Westchester Jewish Film Festival 2016

Mar. 30–Apr. 20, 2016

This year the Westchester Jewish Film Festival features 34 films from Israel and around the world—both documentaries and narratives—along with a rich slate of guests. We’re excited to include a special look at the films of the hilarious, uncompromising, and brilliant director Elaine May, who will join us on March 31. And don’t miss the sensational Presenting Princess Shaw, which kicks things off on Opening Night! Bruni Burres, Senior Programmer, Westchester Jewish Film Festival 2016

Ishtar Nov. 16, 2023 Pauline Kael and Richard Brody (who calls Ishtar “one of my favorite films…a masterwork”) are only two of the many…
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You July 10, 2016 Sold Out! Unredeemed tickets may become available for purchase. Sign up at the box office for the stand-by line one hour…
Presenting Princess Shaw June 24–30, 2016 “A soulful salute to a distinctly 21st-century phenomenon that’s also an old-fashioned fairy tale come true.” (The Hollywood Reporter) This…
Mike Nichols: American Masters Apr. 20, 2016 The uncensored version of Elaine May’s witty and loving portrait of the artistic trailblazer Mike Nichols, her former partner in…
Karski & the Lords of Humanity Apr. 18, 2016 Q&A David Harris with Reception SOLD OUT Unredeemed tickets may become available for purchase. Sign up at the box office for the stand-by line one…
Rock in the Red Zone Apr. 17–20, 2016 “A moving profile in musical courage.” (The Hollywood Reporter) Documentary filmmaker Laura Bialis (Refusenik) returned to Israel in 2007 looking…
I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman Apr. 15–20, 2016 “A career-spanning documentary [that] provides valuable insights.” (Variety) Chantal Akerman was one of the leading experimental filmmakers of her generation.…
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah Apr. 15–19, 2016 Oscar Nominee, Best Documentary (Short Subject) “Thirty years after its release, Claude Lanzmann’s documentary masterpiece has never been more relevant.”
 (Indiewire) Adam Benzine has created a stunning…
Mikey and Nicky Apr. 14, 2016 Introduced by Kent Jones Mikey and Nicky, recently restored and rarely seen on the big screen, “is the great gangster movie of the 1970s,…
Women in Sink and Partner with the Enemy Apr. 14–17, 2016 Double Feature! “Women in Sink whips up quite the lather over women, race and identity in Israel through an alluringly rosy lens. And…
The Grüninger File Apr. 13–18, 2016 Apr. 13: Q&A Jason Isaacson with Reception On August 19, 1938, the Swiss Federal Council ordered the closing of their border to refugees from the Third Reich,…
Rabin in His Own Words Apr. 12–16, 2016 Winner Best Documentary, 2015 Haifa International Film Festival “The film may rekindle many debates among Israelis about opportunities lost and taken, the chances for peace, the settlements and…
Rosenwald Apr. 11–16, 2016 “This stirring documentary evokes a vision of American comity from a past that speaks to the present.” (Wall Street Journal)…
Fauda, Part III Apr. 10–17, 2016 “…has found audiences among Israelis and Palestinians alike with its brutal honesty about the ugliness of war and the complexity…
Raise the Roof Apr. 10–11, 2016 Apr. 10: Q&A Gosia Weiss Raise the Roof follows the extraordinary decade-long effort by Massachusetts-based sculptors and teachers Rick and Laura Brown to reconstruct the…
Twilight of a Life Apr. 10–13, 2016 “A refined documentary pearl, woven out of the finest strands that connect our inner worlds with the hidden, deepest worlds…
JeruZalem Apr. 9–15, 2016 This crowd-pleaser—the Audience Award winner at the 2015 Jerusalem Film Festival—is a Spring Break/Dawn of the Dead mash-up set in…
Baba Joon Apr. 9–12, 2016 Best Film, Israeli Academy Awards “…universally, it provides a metaphor for the struggle between the migrant generation, which is holding on to the past and…
Junun Apr. 8–16, 2016 “…a transporting film that places us right there in the room, living and breathing a singular artistic experience. Trying to…
Youth (2013) Apr. 8–10, 2016 “Youth creates an acrid vision of a country under economic and military stress, as the middle class is disappearing and…
Experimenter Apr. 6–8, 2016 “…for those who imbibe, Experimenter offers a heady brew of theories about the essence of human nature, and a Peter…
The Heartbreak Kid Apr. 5, 2016 Q&A Charles Grodin “May’s four films are among the treasures of the cinema over all.” (Richard Brody, The New Yorker) “It’s a movie…
The Prime Ministers II: Soldiers and Peacemakers Apr. 4–15, 2016 “…a valuable historical document…” (The Hollywood Reporter) Academy Award winner Richard Trank (The Long Way Home) returns to this year’s…
Aliyah Dada Apr. 4–9, 2016 “Aliyah Dada is one of the most pleasant and refreshing surprises of the contemporary Romanian cinema. Oana Giurgiu’s documentary is…
Fauda, Part II Apr. 3–6, 2016 If you loved Showtime’s Homeland—which was the US adaptation of the sensational Israeli TV series Hatufim (Prisoners of War) —get…
Everything is Copy Apr. 3, 2016 Community Night, Q&A Jacob Bernstein “Both as warm and as no-holds-barred blunt as its subject, Everything Is Copy proves a stirring portrait of Nora Ephron…
Censored Voices Apr. 3–8, 2016 “…a vivid portrait of the war as it was lived by those who fought in it. In the tradition of…
The Muses of Isaac Bashevis Singer Apr. 3–9, 2016 “…fascinatingly details how he and his collaborators made changes in his prose to make it more palatable to English language…
Mamele Apr. 2–6, 2016 Newly restored! Mamele features the iconic Yiddish actress Molly Picon as a dutiful daughter who promises her dying mother that she’ll take…
Mr. Kaplan Apr. 2–15, 2016 “…this is a slick package all the way, lively and ironic without calling attention to itself.” (Variety) Writer/director Alvaro Brechner,…
Papirosen Apr. 2–14, 2016 “At a time when the world’s remaining Holocaust survivors are reaching the end of their years, Papirosen poses an important…
The Midnight Orchestra Apr. 1–4, 2016 The Midnight Orchestra uses humor and compassion to smash stereotypes about Jewish/Muslim relationships. It’s the bittersweet story of Michael (played…
The Kind Words Apr. 1–18, 2016 “Briskly paced and threaded throughout with wry humour, Zarhin’s film asks us to confront our own ideas around identity and…
In Search of Israeli Cuisine Mar. 31–Apr. 17, 2016 Apr. 17: Q&A filmmaker Roger Sherman and chef Michael Solomonov In Search of Israeli Cuisine is a mouthwatering portrait of the Israeli people told through their food. Our guide, Michael…
What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy Mar. 31–Apr. 12, 2016 “Right from the start, this involving documentary asks much of its audience and poses questions that are unnerving yet engrossing.”…
Fauda: Part I Mar. 23–Apr. 1, 2016 “…has found audiences among Israelis and Palestinians alike with its brutal honesty about the ugliness of war and the complexity…

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