7:30pm OPENING NIGHT
Join us and celebrate the 16th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival! ASF is proud to present this year’s Pomegranate Award to filmmaker, Izza Genini and musician and educator, Yair Dalal.
Izza Genini |
Yair Dalal |
FREE MEN (Les Hommes Libres)
Paris 1942: Inspired by true events, Free Men tells the story of a group of Muslim agents who fought for the French Resistance, and who used the Mosque of Paris as the base for operations. Younes, a young Algerian immigrant, is peddling goods on the black market. When German occupation forces arrest him, he agrees to spy on the activities of the Mosque of Paris, whose rector is suspected of providing Jews with false papers. Younes’ friendship with a cabaret singer, mixed up in various underground affairs, eventually pushes him to join the fight against the Germans. Best Director from the Arab World for his excellent telling of an unknown and important story/Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2011.
FREE MEN will open in New York City on Friday, March 16 at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and the Quad Cinema, and then expand to other cities in subsequent weeks. Visit www.filmmovement.com for further information.
France, 2011. 99 mins. French w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
8:15pm MY LOVELY SISTER
A beautiful film about the love and hate between two sisters, based on a Moroccan Jewish folk tale. Rahma (Evelin Hagoel) hasn't spoken to her younger sister Marie (Reymonde Amsellem) for many years, seemingly because Marie broke their parents' hearts by marrying an Arab. But lurking below the surface is an unspoken history involving Marie and Rahma's hubby, Robert (Moshe Ivgy). WON: The Ophir Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.
Israel, 2011, 91 mins. Hebrew and Moroccan w/subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
10:00pm OBSESSION
1968 - A woman’s journey into self-destruction and humiliation as a result of her husband’s infidelity. The story takes place in an old Sephardic neighborhood in Jerusalem. Six-year-old Micha does not speak, but he sees everything. Malka, his mother, uses every available method to win back her husband – from consultations with rabbis to witchcraft.
Israel, 2011, 94 mins. Hebrew w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
12:30pm THE FARHUD
The pro-Nazi uprising in Baghdad, Iraq took place on the Jewish festival of Shavuot in 1941. It is estimated that at least 137 Jews were killed, thousands injured, and much property looted or destroyed. The Farhud was the culmination of anti-Jewish propaganda, in Iraq, by Hitler's Nazi Germany, and the death knell of the 2,600 year old community of Iraqi Jews dating back to the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem. In 1948, when Israel was created, there were about 165,000 Jews in Iraq. Today, only a few are left.
Sponsored by The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, University of Miami.
Post-screening discussion with Prof. Haim Shaked, Director of The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, University of Miami.
Israel 2010, 20 minutes w/English subtitles.
Special Free Admission for Festival ticket holders!
Purchase Tickets
1:30pm THE LAST JEWS OF LIBYA and Post-screening Panel Discussion
The final decades of a centuries-old North African Sephardic Jewish community is seen through the lives of the remarkable Roumani family, residents of Benghazi, Libya, for hundreds of years. Thirty-six thousand Jews lived in Libya at the end of World War II, today none remain. Based on the memoirs of the family's matriarch, Elise Roumani, and interviews with several generations of the Roumani family, plus a trove of rare archival film and photographs, makes for an unforgettable tale.
USA 2007, 50 mins. Hebrew, Italian, Arabic & English w/English subtitles.
Panel Discussion: Looking at Libya and the region through a contemporary lens
Panelists: Vivienne Roumani-Denn, Prof. Mustapha Tlili, founder and director, Center for Dialogues, NYU and Richard Chesnoff, veteran Mideast correspondent.
Also shown at the JCC in Manhattan, Tuesday, March 20, 7:30pm
Purchase Tickets
3:30pm BALKAN JEWRY & THE HOLOCAUST
THREE PROMISES: THE STORY OF THE KALEFS OF BELGRADE
During the Holocaust more than 90 percent of Serbia's Jewish families were destroyed. This is the story of Dona Bat Kalef and her daughters, Breda and Matilda. We are taken back into the Sephardic world of Jewish Belgrade before the war. Father Andrej Tumpej, a Catholic priest, hid Dona, Breda and Matilda under false names and had the girls sing in his choir every day to chase away the fear and hunger. After the war, Breda Kalef became Yugoslavia's most famous mezzo soprano, and she saw to it that Father Tumpej would receive his Righteous Gentile award from Israel's Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem.
