Beth Tzedec Calgary Jewish Film Festival celebrates 25 years with a stellar lineup: November 1 – 16

by Maxine Fischbein

(AJNews) – The Beth Tzedec Congregation Jewish Film Festival marks an incredible milestone in Calgary next month as film lovers celebrate 25 seasons of the best Israeli and Jewish cinema from every corner of the world.

It is hard to believe that a quarter century has passed since festival founder Harvey Cyngiser – who served as adult education chair at Beth Tzedec – introduced a program using film as a jumping-off point for study about Jewish experience in Israel and the Diaspora.

“I didn’t even realize what was out there in terms of film,” Cyngiser told AJNews as he walked down memory lane last month in the leadup to the 2025 film fest which runs November 1-16 at Beth Tzedec.

Cyngiser began tapping into a motherlode of cinematic treasure that he knew he had to share with a much broader audience.

Along the way, the audience has grown to include film lovers beyond the Jewish community, and there have been sublime moments when the content of films proved ideal for collaborations with other ethnic and cultural groups.

“It’s been an outreach program in many ways,” said Cyngiser, adding that over the years, he has invited members of the Vietnamese, Italian, German, Chinese and Jamaican communities to attend screenings and adjunct events.

Other special guests have included filmmakers and film subjects, some of whom are celebrities. Memorable guests who have spoken or performed over the years at the Film Festival include; Nancy Spielberg, sister to good old what’s his name and a successful film producer in her own right; David Rubinger, who was a celebrated Time Life photojournalist; Yonit Levi, one of Israel’s most famous television news anchors, and Avi Nesher, Israel’s answer to Nancy Spielberg’s brother, Steven.

Musical guests over the years have included Shuli Natan, who popularized the Israeli song Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold); Ethiopian-Israeli singer Hagit Yaso and former CPO Concertmaster John Lowry who played one of the Violins of Hope (violins owned and played by Jewish musicians prior to and sometimes during the Holocaust); local Jamaican reggae band Strugglah; and the Jewish Cowboy, Scott Gerber.

From a tango performance to Israeli basketball legend Tal Brody and Team Israel baseball player Cobi Deker, Cyngiser has invited guests that either appeared in the films or whose talents complemented the themes and subject matter.

“The biggest moments were not always the celebrities,” mused Cyngiser, who says he feels most inspired by the everyday people whose extraordinary stories have been told at the Jewish Film Festival, people like Shlomi Biche, an IDF officer wounded in the Second Lebanon War. Following a screening of Encounter, the documentary in which he was a subject, he casually strolled into the Beth Tzedec Sanctuary and up to a microphone as the lights came up to the amazement and delight of his Calgary audience.

Another favourite moment for Cyngiser came when producer Nancy Spielberg attended the Film Festival screening of the documentary Above and Beyond, which focused on the experiences of American Jewish volunteers who fought in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.

The film was great, but, says Cyngiser, “The big moment was when Calgarian Frank Kettner…got up and was recognized together with the other Alberta Mahalniks (volunteers from overseas) who served in Israel during the 1948 War of Independence.“

Since the beginning of the film festival, we’ve championed Israeli cinema,” recalled Cyngiser. “For many years Israeli film was well received on the international stage too, but in the last couple of years, there has actually been a boycott of Israeli cinema.”

The vilification has grown since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza sparked by the Hamas Terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023,

“Film festivals have become venues for this proxy war that is going on in every field including sports, music, and the academic world,” Cyngiser told AJNews.

There was angst in the Canadian Jewish community when the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) opted to pull director Barry Avrich’s documentary film The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue (Canada 2025) from its prestigious film festival this past September.

The film tells the story of retired Israeli general Noam Tibon and his wife Gali who rushed to their son’s kibbutz near the Gaza border in order to rescue their son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren after receiving a text from their son when terrorists entered their home at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023.

TIFF organizers were eventually forced to reinstate the film, which went on to win the TIFF People’s Choice Award for best documentary,” Cyngiser said.

