'Looking to the positive': Rutgers Jewish Film Fest features 10 in-person screenings

The last few weeks have left many Jews stricken, angry and afraid.

Antisemitic comments from one of the biggest celebrities in the world. Banners reading “Kanye is right about the Jews” hung on a Los Angeles freeway overpass in front of men raising their arms in a Nazi salute.

But from Sunday, Oct. 30, to Sunday, Nov. 13, the 23rd annual Rutgers Jewish Film Festival will seek to bring Jewish people together, said Karen Small, founding director of the festival and managing director of the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers University, which sponsors the festival.

“This is an opportunity for people to come together to celebrate Jewish life and culture,” she said.  “We have films that deal with antisemitism and all kinds of other aspects of Jewish life. I think that people are interested in celebrating Jewish life right now and looking to the positive. Being part of a Jewish film festival shows that the support of the community and people coming together is a sign of strength.”

After two years of primarily virtual screenings, the festival is back in full force, starting with 10 in-person screenings at the Regal Cinema in North Brunswick from Oct. 30 to Nov. 6. Then, from Nov. 6 to 13, eight films will be screened virtually (one film, "Cinema Sabaya," is available both in-person and virtually).

Seventeen award-winning international feature and documentary films will be showcased from the United States, Israel, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Italy and Belgium, alongside discussions with filmmakers and special guests. Twelve of the films are premiering at the festival.

Tickets for individual in-person films are $12 and discount passes are available for purchases of multiple screenings. Masks are optional at Regal Cinema. Tickets for virtual screenings are $14; an all-access virtual pass is $85. Since some screenings sell out, buying tickets in advance at https://bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/events/film is recommended.

The festival kicks off Oct. 30 with two feature films. “Cinema Sabaya” is about eight diverse Arab and Israeli women in a video production workshop who forge unlikely bonds as they begin to document their lives and share their art with one another. The film swept this year’s Israeli Oscars, winning best film, best director and best supporting actress, among other awards.

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Opening day will also feature the New Jersey premiere of the German romantic comedy “Love and Mazel Tov,” in which award-winning director Wolfgang Murnberger presents a look at modern love.

Other films include “Dead Sea Guardians,” an Israeli documentary about the effort to save the Dead Sea from drying out; “How Saba Kept Singing,” a film produced by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton about a 94-year-old man who survived Auschwitz by entertaining his Nazi captors with his singing; and “March 1968,” a love story set in 1960s communist Poland.

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“The experience of watching a film together, meeting new people and talking about these issues with them is so different from being in your own home and watching a film by yourself,” Small said. “You could come here, see a film like ‘March 1968,’ which is a Polish film and not easy to find, and meet the filmmaker who is going to be here from Poland. That interaction is really special.”

Go: In-person screenings from Oct. 30 to Nov. 6, Regal Cinema, 2399 Route 1, North Brunswick; tickets start at $12. Virtual screenings from Nov. 6 to 13; tickets start at $14. https://bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/events/film.

Jenna Intersimone has been a staff member at the USA Today Network New Jersey since 2014, after becoming a blogger-turned-reporter following the creation of her award-winning travel blog. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and fun, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Contact: JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com or @JIntersimone.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Rutgers Jewish Film Festival shows 17 films Oct. 30 to Nov. 13