The fourth annual Long Beach Jewish Film Festival will return with all films shown at the University Theater on the campus of Cal State, Long Beach. The festival will run Saturday, February 21 and Sunday, February 22. Moviegoers will have a unique educational and cultural experience as they have the opportunity to screen the selections, which represent an international array of films. Each film provides a unique look into the lives of Jewish people and the diversity of the Jewish experience.
The Secrets will open the festival Saturday at 7:30pm. The film presents the complexities of a religious lifestyle within the context of youth, rebellion and desire. The Secrets will open for wide release in March 2009 and was nominated for eight awards of the Israeli Film Academy.
Sunday at 10am, Noodle, winner of the Special Grand Prize of the Jury at the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival and winner of the Best Supporting Actress Award from the Israel Film Academy, is a touching comedy-drama in which two human beings, as different from each other as Tel Aviv is from Beijing, accompany each other on a remarkable journey.
El Brindis (To Life), a Chilean comedy-drama, will screen at 12:30pm on Sunday. Winning Best Feature at the San Diego Latin Film Festival, El Brindis is the story of a young woman who reluctantly travels from Mexico to visit her estranged 83-year-old Chilean father, who is preparing for his bar mitzvah.
Closing the festival on Sunday at 3pm, Yiddish Theatre A Love Story is a heartwarming story of one unique woman’s struggle. It portrays the fight of both an old art form to stay relevant and an old actress to find meaning and a stage in a society that worships youth.
For a complete listing of films with descriptions, visit www.alpertjcc.org. Tickets for all the films are available at the Alpert Jewish Community Center and may be purchased for individual films at $12 each, which includes parking, or a festival pass for $40 for all four films. For additional information and to purchase tickets, call Susan Paletz at (562) 426-7601 ext. 1012.
