Calgary Jewish Film Festival unveils its 2026 season November 7-22

by Maxine Fischbein, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(AJNews) – Following a quarter century of crowd-pleasing cinema, the Calgary Beth Tzedec Congregation Jewish Film Festival is pulling out all the stops with an outstanding lineup of feature films, documentaries and special guests that will make Season 26 very special for film lovers, says the festival’s founder and long-time director Harvey Cyngiser.

The film fest takes place at Beth Tzedec November 7-22 beginning with opening night feature film Our Loves, directed by preeminent Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher, who provided deeply thoughtful insights to Calgary Jewish Film Festival attendees during a time of crisis for Israel and the Jewish people when he introduced his film The Monkey House just weeks after the devastating October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel.

An October 7-adjacent film, Our Loves really has more to do with human relationships, resilience, and humanity than the national calamity, which serves as backdrop and catalyst for change as a variety of characters are forced to confront fault lines in their relationships with others and themselves.

Nesher’s tour de force recently garnered a stunning 12 Ophir Awards nominations (Israel’s equivalent to the Oscars), including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

The following day, film and folk aficionados are guaranteed to love Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie. The nostalgic feel-good documentary explores Jewish influences on the life, times, and music of the folk music legend, most notably his touching relationship with his mother-in-law, acclaimed Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt, who was herself a star.

It is fitting that a film celebrating Jewish values that Guthrie (though not himself Jewish) lived by, is the inaugural Arlein Z”L and Dov Chetner Z”L Am Yisrael Chai Screening, dedicated by the Chetner family in memory of Arlein and Dov, both of blessed memory, whose names remain synonymous with music and Jewish life.

Notably, the Jerusalem Foundation will also be supporting the film festival for the first time, as sponsors of two feature films:  the highly acclaimed and multiple award-winning Israel/Germany drama Where To? and the often-madcap Israeli dramedy The Wedding Entertainer (The tale of Moishe Badhan).

A rare triple-documentary picture show constitutes this year’s Dr. Ralph Gurevitch Tikkun Olam Screening.

The Sacred Society – a US film presented in collaboration with the Chevra Kadisha of Calgary – is an animated short documentary featuring the voices of male Chevra Kadisha volunteers describing the reasons they embraced the mitzvah of preparing deceased peers for burial according to time-honoured Jewish traditions. The moving observations of these anonymous angels of mercy are paired with mesmerizing sand art, capturing the temporariness of life and the comfort of rituals linking us from generation to generation.

The documentary short, The Asset, tells the story of American trauma surgeon Dr. Anna Goldenberg’s mission to ensure that Israel adopts the “Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET), an effort complicated by the fact that the course relies on the use of cadavers, which runs counter to Orthodox Jewish practice. Inspired by her former colleague – an Israeli physician battling an aggressive cancer – Goldenberg, a childhood immigrant from the former Soviet Union, goes on a journey of her own as her Jewish identity morphs and changes.

The third Tikkun Olam screening, the documentary Sapiro v. Ford: The Jew who sued Henry Ford, focuses on Jewish lawyer and labour organizer Aaron Sapiro, the David who brought a libel suit against automobile goliath and vicious antisemite Henry Ford. This true story is sadly resonant today, given the huge spike in antisemitism around the world and here at home.

Sapiro’s courage in the face of adversity is both inspiring and empowering, despite the enormous personal price he paid. His advocacy of farmers both in the US and Canada (How did we not know this history?) led to positive change and is guaranteed to stoke the pride of a Canadian Jewish audience.

The Tikkun Olam screenings are well-timed, given that Ralph Gurevitch, a long-serving film fest committee member together with his wife Sheila, recently celebrated his 90^th birthday.

Other sponsored screenings include the delightfully quirky and highly stylized arthouse feature film The Soundman, this year’s Dr. Martha Cohen Memorial Screening; and We Met at Grossinger’s, a nostalgic documentary exploring the amazing history of the Jewish resort that was the beeting heart – pun intended – of the Borscht Belt, largely due to the magnetic personality of Jenny Grossinger, the beloved institution’s “hostess with the moistest.”

We Met at Grossinger’s is this year’s Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta’s Jay Joffe Memorial Program. Joffe, the JHSSA’s first and long-serving president, had a passion for documenting, archiving, and, most importantly, sharing local Jewish history. It is safe to say that he would have been thrilled with the way that that the film brings rarely seen archival materials to the telling of a Jewish history that earned its rightful place in American social history.

There are two weeknight screenings at this year’s film fest. The Kristallnacht screening, once again co-sponsored by the Calgary Jewish Federation – will be open to the entire community free of charge as part of its annual Kristallnacht commemoration.

I Draw Them the Best I Can tells the story of child Holocaust survivor and artist Adam Policzer, whose drawings for his graphic memoir The House Across the Street helped him to process the trauma he endured during the Shoah. Hidden by a neighbour, little Adam, only five years old at the time, saw his family rounded up, and was later denounced and arrested. The film – which brings Policzer’s art to life through skillful animation – delves into Policzer’s improbable survival, the effects of intergenerational trauma on his family, and the power of artistic expression in healing.

