All movies will be screened at the Wesleyan University Center for Film Studies, at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies in the Goldsmith Family Cinema.

The Festival is organized by Dalit Katz, University Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Wesleyan University. It is sponsored by the Ring Family, the Center for Jewish Studies, and co-sponsored by the College of Film and the Moving Image.

Schedule of Events

January 31, 2024

New England Premiere - The Monkey House

Speaker: Michael Slowik, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Wesleyan University

Directed by: Avi Nesher, 2022

Amir Haddad, a filmmaker, stumbles upon a complex scam, concocted by a novelist, Amitai Kariv and Margo Mai, a young woman who is ghost writing Kariv's biography. Haddad considers this encounter fodder for a docu-thriller, one that features much passion and deceit. Kariv, not a nemesis to be taken lightly, takes exception to Haddad's investigation. Margo Mai seems to be playing on both sides. Hostilities ensue. When narratives collide, truth is an immediate victim.

February 7, 2024

Connecticut Premiere - The Future

Speaker: Marc Longenecker, Associate Professor of the Practice in Film Studies, Wesleyan University

Directed by Noam Kaplan, 2023

When Israel's Minister of Space and Tourism is murdered in the lead-up to the country's first mission to the moon, Yaffa (Samar Qupty), an Arab university student from the West Bank, confesses to the murder. Scientist Nurit (Reymond Amsalem) asks for permission to interview the assassin. As the pioneer of The Future Project, an algorithm-based program meant to predict acts of terrorism, Nurit is convinced that the unrepentant Yaffa is withholding her whole motivation. The two women face off, determined to give nothing away, over a potentially fraught series of encounters. As the truth is exposed — and the spacecraft carrying a nation's dreams nears its destination — an increasingly disillusioned Nurit inches towards a profoundly troubling realization.

February 14, 2024

Connecticut Premiere - The Other Widow

Director's Talk: Ma'ayan Rypp

Directed by Ma'ayan Rypp, 2023

A dark comedic drama about Ella, a 34-year-old theater dresser and mistress, who experiences the sudden death of her lover. She attends his Shivah (a Jewish mourning ritual) while keeping her identity under wraps and dives into a world once forbidden to her. Through intimate encounters with his brother, parents, and, most especially, his wife, she examines her place in his life and eventually demands her legitimate right to mourn.

February 21, 2024

New England Premiere - Elik & Jimmy

Director's Talk: A taped interview between Avner Shavit and Gudis Schneider

Directed by Gudis Schneider, 2022

Jimmy and Elik meet while serving in the army, just before completing their service. He is an overweight and witty corporal; she is a beautiful and smart officer and they both like to talk. They run into each other through the years in cities, over Facebook, and such, but only a decade later, when they're both 30 plus, after a few life lessons, do they really become friends. Everything is going well between them, until love gets in the mix.

February 28, 2024

Golda

Speaker: Peter Rutland, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University

Directed by Guy Nattiv, 2023

Israeli only female prime minister, Golda Meir, struggled to fight for her people and restore peace to her nation, facing difficult decisions and overwhelming responsibilities during the Yom Kippur War in 1973 in which Israel fought a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria.

March 6, 2024

New England Premiere - Seven Blessings

Film Producer's Talk: Ronen Ben Tal

Directed by Ayelet Menahemi, 2022

At the center of "Seven Blessings" is a boisterous, drama-filled, Moroccan family, with numerous members speaking multiple languages (Hebrew, Moroccan, French). Hidden behind the facade of joie de vivre and togetherness, however, are secrets, lies, and a painful old wound from the past regarding a common practice among Jewish families in Morocco.

Date: January 31 - March 6, 2024 (Every Wednesday)

Time: 8pm

Cost: Free Admission. On site parking.

Location:
Wesleyan University Center for Film Studies,
301 Washington Terrace,
Middletown, CT 06457.

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