues
- The Avalon - 5612 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
- Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater -1529 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC
- AFI Silver Theater - 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
- Goethe-Institut Washington - 812 Seventh Street, Washington, DC
- Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, 6125 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD
- Katzen Arts Center, American University?, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, DC
Official Website: www.wjff.org