Vienna 2011, 18 mins
EMPTY BOXCARS (NY PREMIER)
Empty Boxcarsem> features stories of four Sephardic survivors of the Shoah in the Balkans. Sabi Tchimino and Jamila Kolonomos describe the round-up and mass murder of 11,393 Jews from Bulgarian-occupied Thrace and Macedonia. Rabbi Haim Asa and Norbert Yasharoff describe Bulgaria's "greatest contribution to European civilization:" the mass rescue of over 50,000 Jews. "He who saves a single soul, it is as if he saves the whole world" -- Talmud Sanhedrin.
Post-screening discussion with filmmaker, Ed Gaffney; Dr. Jonathan Brent, Executive Director, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and others to be announced.
USA 2011, 82 mins.
Purchase Tickets
6:30pm HISTORY'S ULTIMATE NOMADS
Spain: For 1500 years, Jews on the Iberian Peninsula played a significant role in the flourishing civilizations created by Muslims and Christians alike, becoming the largest and most distinguished Jewish community in Europe.
Portugal: In 1492, more than 100,000 Jewish refugees from Spain crossed the border to Portugal. But four years later, a political maneuver by King Manuel of Portugal, had a destructive impact on the Jewish community, and the majority of Jews were baptized by force. The present Jewish community is one of the smallest in the world, Jewish blood runs through many Portuguese veins.
Brazil: For most people, the connection between swinging, sensual Brazil and Judaism is a highly unlikely one. The fact is that Jews played a significant role in Brazilian history.
Post-screening discussion with Prof. Ronnie Perelis, Alacalay Assistant Professor of Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University.
Netherlands, 2010, 30 mins. Each w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
8:30pm THREE MOTHERS
Rose, Flora and Yasmin are triplets born 60-something years ago in Alexandria, Egypt. Their well-to-do parents gave them names of flowers and King Farouk of Egypt gave them his blessing. They come to recount their memoirs in order to tell their life story to Rose's only daughter, Rachel. They are also searching for the son that one of them gave up for adoption under mysterious circumstances.
Israel 2006, 106 mins. Hebrew, French & Arabic w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
6:30pm MABUL
A highly perceptive look at a family living under a deluge of pressure. Everything is complicated in Yoni Rosko’s life. He is almost 13, extremely small and desperate to grow taller before his approaching Barmitzvah. Miri (Ronit Elkabetz) and Gidi, his dysfunctional parents, are on the brink of divorce when Yoni’s older brother, Tomer, an autistic boy, returns home when the institution he has been living in shuts down. Yoni becomes the unwilling caregiver, using the rituals of the Barmitzvah ceremony, and an abandoned boat as a life raft. Michael Moshonov (Tomer) will be present.
Israel/Canada/France/Germany 2011, 101 mins. Hebrew w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
8:30pm LITTLE SIMICO'S BIG FANTASY
Simico is a friendly, romantic 30-year old, loved by all. He’s engaged to Mazy who is planning their wedding. When Simico completes a film class, he becomes obsessed with the idea of making a film on the subject of strippers. He recruits the entire neighborhood to help make this fantasy come true and finds himself carried away on the adventure of a lifetime. Adult content, partial nudity.
Israel 2011, 91 mins. Hebrew w/English subtitles.
Presented solely by the American Sephardi Federation.
Purchase Tickets
3:30pm 400 MILES TO FREEDOM
In 1984, the Beta Israel, a secluded 2,500 year-old community of observant Jews in the northern Ethiopian mountains, fled a dictatorship and began a secret and dangerous journey of escape. Avishai Mekonen, then a 10 year old boy, was among them. Here he breaks the 20 year silence around the brutal kidnapping he endured as a child in Sudan during his community’s exodus. In so doing the film explores issues of immigration and racial diversity in Judaism.
Post-screening discussion with Avishai Yeganyahu Mekonen.
Presented in cooperation with Be'chol Lashon.
USA & Israel 2012, 60 mins. English, Hebrew and Amharic w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
7:00pm TINGHIR-JERUSALEM shown with IFRANE 2011
TINGHIR-JERUSALEM, ECHOES FROM THE MELLAH: The Rediscovery of a Judeo-Berber Culture
Kamal Hachkar grew up in France with the idea that all Berbers were Muslims. From his grandparents he learns that some Berbers were Jewish and that in many villages, Muslims and Jews lived together for a long time. His search leads him to Israel where he meets families originally from Tinghir. Elders spoke of their lives in Tinghir, answering many of his questions. On meeting Jews of his generation, with origins in Tinghir, Kamal realizes that he is not alone in his desire to restore this buried part of their identities. He hopes that his generation will be able to acknowledge the bonds broken by history.
