As one of the longest-running Jewish film festivals in the country, the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma and Howard Laderberg, educates and engages diverse Tidewater communities, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, by presenting world-class film premieres, repertory cinema, and associated programs that are inspired by Jewish or Israeli history, heritage, and values. Our vision is to create shared experiences and connections through film and cultural programs inspired by Jewish legacy and values.

Schedule of Events:

February 16, 2025

2:30 pm: Running on Sand

- Director Adar Shafran
- 104 min
- Israel
- 2023
- Hebrew with English subtitles
- Drama

Aumari, a young Eritrean refugee living in Israel, is about to be deported back to his home country. After a spontaneous escape attempt at the airport and a case of mistaken identity, Aumari is assumed by Maccabi Netanya fans to be their new Nigerian soccer star. With no sporting talent, but hailed as a hero, he unites and uplifts the floundering squad, all while hiding his true identity. Amid their quest for victory, he finds himself falling for the team owner's daughter, risking exposure.

February 20, 2025

2:30 pm - 7:30 pm: Yaniv

- Director Amnon Carmi
- 85 min
- United States
- 2024
- English (Captioned)
- Comedy

A high school teacher in the Bronx loses funding for the school musical and convinces his fellow statistics teacher, secretly a recovering gambling addict, to help him cheat at an underground card game run by the Hasidic Jewish community. The plan goes awry with mounting consequences, but help comes at an unexpected time from the least likely people.

February 22, 2025

7:00 pm: Midas Man

- Director Joe Stephenson
- 112 min
- United Kingdom
- 2024
- English (Captioned)
- Biography, drama

THE BIG SATURDAY NIGHT CELEBRATION OF JEWISH FILM! Hors d’oeuvres, cocktail hour and open galleries beginning at 6:00 PM. Dessert reception to follow, featuring live music and karaoke from John Lennon Tribute Star Tim Beasley!

On Thursday, November 9, 1961, a man named Brian descended the stairs to a cellar in Liverpool and changed the world forever. When Brian Epstein watched The Beatles perform, he saw something no one else could - a glimmer of gold. Being Jewish, closeted, and having grown up as an outsider who had failed at pretty much everything, he was a 26-year old with something to prove and who wanted to tear up the rulebook.

February 23, 2025

2:30 pm: October H8te

- Director Wendy Sachs
- 100 min
- United States
- 2024
- English (Captioned)
- Documentary

From Executive Producer Debra Messing and Director Wendy Sachs, this searing documentary explores the explosion of antisemitism on college campuses, on social media, and in the streets of America in the aftermath of October 7th, 2023. The film features interviews with Debra Messing, Michael Rapaport, Sheryl Sandberg, Congressman Ritchie Torres, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Dan Senor, Noa Tishby, and Bari Weiss, among others.

February 24, 2025

7:15 pm: Bad Shabbos

- Director Daniel Robbins
- 84 min
- United States
- 2024
- English (Captioned)
- Comedy

Audience Award Winner at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, BAD SHABBOS is here to prove that even Shabbat can go haywire. This off-beat comedy centers around an engaged interfaith couple who are about to have their parents meet for the first time over a traditional Shabbat dinner. Things spiral faster than you can say "hamotzi" when an accidental death gets in the way.

Directed by Daniel Robbins and co-written by Zack Weiner, this chaotic "one-night-in-New-York" story turns family dinner into a sidesplitting disaster of biblical proportions.

Starring Kyra Sedgwick, Cliff "Method Man" Smith, David Paymer, Milana Vayntrub, Jon Bass, Meghan Leathers, Catherine Curtin and Ashley Zukerman.

February 26, 2025

2:30 pm - 7:30 pm: June Zero

- Director Jake Paltrow
- 105 min
- Israel, US
- 2022
- Hebrew, Spanish w-subtitles
- Historical drama

The 1961 preparations for the execution of Adolf Eichmann, a principal architect of the Holocaust, are revisited in a gripping and surprising new vision from American filmmaker Jake Paltrow. Entirely shot on 16mm film and based on true accounts, JUNE ZERO is told from the unique perspectives of three distinct figures: Eichmann’s Jewish Moroccan prison guard, an Israeli police investigator who also happens to be a Holocaust survivor, and a precocious and clever 13-year-old Libyan immigrant.

Date: February 16 - 26, 2025

Location: Various Venues In Virginia Beach, VA

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