by Deborah Shatz
(AJNews) – Attention film lovers: The 27th annual Edmonton Jewish Film Festival, a signature program of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton takes place from May 7 to May 18 – in person and virtually. Four films and related events are at Edmonton Public Library, Stanley Milner branch. In addition, four films, a Q&A and several shorts are available online. Although EJFF films and events are offered free of charge, donations are greatly appreciated and can be made when you register. For a full list of feature films, events and shorts and to book tickets, visit jewishedmonton.org.
Two films will be screened at Metro Cinema, Garneau Theatre, presented by EJFF partner, NorthwestFest. Tickets can be purchased on the NorthwestFest website.
May 7: 2:45 pm Stanley Milner Library
107 min, French
Rose is the story of a 78-year-old woman who has just lost her beloved husband. When her grief gives way to a powerful impulse to live her life, making her realize that she can still redefine herself as a woman, the whole balance of the family is upset.
May 7: 7 pm Stanley Milner Library
Karaoke (2022)
100 min, Hebrew
Karaoke is the bittersweet story of an ordinary middle-class couple in the suburbs of Tel Aviv who live a relatively bored existence—he’s quiet, she’s a thwarted free spirit—until their lives are upended by a charismatic playboy named Itzik (played by Israeli star Lior Ashkenazi) who moves into the building’s penthouse.
May 8 & May 9: 10 am online
Exodus 91 (2023)
90 minutes: Amharic, English, Hebrew
Israeli diplomat Asher Naim travels to Ethiopia to act as negotiator for the release of 15,000 Ethiopian Jews, hoping to save them from a country plagued by famine and civil war. This seemingly altruistic mission, however, is thrown into doubt and skepticism when Naim begins to suspect the rescue mission might be a publicity stunt for his home country.
May 10: 4 pm at Metro Cinema at Garneau
94 min, United States, English
Laemmle Theaters, the beloved art house cinema chain in Los Angeles has an astonishing legacy, with ties to the origins of Hollywood. This is a story about a third generation family business and their determination to survive.
May 10: 7 pm at Metro Cinema at Garneau
92 min, French, English
It’s an insidious, centuries-old conspiracy theory that continues to rear its ugly head today: that Jews have a secret international plot to control the world. How do such preposterous ideas get started, and why do they flourish? Filmmaker Maxim Pozdorovkin orchestrates bold, striking animation and exceptionally talented voice artists to walk us through almost 250 years of antisemitic ideology.
May 11 & May 12: 10 am online
105 min, German.
In the late 1960s, when a young Jewish businessman witnesses the failed prosecution of a Nazi concentration camp commandant who tortured his parents, he resolves to take the law into his own hands.
May 12: Reel Q and A with Schachten director Thomas Roth.
May 14: 10 am Streaming online
91 min, Arabic, Hebrew
Eight women, Arab and Jewish, take part in a video workshop hosted by Rona, a young filmmaker. With each camera take, the group dynamic forces the women to challenge their beliefs as they get to know one other.
May 15: 7 pm Stanley Milner Library
Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin (2020)
87 minutes, Arabic, Hebrew, English
Imprisoned by the Soviets. Orphaned by the Holocaust. Elected Prime Minister. Crowned peacemaker by the Nobel Prize Committee. Haunted by the Lebanon War. Menachem Begin was a pillar of the State of Israel and a tireless fighter for the Jewish people. He was, at the same time, a controversial leader. Upheaval features evocative imagery, rarely seen archival materials, and revealing interviews with those who knew him.
May 16 & 17: 10 am online
On This Happy Note (2021)
65 min, Israel
Anat Gov, one of the most influential playwrights in Israeli theatre, consciously accepting her nearing end, wishes to leave a spiritual legacy. Almost a decade after her death, her loved ones try to fill the void left by her words with their own. Through excerpts from her plays and footage of her family and political world, a new script is written: one in which the line between the play and reality is blurred.
May 18: 7 pm Stanley Milner Library
Farewell Mister Haffmann (2022)
115 min, French, German
Paris 1942. François Mercier is an ordinary man who only aspires to start a family with the woman he loves, Blanche. He is also the employee of a talented jeweler, Mr. Haffmann. But faced with the German occupation, the two men will have no other choice but to conclude an agreement whose consequences, over the months, will upset the fate of our three characters.
Click here for more information about the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival.
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