This year’s UK Jewish Film Festival is the biggest celebration of its kind in the world, and the most ambitious programme in the festival’s 23 year history.
Nearly 100 films representing 24 countries will be shown in venues all over the UK, including Inverness, Bangor and Norwich, aiming to reach Jewish and non-Jewish audiences.
The programme is wide-ranging as usual, covering film, TV, classics, documentaries, contemporary life and history. If there’s a shift from previous years, it’s possibly in the direction of more humour.
As the festival’s programme director Nir Cohen puts it, this year’s films offer “a diverse, inclusive and rich experience but really, more than anything, fun.”
Here’s the JC’s Features Editor Keren David picks the her favourites from the programme:
Comedy
1) My Polish Honeymoon
The festival’s opening gala is a French comedy about a couple of newly-weds heading off to Poland for their honeymoon, finding themselves confronted by the past.
2) JoJo Rabbit
Can director Taika Waititi pull off a satire about a lonely German boy during World War Two whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler? Released in the UK in January, starring Scarlett Johansen, this film has already been hailed by critics as sharp and subversive.
3) Serial (Bad) Weddings 2
A follow up to a hit comedy, this is like a French version of Meet the Fockers. Catholic parents with diverse in-laws, including one couple set to live in Israel.
Classics
1) Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is 30 years old – Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy star as an old Jewish lady and her driver.
2) Solomon and Gaenor
Solomon and Gaenor is 20 years old – Oscar nominated portrayal of Welsh Jewish life in 1911.
3) When Harry Met Sally
Hard to believe, but this classic romantic comedy is also 30. Billy Crystal also stars in another festival anniversary screening, Analyze This is 20 years old.
4) A Serious Man
Arguably the Coen brothers’ best film, screened for its tenth anniversary.
Documentaries
1) Lieber-Man
A profile of Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman’s career from outsider immigrant to power player.
2) The Human Factor
This film traces the Israeli Palestinian peace process in the 1990s.
3) The Unorthodox
An entertaining look at the origin of Israel’s Shas party.
4) Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles
Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles tells the story of the beloved musical on screen and stage. And the festival includes a showing of the classic film as well.
Drama
1) The Operative
Martin Freeman stars in this adaptation of an Israeli novel – a spy thriller and a powerful love story.
2) God of the Piano
This Israeli movie centres on a member of a musical family’s dilemma when she learns her newborn baby may be deaf.
3) The Glass Room
A transgressive love story set in 1930s Czechoslovakia.
For dates and details of individual showing and events, visit the UK Jewish Film Festival website here. The festival runs from 6-21 November.
