Centerflix Jewish Film Festival 2023
The Center is excited to announce our Centerflix Jewish Film Festival line-up. Films will be shown Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the month of October.
“★” Denotes special programming, more details to follow
Light refreshments at all showings
Ticket Sales Open Soon
$25 per film
$200 Festival Pass for unlimited screenings non-transferable, one per person
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24 Days
Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 7 PM ★
When Ilan Halimi is kidnapped for ransom because he’s Jewish and supposedly rich, his family and the police start a race against time to save him from the tortures of the “gang of barbarians”.
Silhouette of the Braids
Short Film Runtime: 16 Minutes
Showing: Thursday, Oct. 12 at 11:30 AM
In this poignant look at how mother-daughter relationships evolve from one generation to the next, a woman and her mother unearth the family archive of 8mm home movies of her grandmother’s life in 1960s Tel Aviv.
Four Hours a Day
Runtime: 56 minutes
Showing: Thursday, Oct. 12 at 11:30 AM
Four Hours a Day is the extraordinary and yet untold story of young mothers in the kibbutz movement in Israel. Based on Orian Chaplin’s bestselling book, it follows a phenomenon that affects thousands of mothers and their children to this day. Babies who, following kibbutz ideology, were taken from their mothers and lived and raised in children home. The mother was allowed to spend time with her child for only Four Hours a Day.
The Shadow of the Day
Runtime: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Showing: Thursday, Oct. 12 at 7 PM
In 1938 Italy, fascist-abiding restaurateur Luciano believes he can live by his own rules inside his business. However, everything changes when a girl with a dangerous secret starts to work at his restaurant.
Blessed
Short Film Runtime: 16 Minutes
Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 11:30 AM
In her big Moroccan family Zohara is the daughter everyone takes for granted while Oshrit is the beauty who is about to get married. On the day of the traditional henna ceremony preceding the wedding, Zohara steals Oshrit’s blessing. The mystical power of this blessing transforms Zohara, bringing her love and changing the dynamics of her relationship with her sister.
Matchmaking
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 11:30 AM
When Moti Bernstein, an Ashkenazi from a “good family”, handsome and smart, reaches the right age, he begins to hear that he is the ultimate match. However, Moti wants the one he can never have.
Simone
Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 7 PM
Simone Veil’s life story from her childhood to her major political battles seen through the pivotal events of the twentieth century. An intimate and epic portrait of an extraordinary woman who eminently challenged and transformed her era: her humanist message is still keenly relevant today.
Episode 7: The Rescue of the Jews of Syria
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Showing: Thursday, Oct. 19 at 11:30 AM
Episode 7: The Rescue of the Jews of Syria (1970-1994) tells the story of the harsh and restrictive life of the Jews who were still trapped in Syria, the international human rights response to their plight, and how the Sephardic community in Brooklyn came together to help free them. It includes the story of the proxy brides, a handful of young women permitted to leave Syria in 1977, and how the Council for the Rescue of Syrian Jews, a community organization in Brooklyn, fought triumphantly to free the remaining Syrian Jews, who were finally allowed to leave in 1992. And we learn how Sephardic Bikur Holim, a charitable organization in Brooklyn, galvanized the community to support and welcome the new arrivals.
1618
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Showing: Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7 PM
The Inquisition continues the persecution of Portuguese Jews, sending Visitador Sebastião Noronha to the city of Oporto. With his family and community in danger, António Álvares, decides to outline an escape plan.
With Slight Steps
Short Film Runtime: 29 minutes
Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 11:30 AM
With Slight Steps is a short focusing on a 97-year-old high priestess of Israeli folk dancing who has been flying back between Israel and her home in Germany, where she continues to teach. She and her grandson embark on a journey following the loss of her ‘Israeli Dream.’
Midnight Orchestra
Runtime: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 7 PM
After leaving Morocco as a child amidst racial tensions spurred by the Yom Kippur War, the son of a once famous Jewish musician returns to his home country to bury his father. Aided by an eclectic cab driver, his search for the former members of his father’s band unexpectedly transforms his life forever.
Exodus 91
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Showing: Thursday, Oct. 26 at 11:30 AM
This extraordinary film follows Israeli diplomat, Asher Naim, on a seemingly insurmountable mission to bring 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. As he learns more about these African Jews, he finds himself between worlds and faces a crisis of faith in himself and his country. Set in 1991 amidst the international politics behind Operation Solomon, Asher Naim learns he is being sent to Ethiopia to negotiate the release of thousands of Ethiopian Jews from a country collapsing under famine and civil war. Working with his Ethiopian-Israeli colleagues who themselves immigrated to Israel only a decade earlier, Asher’s faith in his mission is tested as he navigates the treacherous world of bureaucracy and politics.
Wet Dog
Runtime: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Showing: Thursday, Oct. 26 at 7 PM
Soheil (Doguhan Kabadayi), the 16-year-old son of Iranian-Jewish emigres, moves from a peaceful town in central Germany to the Berlin neighborhood of Wedding, where he experiences anti-Semitism for the first time from his mostly Muslim peers. As a means of self-preservation, he hides his Jewish identity and joins a gang, rising in the ranks as petty crimes lead to drug sales and altercations with police, but always with the constant threat of being found out. Croatian-born German filmmaker Lukacevic transposes Shalicar’s 1990s-set memoir to the present day, driving home the point that bigotry and the impulse to conform are dismayingly perennial.
Simone
Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 11:30 AM
Simone Veil’s life story from her childhood to her major political battles seen through the pivotal events of the twentieth century. An intimate and epic portrait of an extraordinary woman who eminently challenged and transformed her era: her humanist message is still keenly relevant today.
Episode 7: The Rescue of the Jews of Syria
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Showing: Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 7 PM
Episode 7: The Rescue of the Jews of Syria (1970-1994) tells the story of the harsh and restrictive life of the Jews who were still trapped in Syria, the international human rights response to their plight, and how the Sephardic community in Brooklyn came together to help free them. It includes the story of the proxy brides, a handful of young women permitted to leave Syria in 1977, and how the Council for the Rescue of Syrian Jews, a community organization in Brooklyn, fought triumphantly to free the remaining Syrian Jews, who were finally allowed to leave in 1992. And we learn how Sephardic Bikur Holim, a charitable organization in Brooklyn, galvanized the community to support and welcome the new arrivals.