Like most film festivals over the last couple of years, UK Jewish Film has had to contend with two mostly digital editions with only a handful of in-person events taking place.
Now that the worst of the Covid pandemic is hopefully behind us, the festival is back bigger and better than ever with an exciting new edition and with screenings taking place in London and across the country from the 10th til the 20th of November.
Offering an exciting array of stories from the around the globe, the festival will be presenting four exclusive Gala screenings with Moshe Rosenthal’s fantastic offbeat comedy Karaoke acting as the festival’s opener.
The film follows Meir (Sasson Gabay) and Tova (Rita Shukrun) a married couple stuck in a rut whose lives are tuned ups side down by a chance encounter with a hedonistic new neighbour (played by the legendary Lior Ashkenazi).
Meanwhile, the Closing Night Gala - taking place on 20 November - will be the UK Premiere of French actor Stéphane Freiss’ directorial debut feature Where Life Begins. Set on a farm in southern Italy, the film follows owner Elio (Riccardo Scamarcio) as he hosts an ultra-Orthodox family as they perform their sacred annual task of harvesting etrogim (ritual lemons).
Striking up a friendship with the family’s daughter Esther, who is unhappily engaged to be married, Elio encourages the young woman to follow her desires. Director Stéphane Freiss (Call My Agent!) will be in attendance to present his film.
Elsewhere, in attendance for the festival’s Centrepiece Gala will be director Ady Walter and producer Jean-Charles Lévy who will be present to discuss the outstanding Shttl. The film was shot in a village constructed for the production and filmed in one extraordinary long shot. It captures the lives of the inhabitants of a Yiddish-speaking village on the eve of the Nazi invasion of Soviet Ukraine. Starring Saul Rubinek (Hunters, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Shttl is a must-see entry in this year’s festival.
Another unmissable event will be the UK Premiere Animation Gala screening of Charlotte with a voice-cast which includes Keira Knightley, Brenda Blethyn, Sam Claflin, Eddie Marsan, Helen McCrory and Sophie Okonedo. Charlotte explores the war-time life of the wonderfully talented young artist Charlotte Salomon as she sets about painting over 1,000 autobiographical images, considered by many to be the first-ever graphic novel. Solomon was tragically later murdered in Auschwitz, aged-26 and pregnant.
This year’s festivals will also feature the UK premiere screening of the mesmerising and poignant documentary, Three Minutes: A Lengthening which will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s narrator Helena Bonham Carter. Composed entirely of a three-minute fragment of film from 1938, uncovered and restored, this incredible essay film captures the excitement of the people of a small Polish town prior to the war which would wipe most of them out.