While it seemed unlikely that the Calgary Jewish Film Festival could acquire a film still making the rounds at major film festivals and slated for theatrical release, Cyngiser secured the right to screen The Road Between Us at this year’s Calgary Jewish Film Festival. This affords members of the community the opportunity to see and discuss the film in a safe space.

“Set against the backdrop of one of Israel’s darkest days, and blending intimate firsthand testimony with the raw urgency of a survival thriller, this film is both a gripping cinematic retelling of an extraordinary rescue, and a profoundly human story about courage, family, resilience, and the human capacity for bravery and love in the darkest moments.”

Another Israeli film to watch for during the 2025 season is The Sea (Israel 2025), which garnered a stunning 13 nominations for Ophir Awards, often referred to as the Israeli Academy Awards. The poignant and unforgettable feature film swept top honours including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor and will be Israel’s official submission for the 2026 Oscars in Hollywood.

It will be interesting to see how Hollywood reacts to an Israeli film that emphasizes the humanity of the Palestinian boy who is the beating heart of the film. Khaled, who is 12 years old is looking forward to seeing the sea for the first time as he sets out with his friends on a school trip. Prevented from crossing into Israel during a security check, he opts to make his own way to Tel Aviv. The resulting odyssey delivers a moving cinematic experience that underscores the potential when everyday people sadly siloed in two solitudes transcend politics and acknowledge each other’s humanity.

“Especially at a time like this when Israel is at war and reality is so difficult, the fact that through this film we can see the other is a hopeful message,” Cyngiser said.

Always Together (Israel 2025) is a documentary that focuses on a group of grade 12 students at Nofei Habsor, a regional high school along Israel’s southern border with Gaza, all of whom were affected by the October 7 terrorist attacks. When they are evacuated from their homes, the young adults plead with the Ministry of Education not to disperse them at the very time they need each other most.

“Some have lost family and friends, but there is still positive energy, this youthful spirit of moving forward and being the next generation that is going to come back to the homes they’ve been displaced from and rebuild,” Cyngiser said.

Always Together is sponsored by Calgary Jewish Federation and will be free of charge thanks to the generous support of Joe and Sondra Spier and the Krell and Cyngiser families.

Film director Paz Schwartz and Shahar Reuven, one of the film’s subjects, will be on hand for the screening and a Q and A.

This year’s Kristallnacht screening, The Last Twins (USA 2025) – sponsored by Calgary Jewish Federation – is also open to the entire community free of charge and will be preceded by a brief memorial ceremony.

The Last Twins tells the uplifting story of Erno “Zvi” Spiegel “…who risked everything to save dozens of young twins from almost certain death at Auschwitz.” At the heart of this remarkable film is the testimony of some of the aging twins who owe their long lives to Spiegel.

When tasked by the angel of death Dr. Josef Mengele to manage the boys, Spiegel used his position to provide them with comfort and hope, thus becoming their guardian angel. The film is aptly billed as “…a testament to resilience, sacrifice, and the power of one person to make a difference, even in humanity’s darkest hour.”

Labors of Love: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Szold – sponsored by CHW – tells the inspiring story of the founder of Hadassah, Henrietta Szold, whose inspired leadership during the early 20^th century helped to shape Israel’s health care system. Szold was also the visionary behind the Youth Aliyah program which rescued and resettled some 11,000 European Jewish children and resettled them in Palestine.

Director Abby Ginzberg – who has a surprising intergenerational connection to Szold – will be speaking following the screening.

In the documentary Charles Grodin: Rebel with A Cause – fittingly selected as this year’s Dr. Ralph Gurevitch Tikkun Olam screening – director James L. Freedman tells the little-known story of actor, comedian and TV broadcaster Charles Grodin’s social activism, “…in particular, his remarkable, decades-long fight to get wrongfully convicted people – most of whom were mothers of colour with young children – out of prison.”

