ATHENS JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL - FEBRUARY 20-23

Celebrating the Jewish experience through film, the festival aims to review, discuss, and celebrate American and international films of Jewish interest, and to encourage emerging filmmakers. The weekend's activities include film screenings, discussion with visiting film makers and scholars, and an opening night gala celebration.

MORE INFO + FULL FILM SCHEDULE HERE

ADVANCE

TICKETING

FESTIVAL

PASS

NOTE: Seating is limited - passes do not guarantee seating and must be presented at the box office in advance to receive a ticket to individual screenings and events

FILM

SCREENINGS

[ $9.00 - EVENING | $6.00 - MATINEE ]

REDUCED ADMISSION PRICES FOR MEMBERS, STUDENTS & SENIORS AVAILABLE
ONLY AT THE BOX OFFICE WITH VAILD ID: [ $7.00 - EVENING | $5.00 - MATINEE ]

ADAM RESURRECTED [ USA/Israel, 2008, 35mm, Dir: Paul Schrader, R ]
In a world gone mad, being insane is a way to fit in. Adam Resurrected features Jeff Goldblum as Adam Klein, a Holocaust survivor (once a popular music hall clown and gifted performer) afflicted with post-Holocaust suppressed survivor's guilt. By delving into a raw, absurdist world where man is dog, and dog is man, Adam finds a way to heal himself. Based on the novel Man, Son of Dog by Yoram Kaniukl.

SHOWTIMES: 8:15p - TUE 2/23

AT HOME IN UTOPIA [ USA 2007, Digital, Dir:  Michal Goldman, 57min, NR ]
A documentary on the lives of immigrant Jewish garment workers who catapulted themselves out of the urban slums and ghettos by pooling their resources and building cooperatively owned and run apartment houses in the Bronx. They first constructed the United Workers Cooperative Colony, a.k.a. "the Coops," where residents experimented with breaking down the barriers of race and ethnicity and championed radical ideals that would someday transform the American workplace. This film captures their epic struggle across two generations as they tried to build an equitable and just society.

GUEST SPEAKER: MICHAL GOLDMAN, founder of Filmmakers' Cooperative and also founder of the Boston Jewish Film Festival will introduce her documentary and lead discussion afterwards.

SHOWTIMES: 2:45p - SUN 2/21

THE BEETLE [ Israel 2008, Digital, Dir: Yishai Orian, 52min ]
Director Yishai Orian is married to Eliraz, but is also in love iwth his old Volkswagon Beetle. Eliraz is about to give birth to their first child, and the soon -to-be-mother is anxious to get rid of the old wreck, which she believes to be absolutely unsafe for a baby. As the argument heats up on whether to junk or invest in rehabilitating the Beetle, Yishai's reluctance to let go of the past leads him on an exciting, funny and touching road trip. During his trip, Yishai's traces memories of previous owners of the yellow Beetle, the history of the Beetle in Israel, and Arab-Isareli relations. The emotional and enlightening encoutners blend with Yishai's personal journey toward fatherhood and his attempt to save his two loves.

SHOWTIMES: 4:15p - MON 2/22

ESTER STREET [ USA 2009, Digital, Dir: Lisa Seidenberg, 42min ]
Ester Street takes its name from a street in Kazimierz, the old Jewish Section of Krakow, Poland. The documentary explores the so-called revival of Jewish Life in Poland through encounters at the annual Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow. The documentary is meant to explore the idea or remembrances--what and how should history, both personal and public be remembered? What is appropriate? And whom does it benefit" Does history depend on memory that may not be accurate? These are the questions that are raised, if not totally answered.

GUEST SPEAKER: Award winning filmmaker, LISA SEIDENBERG will introduce this World Premiere screening of her film and lead discussion afterwards

SHOWTIMES: 6:00p - MON 2/22

FOR MY FATHER [ Israel, Germany 2008, 35mm, Dir: Dror Zahavi, 100min ]
The story of Terek, a Palestinian forced on a suicide mission in Tel Aviv to redeem his father's honor. Terek is given a second chance when the fuse on his explosive vest fails to detonate. Forced to spend the weekend in Tel Aviv awaiting its repair, Terek must live amongst the people he was planning to kill. To his surprise he connects with several Israelis on the outskirts of society, including the beautiful Keren, who has cut off contact with her Orthodox family and upbringing. With nothing to lose, Terek and Keren open up to one another, and an unlikely love blooms between two isolated and damaged individuals, raised to be enemies. Terek discovers the spark of life returning to fill his soul, but when the weekend ends, Terek must make the decision of his life.

