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Memphis International Jewish Film Festival Goes on — Online

CREDIT: Facebook/Rutgers Jewish Film Festival

International film fans will be pleased to know that the Memphis International Jewish Film Festival will go on this year — virtually. The festival is in its eighth year and will feature nine films ranging from features to documentaries and comedy to drama. The films are diverse and engaging. There is something for everyone.

Sharon Fox O’Guin, deputy film commissioner/project specialist for the Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commission, says, “The Morris and Mollye Fogelman International Jewish Film Festival has added a much-enjoyed aspect to the Memphis film scene. This festival stands out in its unique celebration of Jewish culture.”

And celebrate, we will. The opening film is Breaking Bread, the perfect film to kick off the festival. It features a menu of exotic cuisine with a side of politics as Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, the first Muslim Arab to win Israel’s Master Chef television competition, cooks up social change through food. In an effort to affect change, she founded the A-sham Arabic Food Festival in Haifa, Israel, where pairs of Arab and Jewish chefs collaborate on local dishes. This film is about hope, synergy, and mouthwatering fare, illustrating what can happen when people focus on the person, rather than religion; on the public, rather than the politicians.

We might just want to try this in America. Who’s up for breaking bread with the other side? I’ll give it some time. Meanwhile, look for more films, Q&A opportunities, and panel discussions through Saturday, February 13th.

Mazeltov.

International Jewish Film Festival: Breaking Bread, online from Memphis Jewish Community Center, jccmemphis.org, Wednesday, Jan. 27, $12 members, $15 nonmembers.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven

If you’re looking to veer out of the mainstream this week, you’ve got plenty of options in Memphis movie theaters.

Eli Harboe gets high in Thelma.

In director Joacim Trier’s Thelma, a shy young woman’s world is opened up when she leaves her small Norweigian town to attend a university. But at the same time she’s finding herself, she’s also manifesting strange new supernatural powers. It’s a coming of age monster story reminiscent of Raw, 7 PM tonight at Malco Ridgeway, and you can buy tickets from the Indie Memphis website.

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven

Across town at the Memphis Jewish Community Center’s Belz Theater, the Morris and Mollye Folgelman International Jewish Film Festival continues with The Exception, a thriller set in the opening days of World War II starring Christopher Plummer as Kaiser Wilhelm.

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven (2)

On Wednesday, Indie Memphis celebrates Valentine’s Day with a 20th anniversary screening of Love Jones at the intimate 652 Marshall film space.
 

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven (3)

On Thursday at the MJCC, a true story of love in the ruins of postwar Europe. Director Peter Garos adapted the story of his parents’ pen pal romance in Fever At Dawn.

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven (4)

On Saturday on the Pink Palace IMAX screen, the new 3D film Dream Big will be sharing screen time with one of the first Disney live-action classics, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven (8)

Saturday night on Summer Avenue, it’s a Soul Cinema Dance Party at the Time Warp Drive-In. The evening starts off with the timeless hip hop musical Breakin’, which immortalized mid-80s street dance culture while singlehandedly launching an entire genre of hip hop and dance battle films (I’m looking at you, Bring It On franchise!)

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven (6)

The second movie on the program is another hip hop classic. Kid ‘n Play brought their high altitude hairstyles and easy charm to House Party, which also features a young Martin Lawrence, fresh off his turn in Do The Right Thing. It’s a high school party classic for the ages. 

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven (7)

Sunday afternoon at the Paradiso, one of the greatest casts in film history returns to the big screen. In 1940, director George Cukor’s adaptation of the hit play The Philadelphia Story brought together Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart to swill cocktails and hurl witty insults in one of the most hilarious wedding party disasters of all time.

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven (9)

The International Jewish Film Festival will host the tastiest film event of the month happens on Sunday, Feb 18 at MJCC. Hummus: The Movie explores the history and present of everyone’s favorite creamy bean treat. Then, Israeli chef Abe Haak will demonstrate good hummus technique at a post-show meal. The 72-minute film starts at 5 PM, with dinner afterwards.

This Week At The Cinema: Love, Dance, and C.K. Dexter Haven (5)

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

This Week At The Cinema: International Features And Shorts, Plus Sammy Davis, Jr.

It’s a busy week in theaters!

Tuesday night presents a wealth of options. The Morris and Mollye Fogelman International Jewish Film Festival presents a comedy from Morocco at the Memphis Jewish Community Center auditorium. Midnight Orchestra tells the story of a man trying to put together a tribute to his late father by finding all the musicians he played with.

This Week At The Cinema: International Features And Shorts, Plus Sammy Davis, Jr.

At Studio on the Square, Indie Memphis presents In The Fade, a German drama about a woman who loses her family to neo-Nazi terrorists, and the price her quest for revenge exacts.

This Week At The Cinema: International Features And Shorts, Plus Sammy Davis, Jr. (2)

Meanwhile, over at Crosstown Arts, the monthly Shoot & Splice series presents a lecture by Rhodes College Film and Media Studies Professor Rashna Richards based on her book For The Love of Cinema: Teaching Our Passions In And Out Of The Classroom.

Rashna Richards

On Wednesday night, Feb. 7, at Crosstown Arts, the International Shorts program from Indie Memphis 2017 presents snack sized movies from Norway, Canada, India, China, Mexico, and South Korea.

Thursday’s offering from the International Jewish Film Festival explores a dark time in twentieth century history when Nelson Mandela faced a death sentence for conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government of South Africa. An Act of Defiance is screening at Malco Ridgeway Four.

This Week At The Cinema: International Features And Shorts, Plus Sammy Davis, Jr. (3)

Then on Sunday, at the MJCC, a biopic about the beloved, mercurial entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr.

This Week At The Cinema: International Features And Shorts, Plus Sammy Davis, Jr. (4)

See you at the movies!