2010 Archives

Herzl is severely "weight-challenged" and has long suffered indignities. After giving up on any further attempt to lose weight, he and several others become sumo wrestlers. Heart-warming.

Special Event: Watch—and meet "Byamba"—the most spectacular sumo wrestler on this continent, and possibly in the world.

*Best of the Best* An insecure adolescent in post-war France, and a Catholic, always knew that he had been born Jewish.

Adam Levy and Yasmine Ghibran, both in their 20's, meet in Montréal and fall in love. Their relationship is challenged from the start, for he is Jewish and she is an Arab Christian from Lebanon.

Northern California Premiere! This wonderful film tells the story of a soccer team that couldn't create a new Middle East, but showed the world what one could look like.

Amnon Weinstein, an Israeli master violin maker, lovingly restores violins that were used during the Holocaust. He follows his dream, the dramatic use of these violins in a concert set against the walls of Jerusalem.

Special Event: After the film, enjoy a classical music performance that will extend the spirit of the music played in the movie—by musicians Alexander Aisenberg, Hélène Wickett and Dahna Rudin.

Anita, who has Down's Syndrome, becomes separated from her mother after the tragic 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center. Heartrending and suspenseful until the very last moment.

Set during the Second World War, an indomitable young Jewish man escapes, by luck and his wits. Masquerading as a Gentile, he joins a band of partisans and somehow manages to survive. Based on a true story.

Aharon, from a Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox community, befriends another man and the two awkwardly discover their attraction and love for each other, requiring difficult choices.

The Lubavich Chassidic movement sends its emissaries to any country, however remote, where Jews are known to live. This film follows a young Israeli rabbi and his family to Ho Chi Minh City where they establish a Chabad House.

This hilarious film, inspired by the theft of a statue in Northern Israel, creates non-stop laughter as frantic efforts take place to recover it before it is turned into scrap.

Larry Weinstein ("Beethoven's Hair"), the film's director, recreates the uniquely personal story of a brother and sister, with only one surviving the Holocaust.

Special Event: Meet Larry Weinstein, the film director, on November 6th.

This Israeli film, starring famous actresses Ronit Elkabetz and Dana Ivgy, is set in Jaffa. Various tragedies result in grief, remorse, and, what is most profound, a sense of betrayal.

Philippe Halsman, one of the world’s legendary photographers, was well-known for his iconic portraits of celebrities jumping. Patrick Swayze, in one of his final few films, is Halsman’s attorney in this dramatic retelling of a tragic experience.

Israeli and North American formerly ultra-religious explain their individual reasons for having left a Chassidic or haredi lifestyle in favor of secularism.

A successful young woman, happily married to a good man, is drawn to an older man who was once her father's friend.

A Mexican Jewish woman, divorced for many years, commits suicide shortly before Passover. She leaves behind detailed instructions concerning the seder that she was to host. Bitter-sweet and comedic.

A young Israeli woman is recuperating from the wounds—to both body and mind—that she sustained a year before during a terrorist explosion.

Mahmud Nasir is a moderately secular Muslim, accidentally discovers that not only was he adopted as a baby, but both his birth parents were Jewish, sending him tumbling into a hilarious identity crisis.

Misha, a pianist, left his family in Russia for 5 years, returns, and expects his family to receive him with open arms.

Anthony Hopkins narrates and describes Greenspun's many accomplishments. He was the publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, a smuggler of weapons to the new State of Israel, and a target of Senator McCarthy.

Special Event: After the film, hear from Scott Goldstein, producer of the film.

From the 1930's through the early 1950's, Molly Goldberg of The Bronx, was loved by Americans of all religions as they tuned into radio and TV to hear the neighbors call, "Yoo hoo, Mrs. Goldberg."

Itzhak Zubravel, who immigrated with his family from Ethiopia, is a boy who dreams of becoming a director of successful films. He manages to cope in a poor, crime and drug-ridden neighborhood. His devoted grandfather struggles to instill Ethiopian values.

Special Event: After the film, hear from Barbara Ribakove Gordon, director of the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ).