Jewish Film Series

JOIN US for Columbia Jewish Congregation’s (CJC) 2012 - Twentieth Season of Movies

TICKET SALES WILL BEGIN AND DOORS WILL OPEN AT 7:30

Four evenings of thought-provoking, varied, entertaining films, including refreshments & optional discussion group

Showings: Saturdays, 8:00 PM, Rm. 200, The Meeting House in Oakland Mills, Columbia, MD
$30 for 4-film series, $24 for 3-film series, $17 for 2-film series, $9.00 for single ticket

• Choice of films is yours and you need not choose in advance.
• If any movie is canceled because of snow, that movie will be shown at the end of the season – May or early June. Date will be announced later if it is needed.
• Provided as a Service to All in the Community
• FYI: Each of the films being presented has been shown, or will be shown, at multiple Jewish film festivals around the country.
• Note: All films are subject to change based upon availability.

January 21, 2012 For My Father - 2008 - Israel - Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles - 96 min. Winner Audience Award Cinequest Film Festival. Nominated for 7 Israeli Academy Awards. To redeem his father's honor, Tarek, a young Palestinian man, is blackmailed into a suicide mission in Tel Aviv. He is given a second chance at life when the fuse on his explosive vest fails to detonate. Forced to spend the weekend in Tel Aviv awaiting its repair, Tarek must live amongst the people he was planning to kill. To his surprise, he connects with several Israelis in the outskirts of society, including the beautiful Keren, who has cut off contact with her Orthodox Jewish family. With nothing to lose, an unlikely love blooms between these two isolated and damaged individuals, raised to be enemies. While spending time with Keren, Tarek discovers the spark of life returning to fill his soul, but when the weekend ends he must make the decision of his life. For My Father beautifully captures the human side of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

February 11, 2012 The Infidel - 2010 - Israel - English - 105 min. British Comedy. Meet Mahmud, loving husband, doting father and something of a "relaxed" Muslim. After his mother's death, Mahmud finds his birth certificate, which reveals that he was adopted at birth and . . . HE'S JEWISH! As Mahmud tumbles headlong into a full-scale identity crisis, the only person he can turn to is Lenny, a drunken Jewish cabbie. Soon Mahmud is embarking in lessons on Jewishness, starting with how to dance like Topol and the proper way to say "oy vey." This revelation couldn't come at a worse time, with Mahmud's son about to marry the stepdaughter of a radical Muslim cleric. This entertaining film deals with the complex issues of race and religion in a humorous fashion.

March 10, 2012 A Hebrew Lesson- 2006 - Israel - Hebrew/ English/ Chinese/ Russian/ German/ Spanish with English subtitles - 123 min. Jerusalem Fest Prize Winner. Learning Hebrew is a challenge for the students in the Ulpan. This captivating documentary follows the lives of newly arrived immigrants as they immerse themselves in the language, culture and lifestyle of Israel. The multi-cultural class includes Chin and Dong Dong from China (both of whom have Israeli husbands) who strike up a fast friendship outside of the classroom. Sasha, a Russian immigrant, never imagined that he would move to Israel, but his desire to be part of his daughter's life brings him to an unfamiliar country. In doing so, he is demoted from his lawyer status in Russia to that of dishwasher in Israel. Annabelle, from Germany, moved to Israel to be with her Israeli boyfriend. These characters' personal stories meld with the complexities of Israeli society to create a compassionate portrait of the struggles to fit into a new society, breaking down the barriers of language as the weeks in the classroom progress.

April 21, 2012 Jewish Luck - 1925 -Soviet Union - Silent - 100 min. Jewish Luck is a release of "The National Center for Jewish Film". Based on Sholem Aleichem's stories featuring the character Menakhem Mendl, Jewish Luck revolves around Mendl's daydreaming entrepreneur who specializes in doomed strike-it-rich schemes. Despite Jewish oppression by Tsarist Russia, Mendl continues to pursue his dreams and his continued persistence transforms him from schlemiel to hero as the film uncovers the tragic underpinnings of Aleichem's comic tales. Notes Village Voice critic Georgia Brown, "The movie's best intertitle, translated from Isaac Babel's Russian, is: 'What can you do when there is nothing to do?'"