Emily & Neil Kishter Year Round Film Programs

2024-25 Nina Rosenzweig Sunday Morning Israeli Film Series

Sunday mornings, 9:00 am
at the Levis JCC
Moderated by Mort Plotnick
Includes coffee, bagels, film and discussion.

November 24: Family Matters
Director: Noa Roth, 67 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles, 2015
The divorce of a renowned author and an esteemed rabbi affected the lives of their seven children and the entire city of B’nai Barak. Thirty years later, one of the couple’s daughters embarks on a journey among the ghosts of her childhood to reunite her fractured family.
View Trailer »

December 8: Between Worlds
Director: Miya Hatav, 90 minutes, Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles, 2016
Two women from two different worlds meet in a hospital, moments after a terror attack in Jerusalem. The two are hiding a secret. While waiting and praying for a miracle to come, they will get to know each other and learn about truth, faith and acceptance.
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January 5: Here and Now
Director Roman Shumunov, 90 minutes, Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles, 2018
Here and Now is an authentic social drama told through the eyes of Andrey, a young immigrant living with her little sister in the slums of the city of Ashdod and struggling to assimilate into Israeli society.
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January 26: The Wonderful Kingdom of Papa Alaev
Directors: Tal Barda & Noam Pinchas, 74 minutes, Hebrew, Russian, and Tajik with English subtitles, 2016
A modern-day Shakespearean tale about a legendary Tajik-Israeli musical family controlled by the charismatic patriarch Papa Alaev. Only his equally strong-willed daughter, Ada, dares to resist his will. As Papa nears 80 and generations clash over new musical directions, the family show must go on. But who will lead the band?
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March 2: Kapo in Jerusalem
Director: Uri Barbash, 98 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles, 2015
An exploration of the moral dilemmas in Auschwitz from the point of view of a deputy head of a block and a few of his prisoners who survived the camp and emigrated to Israel. Based on a true story.
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March 30: Harmonia
Director: Ori Sivan, 97 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles, 2016
A contemporary variation of the biblical story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. Sarah, a harpist of the Jerusalem Philharmonic Orchestra is married to Abraham, its conductor. When Hagar, a young Palestinian horn player joins the orchestra, the thin balance in their family is shaken. Harmonia uncovers the metaphoric emotional roots of the ancient conflict between the two peoples living in Jerusalem, now seeking harmony through a dramatic encounter between Western and Eastern music.
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Individual films $18: Gold & Gold Plus members $16; Film Festival Patrons and Platinum Members: Free
Series pass: $95, Gold and Gold Plus Members: $80, Platinum Members and Film Festival Patrons: Free

Fascinating Sephardim: A Film Series

Presented in partnership with The Sephardi Federation of Palm Beach County, Inc.
Wednesdays at 1:00 pm
at the Levis JCC unless noted 
Discussion moderated by Rose Pappo Allen
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 America; their heritage and immigrant experience. Each film viewing will be followed by an in-depth discussion providing historic and cultural context to the subject as well as Q&A.

December 4: Luis Moses Gomez and His Mill House
Director: Tobe Carey, 17 minutes, English, 2018
Follow Luis Moses Gomez and uncover the fascinating history of American Jewish Colonial enterprise in New York City and the Hudson River Valley. A descendant of refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, Luis Moses Gomez’s upstate building, now part of the Gomez Mill House Museum, represents the earliest Jewish-built dwelling still standing in North America.
AND
Carvalho’s Journey
Director: Steve Rivo, 85 minutes, English, 2015
A real life 19th Century American western adventure story, tells the extraordinary story of Solomon Nunes Carvalho (1815-1897), an observant Sephardic Jew born in Charleston, South Carolina, and his life as a groundbreaking photographer, artist and pioneer in American history.
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January 29: The Levys of Monticello
Director: Steven Pressman, 71 minutes, English, 2022
When Thomas Jefferson died in 1826, he left behind a mountain of personal debt, which forced his heirs to sell his beloved Monticello home and all of its possessions. The Levys of Monticello is a documentary film that tells the little-known story of the Levy family, which owned and carefully preserved Monticello for nearly a century.
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February 19: Remember My Soul
at Movies of Delray
Director: Jillian Glantz, 88 minutes, English and Spanish with English subtitles, 2019
Remember My Soul unearths the history of Sephardic Jews in South Texas and explores how their contributions to regional customs and culture have shaped the identity of people in the borderlands.

February 26: Island of Roses: The Jews of Rhodes in Los Angeles
Director: Gregori Viens, 55 minutes, English, French, Italian, and Ladino with English subtitles, 1995
Jews who lived on the Mediterranean island of Rhodes from 1492 to World War II now populate the Los Angeles community of Rhodeslis. These immigrants settled in Los Angeles during and after World War II and passed down their traditions, food, songs, rituals, and their medieval Ladino Spanish dialect to their American-born children and grandchildren.
AND
The Sephardic Jews and the Pike Place Market
Director: Stephen Sadis, 30 minutes, English with English subtitles, 2001
At the turn of the century, Sephardic Jews fled the turmoil of their homeland to start a new life in America. Filled with interviews, archival photos, this slice of Northwest history captures their story as they arrived in Seattle and found work at the Pike Place Market.

March 19: Challah Rising in the Desert: The Jews of New Mexico
Director: Isaac Artenstein, 84 minutes, English, 2017
A cinematic celebration of the history and people of New Mexico’s unique Jewish community. Five waves of Jewish settlement include Conversos escaping the Spanish Inquisition, German merchants on the Santa Fe Trail in the early 1800s, international scientists at Los Alamos in the 1940s and the counterculture of the 1960s create a moving tapestry of the Jewish experience woven into New Mexico’s fascinating landscape and history.
View Trailer »

March 26: To The Ends of the Earth: A Portrait of Jewish San Diego
Director: Isaac Artenstein, 75 minutes, English, 2018
By wagon train and steamship, Jews began arriving in San Diego in 1850 when it was a small pueblo. Meet descendants of early Jewish pioneers, scientists, entrepreneurs, avant-garde artists, rabbis, and surfers in a living portrait of a vibrant and culturally dynamic community.

$10 per film, Film Festival Patrons and Platinum Members: Free
Series pass: $45, Film Festival Patrons and Platinum Members: Free