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The 12th Annual Jewish Film Festival is sponsored by Brighthouse Networks, and in part by Grazzi Ristorante, and produced by the Tampa Jewish Community Center and the Golda Meir Kent Jewish Center.

Tuesday, March 4^th at Baywalk St. Pete

7pm - Knowledge is the Beginning - VIEW TRAILER

Orchestra Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim believes that “a life without music is impoverished.” In the early 1990s, a chance meeting between Barenboim and the late Palestinian-born writer and Columbia University professor Edward Said resulted in a unique friendship that had both political and musical repercussions. Their meeting led to Barenboim’s first concert in the West Bank and to the creation of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which involved talented musicians between the ages of 14 and 25 from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia. Based on the notion that “music is the language of peace,” Barenboim and Said brought the orchestra to perform in Weimar on the 250th anniversary of the birth of Goethe. Also participating in this bold experiment in 1999 was Yo-Yo Ma. The most moving and indelible scenes are of the students playing together. Said - who felt that the orchestra was one of the most important things he had done in his life - eloquently advocates for young Israelis and Arabs to gain greater mutual understanding, quietly stating, “Ignorance is not a strategy for sustainable survival.” Germany, 2006 – 115min Film sponsored by Menorah Manor.

Thursday, March 6^th at the Tampa Theatre

7pm - Making Trouble  - VIEW TRAILER

Opening Night Celebration with special guest Cory Kahaney and a dessert reception following the film. Tickets for the opening night are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Ticket includes a dessert reception after the movie.

Making Trouble is an impeccably researched documentary that explores six legendary American Jewish women comics. Produced by the Jewish Women’s Archive, Rachel Talbot as Director, has created a tribute to Molly Picon, Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, Joan Rivers, Wendy Wasserstein and Gilda Radner; women whose comedy defied cultural expectations and changed the rules. Get ready to duck when the zingers fly and guffaw at this hilarious, insightful documentary--an exhilarating mix of contemporary performance, interviews and rare archival footage. What is it that makes funny Jewish women so funny...and so Jewish? Is it a nose wrinkled just so, accompanied by a devilishly sexy grin or a jolting and sarcastic punch line? Is it the acerbic humor of generations of immigrant and first-generation women who fought for a place in America with their brains and their wit, and at the same time needed to make a living? Making Trouble celebrates three generations that, for all of the reasons above, successfully went from vaudeville and the Yiddish theatre to Broadway, from Ziegfeld’s Follies to Saturday Night Live. Our wacky guides on this comedic journey are four of today’s leading Jewish comedians - Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman, Cory Kahaney and Jessica Kirson - who meet in New York’s Katz’s Delicatessen in a scenario straight out of Woody Allen’s Broadway Danny Rose. The witty foursome’s repartee crackles with jokes and their sheer delight at the comedic acumen and legacy of their predecessors. USA, 2007 – 85min Film sponsored by Weinberg Village.

Saturday, March 8^th at the Tampa Theatre

7pm - Schwartz Dynasty - VIEW TRAILER

This dramatic comedy is a satirical look at Israeli society. Miriam wants to be buried next to her husband; however her husband is destined to be buried in the section of the cemetery for those who have taken their own lives. In the maze of religious bureaucracy, Miriam meets Anna, a Russian immigrant, who struggles to prove that her father was a Jew in order to fulfill his wish to be buried in the holy land. When Anna meets Miriam’s grandson, Avishai, the couple soon find each other not only at odds but in love. The couple tries to bridge opposing worlds in the small Israeli town seething with conflict. Israel, 2005 – 104min

Join YAD (ages 21-45) for dinner and the film "Someone to Run With" on March 8th. CLICK HERE for more information and to RSVP!

9pm - Someone to Run With  - VIEW TRAILER

Through the streets of Jerusalem, two teenagers’ stories will unite to tell the summer adventure of their lives. Tamar is an amazingly talented but very quiet and insecure girl who leaves behind her home and all she knows, changing herself unrecognizably - from her looks to her attitude - to brace herself for a dangerous mission to help a loved one. Asaf, a clumsy, naive, and very shy boy working a boring summer job at City Hall, is given quite a mission himself: to take an uncontrollable stray dog from the pound, put it on a leash, and let it lead him back to its owners to be fined. The dog Dinkah leads Asaf through the city to the people and places that will tell him about Dinka’s owner Tamar and her sudden disappearance. The more stories Asaf hears about this extraordinary girl, the more he falls for her, and as he and Dinkah continue their journey, Asaf becomes aware that Tamar is in grave danger. Feeling he knows her, and knowing he loves her, Asaf is determined to find Tamar and rescue her from her own rescue mission. This movie tells a beautiful story based on the novel by David Grossman about growing up and finding the strength to overcome your fears, the meaning of true friendship, and best of all, finding someone to love, someone to hold, someone to run with. Israel, 2006 – 118min

