25th Anniversary Of Maine Jewish Film Festival

Schedule Of Events:

Saturday, November 4, 2023 - The Portland Museum Of Art

25th Anniversary Celebration

Prosecco and cheese reception with music by Palaver Strings

Screening of the award-winning Israeli film KARAOKE

Party in the Great Hall catered by David Turin, with music by Matt Fogg Trio

Ticket: $50

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Sunday, November 5, 2023 - The Portland Museum Of Art

In conversation: Portland: Karen Montanaro a world-renowned dancer, mime artist, and award-winning choreographer, whose recent one-woman show, Tony Montanaro: A Love Story, is an intimate and comical recounting of her relationship with her late husband, soulmate, and teacher: the Founder of Celebration Mime Theater and an early student of Marcel Marceau.

12pm: The Art of Silence

81 mins
Switzerland
Genre: Documentary
Director: Maurizius Staerkle Drux

Legendary mime Marcel Marceau is recognized worldwide for his iconic stage persona, "Bip the Clown," whose silk hat and flower represented what he called "the fragility of life." Less known is Marceau's personal history as a French Jew who helped hundreds of French Jewish children escape to safety during the Nazi occupation. Masterfully crafted from archival footage, family conversations, and performance excerpts, The Art of Silence sheds new light on this unique artist who overcame a harrowing past to create a gentle and eternal everyman.

12pm: The Peacock That Passed Over

4 mins
United Kingdom
Genre: Documentary - Short
Director: Max Goldberg

Four years ago a lone peacock landed and took up residence on the grounds of a synagogue in Leeds, England. This whimsical film offers glimpses of the elegant squatter, while recording some of the responses—philosophical and otherwise—of that very British Yorkshire (Jewish and not Jewish) community.

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Monday, November 6, 2023 - The Hill Arts 76 Congress Street, Portland

Post-film conversation with Cape Elizabeth resident Piotrek Stamieszkin, who lived through this period in Poland.

7pm: March '68

117 mins
Poland
Genre: Narrative
Director: Krzysztof Lang

This compelling love story is set in a period of Polish history few Americans know about: the virulent wave of antisemitic purges and government crackdowns that swept the country already caught up in the pan-European student demonstrations of Spring 1968. Against this chaotic backdrop, university students Hania and Janek meet and fall in love—only to find their feelings tested by the high cost of freedom. With Vanessa Aleksander and Ignacy Liss.

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Tuesday, November 7, 2023 - The Hill Arts 76 Congress Street, Portland

Post-film conversation with Dr. David Rosmarin, Director, Spirituality & Mental Health Program, McLean Hospital; Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School.

7pm: Barren

108 mins
Israel
Genre: Narrative
Director: Mordechai Vardi

Young Faigi lives with her husband, Naftali, and his parents in a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community. Married for four years but still childless, Faigi and Naftali yearn for the pregnancy that Naftali insists will come through prayer, not medical intervention. When an unspeakable act turns Faigi's life upside down, raw emotions cause this once docile wife to question her place within the narrow confines of the only culture she has known. Beautifully photographed and acted, this haunting film offers a complex look into a community that reveals little to the outside world. Starring Mili Eshet, Yoav Rotman, and Ilanit Ben-Yaakov.

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Wednesday, November 8, 2023 - The Portland Museum Of Art

This screening is sponsored by The Law Offices of Joe Bornstein

2pm: I Am Not

96 mins
Israel
Genre: Documentary
Director: Tomer Heymann

This emotional and, at times, funny film follows Oren, a bright neurodivergent Israeli teen on a journey of self-discovery. Desperate for love but recoiling from human touch, Oren rejects the affection of his adoptive parents. When a family trip to Central America brings him face to face with the woman who brought him into the world, he finds answers to unasked questions and insight into an identity never fully acknowledged or understood. Named Best Foreign Film at the DOCUTAH International Film Festival.

2pm: Tuesco: Laughing In The Face of Disability

18 mins
Venezuela
Genre: Documentary
Director: Daniel Poler

Jonathan, a young man with severe physical disability, thrives in a family of women who use frank talk and humor to help normalize his dependence on them for all of life's needs.

Post-film conversation: with Rabbi Tamar Manasseh and Filmmaker Brad Rothchild.

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6:30pm: Rabbi On The Block

88 mins
USA
Genre: Documentary
Director: Brad Rothschild

Determined to overcome suspicion and misunderstanding between Black and Jewish Americans, charismatic African American rabbi and community activist Tamar Manasseh takes religion out of the synagogue and into the streets of the South Side of Chicago. Rabbi Menasseh's boundless energy and an optimism tempered by realism help her create alliances even as she faces roadblocks to personal and spiritual fulfillment by leaders of the community she holds dear.

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Thursday, November 9, 2023 - The Portland Museum Of Art

3:00 pm: Valeria Is Getting Married

76 mins
Israel
Genre: Narrative
Director: Michal Vinik

Following her older sister's example, Valeria travels from Ukraine to Israel to marry a man she has met only briefly online. When reality doesn't match expectations, the ensuing turmoil strains relationships—testing bonds of family, marriage, and friendship, while shining a harsh light on the commoditization of women—here as paid mail-order brides. With Lena Fraifeld, Yaakov Zada-Daniel (Fauda), Dasha Tronorovich.

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7:00 pm: Stay With Us (Reste Un Peu)

90 mins
France
Genre: Narrative Comedy
Director: Gad Elmaleh

After two years in the United States, Moroccan-born Jewish comedian Gad Elmaleh arrives in Paris, ostensibly to visit his parents. When his observant family discovers the real reason he's there— to complete his long-planned conversion to Roman Catholicism— their volatile reactions turn his steps toward baptism into a hilarious minefield. This laugh-out-loud comedy raises questions about what it means to be a Catholic, Jew, son, brother, and human being. Here art imitates life, with Gad Elmaleh playing himself while his real-life mère et père, Régine and David, play his parents.

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Friday, November 10, 2023 - The Portland Museum Of Art

Bearing Witness: Two Films about War Photographers

Post-film conversation with Bob Keyes, former Culture Editor of the Portland Press Herald, and Michael G. Seamans, award-winning Waterville-based photojournalist.

3:30 pm - Film: Part 1: Searching for Gerda Taro

57 mins
France
Genre: Documentary
Director: Camille Ménager

6:30 pm - Film: Part 2: 1341 Frames Of Love And War

89 mins
Israel
Genre: Documentary
Director: Ran Tal

Against a collection of his stunning snapshots, enlargements, and contact sheets, Israeli photojournalist Micha Bar-Am and his wife and collaborator Orna (both heard, but not seen) look back at decades of partnership in life and work. With the perspective of time, each can reconsider the moral implications of images of the physical and emotional dynamics of war.

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Saturday, November 11, 2023 - The Portland Museum Of Art

Afternoon Screening and Closing Reception

3:00 pm: Alegria

105 mins
Spain
Genre: Narrative
Director: Violeta Salama

In the Spanish city of Melilla on the coast of North Africa, where Christians, Muslims, and Jews have lived peaceably for centuries, Alegría shuns her Jewish identity even as her daughter has become religious and moved to Israel. When a boisterous group of Spanish relatives arrive for an upcoming wedding, long-suppressed resentments cast a pall on festivities, as bonds between women from different cultures exert unexpected influence on one another's lives. With Cecilia Suárez, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Sarah Perles.

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Date: November 4-11, 2023

Locations:

Portland Museum of Art, Seven Congress Square, Portland, ME 04101

The Hill Arts, 76 Congress St, Portland, ME 04101

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