The Cinema Arts Centre will host a three-day Jewish film festival featuring documentaries, films, and a look at Jewish culture.
The festival will run from April 14-April 16. Films are curated by David Schwartz, manager of theatrical programming at Netflix.
Public tickets are $15 per screening except for the film “City Without Jews”, which costs $17 for public tickets. A full festival pass is also available for $60, with access to every film in the festival.
The festival will show the following, with descriptions from Cinema Arts.
Friday April 14
I Like It Here
A meditation on aging, survival, memory, and the connections we build with family, friends, neighbors, and strangers, Ralph Arlyck’s utterly charming personal film asks, “How do we make the most of the precious time we have?” What started as a movie about his neighbor, a reclusive Hungarian immigrant, ended up as something universal, capturing the moments in daily life that reveal the pitfalls and pleasures of getting old. While always aware of mortality, it is a movie whose ultimate message is “L’chaim.” With Director Ralph Arlyck in person. (2022, 88 mins) 7 p.m.
Saturday April 15
My Neighbor Adolf
In 1960s Colombia, a cantankerous Holocaust survivor passes his time tending to his garden and studying chess. His routine is interrupted by the arrival of a German man who he gradually becomes convinced is none other than Adolf Hitler. A surprisingly touching tale of loneliness and misunderstanding, it is also a master class in acting, with nuanced performances by the Scottish actor David Hayman and veteran German actor Udo Kier, who has worked extensively with top directors including Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Gus Van Sant. (2022, 96 mins) 1 p.m.
April 15
America
When an Israeli man returns home after ten years in America, an emotional encounter with a childhood friend and his future wife will change everyone’s lives. An engrossing drama that unfolds in lush landscape, America absorbs its characters, and the audience, in matters of life, death, and love. After the success of The Cakemaker, writer/director Ofir Raul Graizer returns with a film full of emotion and moral complexity, and beauty that is held together by three indelible performances by its young stars. (2022, 127 mins) 3:30 p.m.
April 15
Farewell, Mr. Haffmann
Occupied Paris,1941: as members of the Jewish community are instructed to identify themselves to authorities, a jewelry shop owner (Daniel Auteuil) arranges for his family to flee the city and offers his employee (Gilles Lellouche) the chance to take over his store until the conflict subsides. Adapted from an acclaimed play, Farewell, Mr. Hoffmann presents a world where lives are irrevocably shaped by the occupation. Rich in moral complexity and empathy, with several twists too good to spoil, this is grand, big-screen adult entertainment at its finest. (2021,115 mins) 7 p.m.
April 16
City Without Jews
With live accompaniment by Alicia Svigals & Donald Sosin
Directed by H. K. Breslauer, and based on the novel by Hugo Bettauer. City Without Jews predicted the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Set in the fictional Austrian city of Utopia, the story depicts the consequences of an anti-Semitic law forcing all Jews to leave the country. Shortly after the film’s premiere, Bettauer was murdered by the Nazis. Shown in public for the last time in 1933 as a protest against Hitler’s rise to power, the film contains ominous and eerily realistic sequences, such as shots of freight trains transporting Jews out of the city. (1924, 80 mins) 2 p.m.
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