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Saturday, March 13
OPENING NIGHT FILM &
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE
AJAMI
Saturday, March 13 at 7:45 PM Intros | 8:00 PM Film (doors open 7:30) | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | Israel | 2009
Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category, AJAMI is a gritty, urban crime drama that tells the interwoven stories of Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighbors living in bloody disharmony in Israel's impoverished Jaffa neighborhood. Co-written, directed & edited by a Jewish Israeli and Palestinian Israeli/Arab Christian. Think: Crash meets Traffic in Israel.
Advance sales ended. Day-of-show tickets will be available at the Festival Box Office. Some rush tickets may be available. We will sell out. Tickets for Tacoma Screening are still on sale.
Sunday, March 14
Featured Sephardic Film
Seattle Jewish Chorale Performs
LEON - A NEW ENCOUNTER
Sunday, March 14 at 11:30 AM (Chorus starts 11:20 AM) | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | Spain | 2008
The northern Spanish town of Leon has a rich but little-known Jewish history, revealed through fascinating personal accounts, historical footage and haunting pieces of music and writing created by artists heralding from the region. Seattle Jewish Chorale Performs Before @ 11:20 AM.
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LOOK INTO MY EYES
Sunday, March 14 at 1:30 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | Israel | 2008
Rabbi-turned-filmmaker Naftaly Gliksberg travels through two continents interviewing subjects on the topic of anti-Semitism to investigate whether it remains a pervasive global problem or has evolved into a buzzword. A revealing and chilling look under the surface of polite European society and collective history.
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WHERE I STAND: THE HANK GREENSPUN STORY
Sunday, March 14 at 3:20 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | United States | 2008
Stranger than fiction, WHERE I STAND chronicles the life of the charismatic Hank Greenspun, a former Brooklyn kid who became a courageous "give em' hell" newspaperman, Vegas icon and real-life Zelig, known for winning every battle he ever fought even with formidable opponents like the mob and McCarthy. Special Guest: Director Scott Goldstein
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KILLING KASZTNER: THE JEW WHO DEALT WITH THE NAZIS
Sunday, March 14 at 5:50 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | United States | 2008
HERO OR TRAITOR? Rezso Kasztner, the Hungarian Jew who faced down Eichmann, saved thousands and paid with his life. True stories rarely contain a historic mystery, a courtroom drama, a political murder, and a family saga, but all can be found in this amazing tale. Photo: Rezso Kasztner in Switzerland (courtesy Kasztner Family). SJFF Special Guest: Director Gaylen Ross.
[MORE]
WEDDING SONG | Le Chant des Mariées
Sunday, March 14 at 8:45 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | Tunisia | 2008
Set in 1942 Tunis, WEDDING SONG is a fearless and poetic exploration of female sexual awakening and Jewish-Arab coexistence as seemingly powerless women find a way through friendship to reclaim their destinies.
[MORE]Monday, March 15
AMNON'S JOURNEY
Monday, March 15 at 6:30 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | United States | 2009
The fascinating and inspiring story of master violin maker, Amnon Weinstein, who lovingly restores instruments played during the Holocaust to give voice to a lost generation. AMNON'S JOURNEY features stirring musical performances by international virtuosos such as Shlomo Mintz, Yair Dalal and Cihat Askin, and culminates with a breathtaking concert in Jerusalem.
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JAZZ BARONESS
Monday, March 15 at 8:00 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | United Kingdom | 2009
Filmmaker Hannah Rothschild explores the little-known, unlikely story of her great aunt, Pannonica (Nica) de Kkoenigswarter nee Rothschild - the granddaughter of Britain's first Jewish member of Parliament - who was both muse and patroness to jazz musician Thelonius Monk, resulting in at least 12 different jazz songs named after her.
[MORE]Tuesday, March 16
HEY, HEY IT'S ESTHER BLUEBERGER
Tuesday, March 16 at 6:30 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | Australia | 2008
This quirky, coming-of-age comedy explores what it's like to be an outsider in your own world, and stars Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine) and Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider).
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ZRUBAVEL
Tuesday, March 16 at 8:30 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | Israel | 2008
A family of Ethiopian emigres is torn between love for their homeland and assimilation within Israeli culture in ZRUBAVEL, the first Ethiopian Israeli feature film.
[MORE]Wednesday, March 17
Stroum JCC "Senior" Lunch Screening Event
STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING
Wednesday, March 17 at 12:00 PM Noon | Stroum Jewish Community Center (SJCC) | United States | 2007
SJFF's annual Stroum JCC "Senior" 55+ Lunch Screening Cost $6 for Bagel Lunch: Reservations Required. Seating limited. NO Tickets sold @ door or online. RSVP to Roni+: 206.232.7115, Ext. 269 or email: ronia@sjcc.org
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I SAW A MOUNTAIN | short
Wednesday, March 17 at 7:00 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | United States | 2009
The filmmaker's father, a Holocaust survivor, reads the powerful poem "I Saw a Mountain" by Moiche Schulstein in Yiddish. This sepia-toned collaboration is a testimony to life and not destruction. Plays before: Human Failure.
