Rutgers Jewish Film Festival starts November 5
The Rutgers Jewish Film Festival will feature 13 thought-provoking and entertaining films and discussions with filmmakers and special guests from November 5 to 15 at the Regal Cinema Commerce Center in North Brunswick. Films are from the United States, Israel, France, and Belgium. The festival delves into universal themes while also offering diverse perspectives on Jewish history, culture, and identity around the globe. Tickets are available online through the Bildner Center website, BildnerCenter.Rutgers.edu/film. General admission tickets are $16.
The festival is sponsored by Rutgers’ Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life and made possible by a grant from the Karma Foundation.
Opening Day, November 5, will feature two films that celebrate sound, music, and poetry — the drama “The Soundman” and the New Jersey premiere of the American documentary “Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie.” Director Steven Pressman is expected to attend.
The festival also presents the New Jersey premiere of “Tell Me Everything” from Israeli filmmaker Moshe Rosenthal, who is invited for the November 10 screening. “Bookends,” written by and starring Noam Ash, will be screened on November 7 and 12; Ash is expected to attend the November 12 screening.
Closing day, November 15, will feature three films: “Sapiro v. Ford: The Jew Who Sued Henry Ford,” with director Gaylen Ross expected to attend; “Safe Room,” with director Haley Geffen expected to attend and a sneak preview of “Double Panther.”
Additional festival speakers include Holocaust survivor and Rutgers alumna Tova Friedman, who tells her life story in a new documentary, “Behind Her Eyes,” on November 12, and Neshama Carlebach and director Simon Mendes, whose new documentary on the legacy of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, “The Darkest Light,” on November 8, is deeply nuanced.
The Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life connects Rutgers University with the community through public lectures, symposia, Jewish communal initiatives, cultural events, and teacher training in Holocaust education.