Sunday, March 9^th at the Tampa Theatre

Great films for the entire family

1pm - Praying with Lior - VIEW TRAILER

Lior Liebling is a thirteen year-old Jewish boy preparing for the greatest achievement of his life: his Bar Mitzvah. This is no ordinary religious rite of passage: Lior has Down Syndrome. Though his condition is debilitating on many levels, Lior, the son of two rabbis, demonstrates a remarkable love for prayer and religious song, and closeness with God. Nicknamed “the little rebbe,” his uncanny spiritual connection has made him a savant in the eyes of classmates and earned him a following among local synagogues. But is he really a “spiritual genius” as many say? Or simply the vessel that contains everyone’s unfulfilled wishes and expectations? Ilana Trachtman’s touching documentary presents a real-world story of faith, the heart-wrenching challenges of a child with disabilities, and the complex relationship Lior shares with family, friends and community. USA, 2007 – 88min Film sponsored by Tampa Jewish Family Services.

3pm - Shadya - VIEW TRAILER

Seventeen-year-old Shadya Zoabi is a feisty Arab-Israeli world karate champion who competes for the Israeli National Team. Shadya’s father supports her karate ambitions, however, her older brothers consider her a disgrace to the family. As she prepares for her wedding, Shadya struggles with how to stay true to her interests and ideals in the face of mounting pressure to become a traditional wife and mother. Shadya’s story poignantly illustrates the challenges of coping with competing identities—Palestinian/Israeli citizen and Muslim woman/karate champ. Israel, 2005 – 52min Film sponsored by Tampa Jewish Family Services.

4pm - Arranged - VIEW TRAILER

Two first-time New York school teachers form an unlikely friendship in this endearing comedy that also smartly tackles complex issues of prejudice and multicultural diversity. Rochel Meshenberg is an Orthodox Jew and Nasira Khaldi is a devout Muslim from Syria. Struggling with traditional religious upbringings and impending arranged marriages, both women soon discover that they have more in common than they think. Featuring strong, naturalistic performances and a sensitive screenplay, Arranged offers a unique perspective on what it means for modern women of faith to make their own choices in a secular world. In true indie fashion, the film was shot in just 17 days on location in Brooklyn and New Jersey, and is based on the real life experiences of Executive Producer Yuta Silverman. Arranged was awarded Best Narrative Feature at the 2007 Brooklyn International Film Festival. USA, 2007 – 89min Film sponsored by Tampa Jewish Family Services.

Thursday, March 13^th at Baywalk St. Pete

7pm - Nina's Home - VIEW TRAILER

In this unforgettable feature film, Agnès Jaoui brings an irresistable warmth to her role as the real-life Nina, tireless director of a “house of hope,” one of the residences established by the French government for Jewish children who survived World War II in hiding. When a group of new arrivals, traumatized and angry boys who survived Polish and Russian Nazi concentration camps, clashes with the original residents, Nina does whatever it takes – with patience, love and faith – to make a home for all and bring the survivors back from their hellish experiences. Together they discover unity in diversity, the bond of faith, and the courage to hope and live again in the wake of catastrophe and ruin. Called “quietly magnificent” by Variety, Nina’s Home movingly dramatizes the true stories of Elie Wiesel and other child Holocaust survivors. France, 2005 – 109min Film sponsored by Hadassah of Tampa Bay.

9pm - Pesya's Necklace - VIEW TRAILER

Pesya Goldfarb, on her 80th birthday, is determined to see her parents’ house located in Poland. Traveling with her teenage granddaughter, she intends to find a golden necklace, which was hidden by her and her sister on the day they were taken to Auschwitz. Upon returning to her childhood home, Pesya must confront years of shame and decide whether or not to reveal her secrets. Israel, 2006 – 35min Film sponsored by Hadassah of Tampa Bay.