This year’s Dr. Martha Cohen Memorial Screening, Midas Man (United Kingdom 2024), is an entertaining feature film about Brian Epstein, the Jewish Liverpudlian and showbiz genius who propelled the Beatles to international fame while fighting his own demons.

The 2025 Jay Joffe Memorial Screening, sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta, will feature two films, one of which was made right here in Calgary.

Bazaar!…The Story that Needs to be Told – a short documentary directed by Jennifer Eisenberg and Sheryl Livergant and Executive Produced by Jonathan Joffe (Jay Joffe’s son) – is a nostalgic journey back to the heyday of the Calgary Hadassah Bazaar. Interviews with Hadassah volunteers combined with photos and other archival treasures recall an annual event that led to many friendships, strengthened Jewish bonds, and put the local Jewish community on the Calgary civic map.

Swedishkayt: Yidlife Crisis in Stockholm (Canada/Sweden 2025), directed by and starring Yidlife Crisis originators Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman, is a delightful romp through Jewish history in Stockholm, including the fact that Yiddish has, perhaps counterintuitively, become “a protected government-recognized language in Sweden. Described as “a feel-good portrait of a small but robust community that, against the odds, is thriving” the documentary is “a universal story about diaspora, language, community, and resilience.”

While the Calgary Jewish community is relatively small, its film festival is anything but. Cyngiser chalks the success of the festival up to his diverse and enthusiastic film festival committee; generous sponsors, many of whom have supported the annual event since its inception; and a loyal audience that keeps coming back for more. All this adds up to a film festival that consistently punches above its weight.

This labour of love brings our community together regardless of affiliations and political views, a fact that seems more important than ever before with Jewish communities experiencing enormous stress over the last two year.

A good omen for the future, the Beth Tzedec Congregation Jewish Film Festival has, in recent years, begun to attract younger film lovers with Cyngiser and his committee working hard to encourage what it hopes will be a continuing trend.

This year, a special effort was made to invite Hillel and BBYO students to attend the screening of Always Together; and JAC, a program of Calgary Jewish Federation that convenes Jewish adults under the age of 40, is sponsoring the evening screenings of the previously mentioned documentary The Road Between Us and the feature film Dead Language (Israel/Czech Republic, Poland 2025).

“Nominated for 12 Israeli Academy Awards, Dead Language is a tender, quietly powerful drama about relationships and about longing – longing for connection, for meaning, for something beyond the confines of everyday life.”

Some seasons yield great films for school age kids, a precious commodity for which Cyngiser is always on the lookout. No luck this year, though past years have brought Jewish kids and their parents together for unforgettable films, special guests and programs.

In 2010, Articles of Hope – a documentary about Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon – was screened. Ramon was tragically killed together with six other crew members in the 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle explosion. In his memory, a generous endowment was established by the Beth Tzedec Congregation Jewish Film Festival and the Cyngiser family.

The Reach for the Stars Fund supports science programs at The Calgary Jewish Academy and Halpern Akiva Academy. This is but one example of how the film festival has supported the greater Jewish community over the years.

While it is fun to look back, it is time to look forward to another great Jewish Film Festival season, beginning with opening night on Saturday, November 1 and the screening of The Blond Boy from the Casbah (France 2024), a delightful semi-autobiographical feature film by Alexandre Arcady that promises an “…enchanting and nostalgic look at the vivid tapestry of life in the Casbah – a poor, multicultural section of [Algiers] where Jews, Muslims and Christians…lived together in peaceful co-existence for generations.”

Aptly, the film gives audiences a peek into the making of one filmmaker and is a love song to his community of origin and his craft.

Tickets for the 25^th Annual Beth Tzedec Congregation Jewish Film Festival are $85 for an all-access pass ($20 for students). Single tickets for a full afternoon or a full evening of films are $20. Entry to films for children and youth under the age of 18 is free.

Go to www.CalgaryJewishFilmFestival.com or www.bethtzedec.ca for the complete lineup of films and to purchase tickets. Sponsorship opportunities are always available. For more information, please contact the Beth Tzedec office at 403-255-8688.

 Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.