The Jewish Federation of Greater Long Beach & West Orange County, Hillel and Jewish Family & Children’s Service have partnered to bring the third annual Jewish Film Festival to the Long Beach area. All films will be shown at the University Theater on the campus of California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).
The festival will have a two-day run Saturday, Feb. 9 and Sunday, Feb. 10. Moviegoers will enjoy an educational and cultural experience as they have the opportunity to screen the selected films.
The festival represents an international array of film-making from Israel, Netherlands and the USA. Each film provides a unique look into the lives of Jewish people and the diversity of the Jewish experience.
Three Mothers will open the festival on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. A saga of a Sephardic family from King Farouk’s Egypt to modern Israel, spanning three generations. Born in Alexandria, the triplets Rose, Yasmin and Flora lead lives shrouded in secret and deadly deceit. The film touchingly calls to question the meaning of blood ties, marital loyalties, independence and motherhood itself.
Sunday morning at 10 a.m., Souvenirs, a light-hearted Israeli documentary will be shown. The film tells the tale of an elderly, Iraqi-born veteran of the British Army’s Jewish Brigade, which was formed in mandatory Palestine toward the end of WWII. The veteran’s son, an Israeli filmmaker retraces the Brigade’s steps, through combat in northern Italy to occupation duties in the Netherlands.
Continuing on Sunday at 2 p.m., Sweet Mud a complex and muti-layered coming-of-age tale spotlights a 12-year-old boy caught between an emotionally unstable mother and the rigid equality values of their 1970’s kibbutz.
During the course of the festival, The Tribe a short film by director Tiffany Shlain will be shown. The movie takes the audience on an eclectic ride through the complex history of both the Barbie doll and the Jewish people from Biblical times to present day.
Closing the festival on Sunday at 6 p.m., Black Book the acclaimed film from the Netherlands will be shown. A beautiful Dutch Jewish cabaret singer joins the Resistance and infiltrates Nazi security headquarters in a major Dutch city.
Tickets for all the films are available at the Alpert Jewish Community Center and may be purchased for individual films at $10 each or as a festival pass for $36 for all four films.
For more information and to purchase tickets, contact Susan Paletz, AJCC program director at (562) 426-7601 ext. 1012.