Saturday, March 15^th at Baywalk St. Pete

8pm - Beaufort - VIEW TRAILER

Academy Award-nominated film for Best Foreign Feature for 2007. Based on the best-selling novel by Ron Leshen, comes this stirring war epic that recounts the final days of Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon. The film focuses on the beleaguered troops and the young Israeli commander (Oshri Cohen) in charge of defending Beaufort Castle, the last outpost in southern Lebanon and a symbol of one of Israel’s most contentious military campaigns. The brutally authentic drama builds toward the Israeli withdrawal, and the astonishing destruction of everything the soldiers have died defending. While avoiding overt political judgments, Beaufort captures the unbearable tension of daily life during wartime and the moral dilemmas experienced by those in a combat zone. Winner of four Israeli Oscars, including Best Cinematography, and the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival for Joseph Cedar, a veteran of the first Lebanon war. Israel, 2007 —125min

10:15pm - A Touch Away - VIEW TRAILER

A Touch Away takes a slice of contemporary Tel Aviv life and spins out a marvelous multi-family drama that will leave you wanting more. This terrific series, produced for primetime television in Israel, broke ratings records with its broadcast earlier this year. In a special presentation, the Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival is thrilled to bring you two episodes during the festival with the remainder to follow later in the spring.

The series focuses on two families whose lives fatefully intersect in an apartment complex in the Orthodox neighborhood of Bnei Barak in Tel Aviv. The Bermans are a strictly religious family whose daughter Rochele is about to enter into an arranged marriage with a wealthy young bridegroom. But sparks fly when a newly arrived, thoroughly secular family from Russia, including vivacious actress Marina and her handsome eldest son Zorik, takes over a neighboring apartment. The forbidden love that soon buds between the two young neighbors, and the secrets that each family must hide, threaten the families’ deeply rooted cultural assumptions and challenge individual family members’ beliefs. A Touch Away, cleverly scripted and well-cast, never fails to entertain, but manages also to be a realistic reflection of the ongoing social challenges facing today’s increasingly diverse Israeli society. The script won the first prize of the Israeli Film Academy in 2007. Israel, 2006 – 80min

Sunday, March 16^th at Baywalk St. Pete

Great films for the entire family

1pm - Sixty Six - VIEW TRAILER

A twelve year-old North London boy teetering on the cusp of manhood finds his eagerly anticipated Bar Mitzvah threatened to be overshadowed by World Cup fever in this delightful coming of age comedy starring Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Rea and Gregg Sulkin. Awkward, unpopular and desperate to be the center of attention for once, young Bernie Reuben invests all his hopes and dreams in staging “the Ultimate Bar Mitzvah.” But plans begin to unravel when he learns that his big day coincides with the 1966 World Cup, and the family grocery business is going through a perilous financial setback. Despite Bernie’s best efforts to curse the home team with spells and voodoo, he watches in horror as England progress towards the World Cup finals. A wonderful mix of nostalgia, comedy and pathos, Sixty Six is an autobiographical story based on director Paul Weiland’s childhood experiences growing up in post-war Britain. United Kingdom, 2006 – 93min

3pm - The First Time I Turned Twenty - VIEW TRAILER

Marilou Berry delivers a sparkling performance as Hannah, a sixteen year-old misfit growing up in the suburbs of post-war France. Her homeliness and weight do not help matters as she struggles to blend in with her wacky parents and two pretty sisters who are only interested in one thing: boys. Yet striving to remain true to herself, and with wit and musical talent on her side, she combats pranks and anti-Semitism as she fights for a spot in the famous all-male jazz band at her school. In the end, Hannah succeeds in this charming, humorous and poignant film. France, 2004 – 97min

Wednesday, March 19^th at University of South Florida

7pm - Aviva My Love  - VIEW TRAILER

An Israeli commercial and artistic triumph, Aviva My Love is the richly-layered story of a working-class woman desperate to escape her provincial life in the seaside town of Tiberius. Aviva Cohen is barely staying afloat. She supports her unemployed husband by working as a hotel kitchen cook while also caring for rebellious teenage children and an unstable mother. Aviva finds herself on the brink of fulfilling a lifelong ambition to be a writer when she is introduced to a famous novelist by her sister, Anita. In the face of brutal ambition, can Aviva fulfill both her own emotional needs and those of her family, without selling her soul? Winner of six Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Script and Best Director honors for acclaimed filmmaker Shemi Zarhin (Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi). Israel, 2006 – 107min