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VOICES OF EL-SAYED
Wednesday, March 17 at 7:30 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | Israel | 2008
Nestled in the Negev Desert, El-Sayed is home to a Bedouin village with the largest community of deaf people in the world. Through the generations, a unique sign language has evolved and a father must decide whether to get his son cochlear implants in spite of resistance from a community where the hearing and deaf comfortably coexist.
[MORE]
JAFFA
Wednesday, March 17 at 9:15 PM | SIFF CINEMA AT MCCAW HALL | Israel | 2009
The complexities of contemporary multi-ethnic Israel are explored in this modernized version of Romeo and Juliet relocated to the port city of Jaffa where Muslims, Jews and Christians live side by side. A young Jewish woman is having a secret relationship with an Arab mechanic, who works at her father's garage, until tragedy strikes shattering the symbolic promise their relationship embodies of Jews and Arabs living together in peace.
[MORE]Thursday, March 18
AGAINST THE TIDE
Thursday, March 18 at 3:30 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | United States | 2009
This scathing indictment of US indifference to the Holocaust features a never-before-seen interview with Peter Bergson, who challenged the isolationism of the Roosevelt administration and American Jewish organizations in order to attract support from non-Jewish Congressmen and Hollywood personalities. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman.
[MORE]
RABBI FIRER: A REASON TO QUESTION
Thursday, March 18 at 5:30 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | Israel | 2008
Nearly 150 patients a day seek assistance from Rabbi Elimelech Firer, a 54-year-old Orthodox Jew self-educated in medicine, to help navigate their way through the tangled web of medical treatments. He can change a patient's care with a single phone call to world-renowned experts in their fields. A timely film about Jewish values and the healthcare quagmire.
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Dir. Michael Verhoeven to Be Presented with
1st SJFF REEL Difference Award
HUMAN FAILURE | Menschliches Versagen
Thursday, March 18 at 7:00 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | United States | 2008
During the Third Reich, virtually every Aryan citizen benefited from the robbery of Jewish assets. But it was not the Gestapo who invaded Jewish residences in order to confiscate property, from bank accounts to the last shirt, it was the German Tax officials. Academy Award nominated director Michael Verhoeven's remarkable oeuvre dares to tell the truth in Germany about Germany. Special Guest: Director Michael Verhoeven will be presented with SJFFs 1st Reel Difference Award, created by Roger Nachman Glassworks.
Plays with: I Saw a Mountain (short).
FREE SCREENING WITH RSVPNASTY GIRL | Das schreckliche Madchen
Thursday, March 18 at 8:30am Doors | 9:30 Film | 11:00 Dialogue with Filmmaker | CINERAMA THEATRE | Germany | 1990
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC WITH RSVP REQUESTED
Sonya is a German high school student who decides to write an essay about her town's history during the Third Reich and its resistance to it. To her dismay, and more so to the town's, she uncovers instead their definite collaboration during the period. As she digs deeper, Sonya must struggle against the town's vocal and violent opposition to her search for the truth.
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SAVIORS IN THE NIGHT | Unter Bauern
Thursday, March 18 at 9:15 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | Germany | 2009
Based on the 1965 memoir of Marga Spiegel, now 97 years old, SAVIORS IN THE NIGHT tells the riveting story of the Spiegel family who found refuge with courageous Westphalian farmers during WWII after barely escaping the last of the death camp deportations. SAVIORS is a refreshingly unsentimental memorial.
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NASTY GIRL | Das schreckliche Madchen
Thursday, March 18 at 8:30am Doors | 9:30 Film | 11:00 Dialogue with Filmmaker | CINERAMA THEATRE | Germany | 1990
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC WITH RSVP REQUESTED
Sonya is a German high school student who decides to write an essay about her town's history during the Third Reich and its resistance to it. To her dismay, and more so to the town's, she uncovers instead their definite collaboration during the period. As she digs deeper, Sonya must struggle against the town's vocal and violent opposition to her search for the truth.
SAVIORS IN THE NIGHT | Unter Bauern
Thursday, March 18 at 9:15 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | Germany | 2009
Based on the 1965 memoir of Marga Spiegel, now 97 years old, SAVIORS IN THE NIGHT tells the riveting story of the Spiegel family who found refuge with courageous Westphalian farmers during WWII after barely escaping the last of the death camp deportations. SAVIORS is a refreshingly unsentimental memorial.
[MORE]Saturday, March 20
BREAKING UPWARDS
Saturday, March 20 at 5:00 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | United States | 2009
A twenty-something New York Jewish couple engineer their own break-up after their four-year codependent relationship grows tedious. Based on an actual experiment devised by director/actor Daryl Wein and his girlfriend and actress Zoe Lister, BREAKING UPWARDS features comic performances by Emmy-winner Andrea Martin (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and begs the question: Is it ever possible to grow apart together?