SHOWTIMES: 12:15p | 7:00p - SUN 2/21

ISRAELI DOC CHALLENGE 2009 [ Israel 2009, Digital, Dir: Various, 50min ] 
In May, 2009, Docaviv in Tel Aviv ran the Israeli Doc Challenge, an event where Israeli filmmakers had 5 days to make short documentaries. The event coincided with the Centennial Anniversary of Tel Aviv and all of the films were made with Tel Aviv as the theme. The winning films premiered at Docaviv. They also received a TV broadcast in Tel Aviv and positive reviews in Israeli papers. This screening is a compilation of the top 9 films.

SHOWTIMES: 6:00p - MON 2/22

LEMON TREE [ Israel 2009, 35mm, Dir:  Eran Riklis, 106min ]
Salma, a Palestinian widow who lives on the green line border between Israel and the West Bank, has to stand up against her new neighbor the Israeli Defense Minister when he moves into his new house opposite her lemon grove and declares that the trees are a threat to safety and issues orders to uproot them. Together with Ziad Daud, her young Palestinian lawyer, Salma goes to the Israeli Supreme Court to save her trees. Her struggle raises the interest of Mira Navon, the Defense Minister’s wife, and despite their differences the two women develop an invisible bond, while forbidden ties grow stronger between Salma and Ziad. Salma’s legal and personal journey lead her deep into the complex, dark and sometimes funny chaos of the ongoing struggle in the Middle East, in which all players find themselves alone in their struggle to survive.

SHOWTIMES: 4:45p | 9:15p - SUN 2/21

LEON [ Spain 2008, Digital, Dir: Jack Matitiahy, 90min ]
A documentary devoted to the northern Spanish town of Leon, a town with a rich, but little-known, Jewish history. Through testimonies and interviews, fascinating personal stories reveal the ties between Jewish and Spanish culture that have survived to this day. An entire chapter is devoted to the Jewish scholar, Moses de Leon, who was born in Leon and was a prominent spiritual leader of his time, a Kabbalist, a philosopher and one of the authors of the Zohar. The moving story of two women, descendents of Marranos, provides recent testimony that they continue to practice Jewish rituals in their homes. The excavations at Puente del Castro and the findings -- revealed here for the first time -- point to a 10th century Jewish settlement on the site.

SHOWTIMES: 8:45p - MON 2/22

THE LITTLE TRAITOR [ Israel, USA 2009, 35mm, Dir: Lynn Roth, 88min ]
Based on the novel Panther in the Basement by the world renowned author, Amos Oz, LITTLE TRAITOR takes place in 1947 Palestine, just a few months before Israel becomes a state. Proffy Liebowitz, a militant yet sensitive twelve year old, has grown up under British occupation and wants nothing more than for the occupying British to get out of his land until he is seized while out after curfew by Sergeant Dunlop (Alfred Molina). Instead of arresting him, Sergeant Dunlop escorts him back home and an unlikely friendship begins to develop. As neighborhood tensions escalate between the British and the underground Jewish rebellion, their relationship becomes increasingly complicated. The resulting trial and shock that he could have such genuine affection for his “enemy” will change Proffy’s life forever.

SHOWTIMES: 5:00p - SUN 2/21

MARY AND MAX [ Australia 2009, 35mm, Dir:  Adam Elliot, 80min ]
Pleasingly demented and darkly comic, MARY AND MAX is a bittersweet, decidedly adult claymation fable of an improbable pen pal relationship between an unloved eight-year-old Australian girl and a middle-aged, morbidly obese Jewish New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome. Spanning twenty years, Mary and Max's correspondence covers every taboo topic from sex to religion, while surviving illness and shared loneliness. The letters between the naive misfit and ultimate nebbish are as roaringly funny as they are painfully candid. Mismatched as they are, their global connection poignantly endures. Directed by Oscar-winning animator Adam Elliot, and featuring the talents of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Barry Humphries and Eric Bana, MARY AND MAX is a compassionate tale of friendship between oddballs, and a triumph of visual panache.