Policzer, 87, who lives in Vancouver, will be a special guest at the screening together with co-directors Jamie Michaels – an English professor at the University of Calgary – and Liam Karp.

Another weekday highlight is the documentary The Campaign: Disinformation in a Time of War, featuring lawyer, journalist, author, and film subject Warren Kinsella, who will be on hand for both a Q and A session and a book signing immediately following the screening.

This marks the return of Kinsella to Beth Tzedec after a well-received summer book talk about his recent best-seller The Hidden Hand – detailing the carefully coordinated and well-funded propaganda war, decades in the making, that literally exploded in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza in the guise of a grassroots uprising.

Presented in collaboration with both the Paperny Family JCC Jewish Book Festival and Allies for a Strong Canada, the screening of The Campaign was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Krell Nitzanim Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Calgary and Joe and Sondra Spier.

“We are grateful for the support of all our sponsors,” said Harvey Cyngiser, who adds that festival sponsorships, event co-sponsorships, and endowment funds supporting annual screenings are increasingly important as Cyngiser and his committee of dedicated volunteers ensure that the film festival remains affordable.

“When we established the festival 25 years ago, makers of Jewish and Israeli movies were excited to share their films, often at moderate cost,” said Cyngiser, who takes pride in keeping the cost of full festival passes low so that as many people as possible can enjoy all that film festival has to offer.

As the taste for Israeli and Jewish films has grown, so has a huge industry, adds Cyngiser. That, coupled with the facts that screening rights are generally paid for in US dollars, and the cost of virtually everything – including the plentiful nosh served between screenings – has risen dramatically.

“We could not do this without our sponsors,” said Cyngiser, adding that the list of contributors and support for special screenings continue to grow.

Ticket sales are also vital to the viability of the film fest. At $20 per person for a full afternoon or evening of film, the annual event continues to provide big bang for the buck. But the best deal for those attending multiple screenings is the full season pass, at $85 per person, if purchased prior to November, or $95 at the door.  University students get the full festival pass for only $20.

Youth under the age of 18 may attend screenings free of charge. For minors, it is recommended that parents provide guidance as some of the movies may not be appropriate for younger viewers. In general, film goers are well advised to read and consider the film synopses, as the film festival does not shy away from difficult subjects that could be upsetting for some viewers.

One film that comes to mind this year, is The Darkest Light, a documentary that explores the mixed legacy of musician and singer Shlomo Carlebach – once dubbed “the singing Rabbi” – who rose to stardom in the Jewish world for his modern songs based on Jewish liturgy. His songs formed the Jewish playlist of the 1960s and 1970s and became a staple in Synagogue services across the denominational spectrum.

The Darkest Light explores how Carlebach’s legacy was tarnished in the face of multiple and credible accusations of sexual abuse following Carlebach’s 1994 passing, begging the question as to whether his music has a place in a post-Me-Too world. The documentary combines Carlebach’s music, film clips, and interviews with some of his accusers and clergy who grapple with this question. Prominent in the film is Carlebach’s daughter Neshama, herself a talented singer, who must “reconcile the unreconcilable.”

Special guests at the screening will be director Simon Mendes and co-producer Jacqueline G. Tepper.

The task of Cyngiser and his committee is to bring a variety of films representing the diversity of Jewish life in Israel and around the globe. This requires significant commitment, Cyngiser says.

“Most volunteer gigs do not require the time and focus brought to film selection,” said Cyngiser. “My committee members spend hours watching multiple films. The committee begins previewing just after Passover and continues into the summer, meeting regularly to discuss them.”

“It is a huge commitment, for which I am deeply grateful,” Cyngiser said, also lauding the cooperation of community partners on various screenings and events.

One example is the Paperny Family JCC, whose 2026 Book Fair and Hanukkah Market begins on closing night of the Film Festival, Sunday, November 22, and runs through to November 19.

“When a film relates to books, we are thrilled to team up with the Book Fair, offering them the opportunity to bring to our audience books related to the films we are screening,” said Cyngiser.

“We are especially excited to team up with the book fair for our closing night film The Choice,” Cyngiser said.

The film brings Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor, psychologist, and bestselling author Dr. Edith Eger together with bereaved Israeli mother Iris Haim, for whom Eger’s book was a source of comfort and healing.

Both Eger’s book and the film that shares its name combine Eger’s testimony as a survivor of Auschwitz, Mauthausen, and a death march and her subsequent journey toward becoming a psychologist who knows trauma from both sides.

Sadly, Eger passed away in April 2026, but she leaves a rich legacy, exemplified by many trauma victims who have found a path to resilience thanks to her life-changing and life-affirming guidance. Two of them, Iris Haim, and her son Tuval – both of whom appear in The Choice – will be special guests at this not-to-be-missed closing night screening which, despite the challenging subject matter, is ultimately uplifting.

This and much more awaits film lovers during season 26 of the Annual Beth Tzedec Congregation Jewish Film Festival. See you at the movies!

For more information or to purchase festival passes online, go to https://bethtzedec.ca/jewish-film-festival/. To explore sponsorship opportunities or buy tickets the old-fashioned way, call the Beth Tzedec office at 403-255-8688. Click here to view the festival brochure. 

Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.