Fascinating Sephardim: A Film Series
Presented in partnership with the Sephardi Federation of Palm Beach County
This film series examines places in the world where wandering communities of Sephardic Jewry took root, expanding the diversity of world Jewish history and heritage. This season the film selection will feature Sephardim in Surprising Places; Jews of many sorts. Hidden in North Africa, Uzbekistan, China, India, Cairo and Italy we find largely unknown ancient communities that thrived for centuries and were forced to transform. These stories reveal our shared experiences of survival. Each film viewing will be followed by in-depth discussion providing historic and cultural context moderated by Rose Allen of the Sephardi Federation.
Wednesday, November 5, 1:00 pm
Bukharians: The Jews Who Survived 2,500 Years in Isolation
2025. English. 19 minutes.
For over 2,000 years, Jews lived in the heart of Central Asia—then vanished from view. Cut off from the wider Jewish world, Bukharian Jews built their own customs, survived forced conversions, and kept their identity alive through food, folklore, and quiet resistance.
AND
The Forgotten Refugees
Directed by Michael Grynszpan. USA, 2005. English. 49 minutes.
The Forgotten Refugees explores the history and destruction of Middle Eastern Jewish communities, some of which had existed for over 2,500 years. Featuring testimony from Jews who fled Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Yemen, these personal stories of refugees are interspersed with dramatic archival footage, including rescue missions of Yemenite and Iraqi Jews.
View Trailer »
Wednesday, November 12, 1:00 pm
Shanghai Ghetto
Directed by Dana Janklowicz-Mann and Amir Mann. 2002. 96 minutes.
Stripped of possessions and rights, German and Eastern European Jews flee to an unlikely destination to avoid persecution from the Nazis.
View Trailer »
Wednesday, December 10, 1:00 pm
Shalom Bollywood
Directed by Danny Ben-Moshe. 2017. 78 minutes.
Shalom Bollywood reveals the unlikely story of the 2000-year-old Indian Jewish community and its formative place in shaping the world’s largest film industry.
View Trailer »
Wednesday, March 11, 1:00 pm
From Cairo to the Cloud
Directed by Michelle Paymar. 2018. 92 minutes.
“From Cairo to the Cloud” tells the gripping story of the discovery and significance of the Cairo Geniza, a vast treasure trove of manuscripts hidden for centuries in the “geniza,” or sacred storeroom, of an ancient synagogue in Old Cairo. The Geniza is the largest cache of Jewish history ever found, illuminating over a thousand years of Jewish, Christian and Muslim life.
View Trailer »
Wednesday, March 18, 1:00 pm
The Jewish Ghetto of Venice: History, Faith, Survival
English & Italian with English subtitles. 2025. 25 minutes.
The Jews who settled in the Venetian Ghetto came from the Levantine and all over Europe: Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The Ghetto became the global heart of Jewish culture during the 16th and 17th centuries; the most vibrant Jewish center in Europe. No longer confined to the Ghetto, the Jews of Venice still thrive today, 500 years later.
AND
A Day in Rome
Directed by Valerio Ciriaci. 2017. English & Italian with English subtitles. 30 minutes.
A Day in Rome chronicles a day in the life of the contemporary Jewish community of Rome, which for centuries has lived in limbo between persecution and integration.
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$10 per film, Film Festival Patrons, Sephardi Federation Members and Platinum Members: Free; Series pass: $40
Sunday Morning Israeli Film Series
Sunday Mornings at 9:00 am
Includes coffee and bagels. Each film will feature a discussion moderated by Mort Plotnick.
November 16
Shoelaces
Directed by Jacob Goldwasser. Israel, 2018. Hebrew with English subtitles. 90 minutes
Shoelaces tells the story of a complicated relationship between an aging father and his special-needs son, whom he abandoned while he was still a young boy.
View Trailer »
December 14
The Milky Way
Directed by Maya Kenig. Israel, 2023. Hebrew with English subtitles. 98 minutes.
Tala, a desperate single mother of an unplanned baby, goes to work in a human dairy, where new mothers express breast milk for wealthy mothers who can’t or don’t want to nurse.
View Trailer »
January 11
Redemption
Directed by Joseph Madmony and Boaz Yehonatan Yacov. Israel, 2018. Hebrew with English subtitles. 104 minutes.
Menachem, a former frontman for a rock band, is now religious, and a father to a six-year-old. When his daughter is diagnosed with cancer, he must reunite his band to fund her expensive treatments.
View Trailer »
February 1
Plan A
Directed by Doron & Yoav Paz. Germany & Israel, 2022. English. 109 minutes.
PLAN A is based on the incredible true story of the “Avengers“, a group of Jewish vigilantes, men and woman, who after surviving the holocaust are vowing to avenge the death of their people – “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”.
View Trailer »
March 1
In Search of Israeli Cuisine
Directed by Roger Sherman. USA, 2016. English. 94 minutes.
In Search of Israeli Cuisine is a portrait of the Israeli people told through food. Profiling chefs, home cooks, farmers, vintners, and cheese makers drawn from the more than 100 cultures that make up Israel today, a rich, complex and human story emerges.
View Trailer »
Individual Films $18, Gold & Gold Plus Members: $16,
Platinum Members and JLKBRJFF Patrons: Free
Series Pass (all 5 films): $80, Gold & Gold Plus Members: $65