SHOWTIMES: 6:00p - TUE 2/23

MAX MINSKI AND ME [ Germany 2007, 35mm, Dir: Anna Justice, 94min ]
Nelly Sue Edelmeister (Zoe Moore) is a skinny 13-year-old future astromomer living in Berlin with her divorcing American Jewish mother (Adriana Altaras) and German Christian father (Jan Josef Liefers). Though her mom pushes her to practice for her fast-approaching Bat Mitzvah, 'Nelly is more fascinated by the mysteries of the cosmos. When a school basketball championship offers her a chance to meet fellow astronomy fan and heartthrob Prince Edouard of Luxembourg, Nelly turns to Max Minsky for help. Author Holly-Jane Rahlens based the screenplay for this coming-of-age story on her novel, Prince William, Maximillian Minsky and Me, which received the German Award for Young Peoples Literature in 2003.

SHOWTIMES: 2:30p - SUN 2/21

PRAYING WITH LIOR [ USA 2007, Digital, Dir: Ilana Trachtman, 87min ]
An engrossing, wrenching and tender documentary film, PRAYING WITH LIOR introduces Lior Liebling, also called "the little rebbe." Lior has Down syndrome, and has spent his entire life praying with utter abandon. While everyone agrees Lior is closer to God, he's also a burden, a best friend, an inspiration, and an embarrassment, depending on which family member is speaking. As Lior approaches Bar Mitzvah, different characters provides a window into life spent "praying with Lior." The movie poses difficult questions such as what is "disability" and who really talks to God? Told with intimacy and humor, PRAYING WITH LIOR is a family story, a triumph story, a grief story, a divinely-inspired story. Screening followed by a panel discussion with local parents and children.

SHOWTIMES: 12:00p - SUN 2/21

TICKLING LEO [ USA 2009, Digitial, Dir: Jeremy Davison, 91min ]
Set around the days of Yom Kippur, TICKLING LEO is a drama that follows three generations of a family whose secrets and resentments threaten to wipe away its future. As Zak Pikler copes with his estranged father's declining health and dementia, he begins to uncover a secret his family has been hiding since World War II: the family's complicity in Hungarian Zionist leader Rudolph Kastner's controversial deal with the Nazis to allow certain Jews safe passage out of Hungary. Through twists of plot and character, the film lays bare the family's humorous, faulty, and always passionate search for an understanding of what it means to be an American family in the 21st century.

GUEST SPEAKER: Writer/Director JEREMY DAVIDSON will introduce his film and lead discussion afterwards.

SHOWTIMES: 7:15p - SUN 2/21

TOYLAND [ Germany 2009, 35mm, Dir: Jochen Alexander Freydank, 14min ]
Heinrich and David, two friends who are too young to understand why some people are being taken away. His mother, Mrs. Meissner, tells him that Heinrich and his fanily are going to Toyland. Heinrich wants to join them. Mrs. Meissner's split second decision to save David by pretending that he is her own son and David's parents' look of sadness as well as gratitude as they pass their son into the hands of Heinrich's mother are the totally unexpected culmination of events in this film which also make it so powerful and moving. Winne of the 2009 Oscar in the category Best Short Film (Live Action).

LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER [ Israel 2006, Dir:  Leonid Prudovsky, 50min ]
The story of Marcelo is a non-religious young man, an actor and a single parent to his eleven years old daughter, Lucy. He is desperately looking for someone to help him improve his Hebrew accent so he can pass the auditions for an Israeli Soap Opera. Anat, his religious teacher, is probably the best solution, but it seems that she hates soap operas, and is not so fund of her pupil either. In fact, she has her own problems: mainly her mother, Bruria, an energetic, not to say pushy lady, is frantically seeking a perfect match for her daughter who has, in her eyes, clearly passed the proper wedding age.

SHOWTIMES: 9:45p - SUN 2/21

FESTIVAL TICKETING:

- AJFF GENERAL FESTIVAL PASS [ $ 30.00 - ALL SCREENINGS, EXCLUDING OPENING GALA ]

- OPENING GALA [ $50.00 - INCLUDES RECEPTION & SCREENING - purchase separately HERE ]

- INDIVIDUAL SCREENING TICKETS: [ $9.00 - EVENING | $6.00 - MATINEE ]

REDUCED ADMISSION PRICES FOR MEMBERS, STUDENTS & SENIORS AVAILABLE
ONLY AT THE BOX OFFICE WITH VAILD ID: [ $7.00 - EVENING | $5.00 - MATINEE ]

Festival passes and individual screening tickets are available for advance purchase ONLINE or in-person at the Ciné box office or barcafe - purchases on the day of the event are subject to availability

Please note that all AJFF Passes are non-transferable. Seating is limited and these passes do not guarantee admission to individual film screenings and special events. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive early for best seating availability and present pass at the box office to receive ticket to the event. For additional information, please contact: athensjff@gmail.com

More information on festival tickets HERE