France/Morocco/Israel 2011, 52mins. French, Berber, Arabic and Hebrew w/English subtitles.
IFRANE 2011: The First Holocaust Conference in the Arab World
The Muslim students of the Mimouna Club of Al-Akhawayn University in Morocco have been moved to explore the Holocaust, a taboo topic in the contemporary Arab world. Inspired by the Royal Proclamation of King Mohammed VI (March 2009), they created this conference within which to fully appreciate the heroic actions of King Mohammed V during the Vichy period, and to deepen their understanding of their Jewish past. New York students and leaders from KIVUNIM attended with a survivor of the Holocaust.
Post-screening discussion with filmmakers Kamal Hachkar and Haim Shiran, Peter Geffen (Director of KIVUNIM), and Elmehdi Boudra and Laaziza Dalil from the Mimouna Club in Ifrane, Morocco. A reception follows.
Morocco 2011, 20 mins. French, English w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
3:30pm MABUL
A highly perceptive look at a family living under a deluge of pressure. Everything is complicated in Yoni Rosko's life. He is almost 13, extremely small and desperate to grow taller before his approaching Barmitzvah. Miri (Ronit Elkabetz) and Gidi, his dysfunctional parents, are on the brink of divorce when Yoni's older brother, Tomer, an autistic boy, returns home when the institution he has been living in shuts down. Yoni becomes the unwilling caregiver, using the rituals of the Barmitzvah ceremony, and an abandoned boat as a life raft. Michael Moshonov (Tomer) will be present.
Israel/Canada/France/Germany 2011, 101 mins. Hebrew w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
6:30pm 400 MILES TO FREEDOM
In 1984, the Beta Israel, a secluded 2,500 year-old community of observant Jews in the northern Ethiopian mountains, fled a dictatorship and began a secret and dangerous journey of escape. Avishai Mekonen, then a 10 year old boy, was among them. Here he breaks the 20 year silence around the brutal kidnapping he endured as a child in Sudan during his community’s exodus. In so doing the film explores issues of immigration and racial diversity in Judaism.
Post-screening discussion with Avishai Yeganyahu Mekonen and Shari Rothfarb Mekonen; Professor Ephraim Isaac.
USA & Israel 2012, 60 mins. English, Hebrew and Amharic w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
8:30pm OBSESSION
1968 - A woman's journey into self-destruction and humiliation as a result of her husband's infidelity. The story takes place in an old Sephardic neighborhood in Jerusalem. Six-year-old Micha does not speak, but he sees everything. Malka, his mother, uses every available method to win back her husband – from consultations with rabbis to witchcraft.
Israel, 2011, 94 mins. Hebrew w/English subtitles.
Purchase Tickets
7:00pm IRAQ n' ROLL
Israeli rock musician, Dudu Tassa, calls forth the voices of his family heritage when he takes on the original music of his grandfather, one of the leading musicians in early 20th century Iraq, creating a musical dialogue between the generations. Salah and Daud Al-kweiti (Dudu’s uncle and grandfather) were musicians in 1930s Iraq and were considered to be the creators of modern Iraqi music. After immigrating to Israel in 1951, they remained on the margins of Israeli culture, performing at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, and operating a small kitchen utensils store to make a living. Crushed by circumstances, they forbade their children to become musicians or even learn to play an instrument. This is a story of the power of music and its ability to heal.
Israel 2011, 52 mins. Hebrew & Arabic w/English subtitles
Followed by Live Performance and Closing Night Reception!
Purchase Tickets
400 MILES TO FREEDOM
In 1984, the Beta Israel, a secluded 2,500 year-old community of observant Jews in the northern Ethiopian mountains, fled a dictatorship and began a secret and dangerous journey of escape. Avishai Mekonen, then a 10 year old boy, was among them. Here he breaks the 20 year silence around the brutal kidnapping he endured as a child in Sudan during his community’s exodus. In so doing the film explores issues of immigration and racial diversity in Judaism.
March 20: Post-screening discussion with Avishai Yeganyahu Mekonen and Shari Rothfarb Mekonen; Professor Ephraim Isaac.
March 21: Post-screening discussion with Avishai Yeganyahu Mekonen and Shari Rothfarb Mekonen; Professor Ephraim Isaac.
Presented in cooperation with Be'chol Lashon.
USA & Israel 2012, 60 mins. English, Hebrew and Amharic w/English subtitles.
Showing: Tuesday, March 20 at 3:30pm and Wednesday, March 21 at 6:30pm
EMPTY BOXCARS (NY PREMIERE)