The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center announce the complete lineup for the 27th annual New York Jewish Film Festival (NYJFF), January 10-23, 2018. Among the oldest and most influential Jewish film festivals worldwide, the NYJFF each year presents the finest documentary, narrative, and short films from around the world that explore the diverse Jewish experience. Featuring new work by fresh voices in international cinema as well as restored classics, the festival's 2018 lineup includes 37 wide-ranging and exciting features and shorts from the iconic to the iconoclastic, of which 25 are screening in their world, U.S., and New York premieres.
The NYJFF opens on Wednesday, January 10, with the U.S. premiere of Nabil Ayouch's mesmerizing Razzia, which follows five Moroccans pushed to the fringes in Casablanca by their extremist government. Closing Night is the U.S. premiere of Amos Gitai's latest documentary, West of the Jordan River, a powerful look at West Bank citizens, both Israeli and Palestinian, who have risen to act in the name of civic consciousness and peace. The Centerpiece selection is Ofir Raul Graizer's tender debut feature The Cakemaker, about the relationship that forms between a gay German baker and the Israeli widow of the man whom they both loved.
This year's edition of the festival features an array of enlightening and challenging documentaries, including Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me, Sam Pollard's exhilarating tribute to the legendary entertainer; the U.S. premiere of Chen Shelach's Praise the Lard, an exploration of the Israeli pork industry; NYJFF alum Radu Jude's haunting The Dead Nation, which consists entirely of photographs from Romanian photographer Costica Acsinte and audio of diary excerpts from Jewish doctor Emil Dorian, which both span the period from 1937 to 1944; the U.S. premiere of Daniel Najenson's The Impure, which investigates institutionalization of Jewish prostitution in Argentina in the early 20th century. The festival also includes fiction works like Tzahi Grad's morally complex, darkly comic The Cousin, about a progressive Israeli actor who comes to the defense of his Palestinian handyman when he's accused of assault; and Francesco Amato's comedy Let Yourself Go, about a detached psychoanalyst who finds his life recharged by the presence of a young, attractive, and undisciplined personal trainer.
NYJFF special programs include the world premiere of a new restoration of Alexander Rodnyanskiy's The Mission of Raoul Wallenberg, 27 years after it premiered in the first NYJFF; a tribute screening of Amos Gitai's One Day You'll Understand in memory of Jeanne Moreau; Drawing the Iron Curtain, a special program of Soviet animated shorts, followed by a conversation with author/professor Maya Balakirsky Katz and film critic J. Hoberman; the U.S. premieres of restorations of Renen Schorr's Late Summer Blues and Gilbert Tofano's Siege; and a brand new world premiere restoration of Micha? Waszy?ski's 1937 classic The Dybbuk, one of the finest films ever produced in the Yiddish language, presented in conjunction with the U.S. premiere of main slate title The Prince and the Dybbuk, a documentary about Waszy?ski's life.
See below for the complete lineup, including main slate selections and special events.
This year's New York Jewish Film Festival was selected by Rachel Chanoff, Director, THE OFFICE performing arts + film; Gabriel Grossman, Coordinator, New York Jewish Film Festival/Jewish Museum; Dennis Lim, Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center; Aviva Weintraub, Associate Curator, Jewish Museum and Director, New York Jewish Film Festival; and Tyler Wilson, Programming Associate, Film Society of Lincoln Center.
NYJFF tickets will go on sale to FSLC and Jewish Museum members on Thursday, December 21, and to the public on Thursday, December 28. Tickets may be purchased online or in person at the Film Society's Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and Walter Reade Theater box offices, 144 & 165 West 65th Street. For complete festival information, visit www.NYJFF.org.
The New York Jewish Film Festival is made possible by the Martin and Doris Payson Fund for Film and Media.
Generous support is also provided by Wendy Fisher and Dennis Goodman, Sara and Axel Schupf, Mark Kingdon and Anla Cheng Kingdon, The Liman Foundation, Louise and Frank Ring, an anonymous gift, the Ike, Molly and Steven Elias Foundation, Amy and Howard Rubenstein, Steven and Sheira Schacter, and through public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council.
Additional support is provided by Office of Cultural Affairs - Consulate General of Israel in New York, the German Consulate General New York, Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, the Polish Cultural Institute New York, and the Consulate General of Denmark in New York.
Acknowledgments Nicola Galliner, Jewish Film Festival Berlin & Brandenburg; Faye Ginsburg, New York University; Stuart Hands, Toronto JFF; Natalia Indrimi, Centro Primo Levi; Judy Ironside, UK Jewish Film; Lexi Leban, Jay Rosenblatt, San Francisco JFF; Marlene Josephs, Volunteer; Cecilia Kaplan, Film Festival Intern, Aviva Kempner; Julija Lazutkaite; Linda Lipson, Volunteer; Richard Peña; Sharon Rivo, Lisa Rivo, National Center for Jewish Film; Andrea Simon; Alla Verlotsky, Seagull Films; Isaac Zablocki, JCC Manhattan
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