Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival Returns With International Guests and Diverse Films

The 28th Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival is set to take place from December 5-10 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, featuring over 40 films from 15 countries. The event will host international guests, including Oscar-winning director Volker Schlöndorff and American actor Michael Rapaport, alongside filmmakers and discussions exploring Jewish history, culture, music, and identity.

The festival's opening on Saturday, December 5, will feature the premiere of Schlöndorff's film "The House on the Lake," which chronicles generations of a family near Berlin and touches upon the fate of Jewish neighbors forced to flee. Schlöndorff will attend the opening and receive an honorary award. The following day, December 6, includes a screening and a discussion with the director.

Actor and comedian Michael Rapaport will close the festival on December 10 with the documentary "Have They Canceled Me Yet?" The film follows Rapaport's public support for Israel since October 7, detailing his renewed connection to his Jewish identity and the personal and professional costs he has faced. Rapaport will participate in a post-screening discussion with director Ruth Bar-Dana Kent and comedian Ben Ben Baruch.

This year's program also highlights "I Want to Tell My Story," a film by Israeli director Tomer Heymann, produced in part by Nancy Spielberg. It centers on 100-year-old Holocaust survivor Shimon Rothschild, who recreates his life story using actors and a specially built studio, detailing his experiences in Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, and a death march. A discussion with Heymann and Rothschild will follow the December 6 screening.

Other notable films include "The Wild West of the East," a Polish drama starring Itai Tiran, set in occupied Poland in 1943, and "Women on Trial - The Marie Claire Story," starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Cécile de France, based on a 1970s French trial concerning women's rights. The festival will also explore the Jewish roots of folk singer Woody Guthrie in the documentary "Dust Storms and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie," focusing on his encounters with Jewish culture in 1940s New York and his mother-in-law, Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt. A discussion with director Steven Pressman will follow the December 7 screening.

Additionally, the festival will present an exhibition titled "Station in Time" at the Cinematheque, dedicated to public transportation in Israel, incorporating archival footage, documentaries, and contemporary art to examine changes in transportation and daily life. Festival directors Roni Mahadav-Levine and Daniela Tourgeman Glass stated the event aims to foster dialogue among diverse Jewish voices in Israel and the diaspora on themes of identity, memory, community, and belonging.