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SEVEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN | Sheva Dakot be Gan Eden
Saturday, March 20 at 7:00 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | Israel | 2008
A young Jerusalem woman struggles to confront her memories of a horrific suicide bus bombing a year after the event in this well-crafted, romantic psychological thriller.
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EYES WIDE OPEN | Einaym Pkuhot
Saturday, March 20 at 9:15 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | Israel | 2009
The rigidly ordered world of a butcher and married father of four is disrupted with the arrival of a lost soul who awakens dormant feelings. EYES is a restrained yet bold look at the highly controversial topic of homosexuality in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community. A quietly devastating drama. Plays with: Lost Paradise
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LOST PARADISE | short
Saturday, March 20 at 9:15 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | France | 2009
In this modern parable of Adam and Eve, a couple spends a passionate night in a cheap hotel, only to find afterwards that clothes make all the difference. Plays before: Eyes Wide Open
[MORE]Sunday, March 21
G-DCAST: SHEMINI | short
Sunday, March 21 at 11:00 AM | CINERAMA THEATRE | United States | 2009
SHEMINI is the 26th episode of a weekly online cartoon about the Torah story, or parsha. Each episode is read - or in this case sung - by Jewish artists and educators from around the world. Some are stories, others are country songs or hip hop! All are animated, 55 annually. This parsha tells the strange tale of Aaron's sons and the laws of kashrut - so naturally, it's a musical! JDub recording artist Dan Saks croons. Plays before: Tevye
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MATZOH MOMMA BAGEL BRUNCH & FAMILY FILM
Sponsored by BROADWAY ACROSS AMERICA
TEVYE
Sunday, March 21 at 11:00 AM Film [Brunch 10: 00 AM] | CINERAMA THEATRE | United States | 1939
A rare opportunity to see the classic Yiddish folktale by Sholem Aleichem that inspired Fiddler on the Roof and one of the greatest actors of the Yiddish stage (Maurice Schwartz) in the title role. Then you can truly enjoy Harvey Fierstein as Tevye in Seattle's upcoming Broadway production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. (May 25-30, Paramount Theatre). Discount tickets for SJFF Friends with the password: JFFTICKETS.
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HEART OF STONE
Sunday, March 21 at 1:00 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | United States | 2008
The efforts of a gutsy Newark, New Jersey high school principal to stave off gang violence and boost student morale are chronicled in this heartfelt documentary. Famed Weequahic High is known for illustrious grads like Philip Roth. In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, it churned out more PhD's than any other American high school. Younger African-American and older Jewish alums join forces to steer the school in a new, safer direction that gets results. Special Guest: Direcor Beth Toni Kruvant. Plays with: Hold The Soup (short).
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HOLD THE SOUP | short
Sunday, March 21 at 1:00 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | United States | 2008
The story of a matzoh ball eating championship. Plays with: Heart of Stone.
[MORE]
Being Indian, Being Israeli
RAFTING TO BOMBAY
Sunday, March 21 at 3:30 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | Israel | 2009
Past and present collide when the Laufer family travels to Mumbai to document their father's story of refuge in India during World War II and they are caught in the worst terror attack the city has ever experienced.
[MORE]
CAMERA OBSCURA | La Cámara Oscura
Sunday, March 21 at 5:30 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | Argentina | 2008
Set in Argentina at the turn of the last century, this enchanting and inventive saga follows a homely Jewish woman relegated to the background and made to feel like an ugly duckling until an itinerant portrait photographer reveals her true beauty for the first time. Director Maria Victoria Menis artfully blends animation, magical realism and still photography to illuminate notions of self-conscious beauty through a feminine lens.
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GEFILTE FISH | short
Sunday, March 21 at 5:30 PM | CINERAMA THEATRE | Israel | 2008
A young woman's pre-wedding family tradition is to kill and prepare gefilte fish. Short plays before: CAMERA OBSCURA.
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CLOSING NIGHT FILM & FESTIVITIES
Sushi, Sake, Sweets & Sumo
MATTER OF SIZE | Sippur Gadol
Sunday, March 21 at 7:30 PM Doors Open for Sushi & Sake | 8 PM Remarks & Film | 10 PM Closing Cake | CINERAMA THEATRE | Israel | 2009
An overweight, Israeli dishwasher is introduced to sumo wrestling by his Japanese co-workers and finds self-acceptance in a sport where his size is his greatest asset.
[MORE]Thursday, March 25
TACOMA ENCORE SCREENING
AJAMI | Tacoma
Thursday, March 25 at 7:00 PM | WA State History Museum (Tacoma) | Israel | 2009
Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category, AJAMI is a gritty, urban crime drama that tells the interwoven stories of Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighbors living in bloody disharmony in Israel's impoverished Jaffa neighborhood. Co-written, directed & edited by a Jewish Israeli and Palestinian Israeli/Arab Christian. Think: Crash meets Traffic in Israel. All tickets $11. No discounts. Free access with SJFF Ticket to WSHS Galleries before the film.
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