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Film Descriptions:
Back To Maracana
-Opening Night Film-
March 14
Directed by Jorge Gurvich | 2018 | Israel, Brazil | Hebrew, Portuguese (with English subtitles) | 91 Minutes
Roberto, divorced with a failing business, his son Itay, a spoiled child that snubs his father and despises soccer, and the grandfather Samuel, an enthusiastic soccer fan that recently found out he doesn’t have much time to live, depart spontaneously to the World Cup Games in Brazil- their former homeland. Their unplanned trip turns into an emotional journey that changes all of them forever. VIEW TRAILER
-Opening Night Film-
March 14
Directed by Jorge Gurvich | 2018 | Israel, Brazil | Hebrew, Portuguese (with English subtitles) | 91 Minutes
Roberto, divorced with a failing business, his son Itay, a spoiled child that snubs his father and despises soccer, and the grandfather Samuel, an enthusiastic soccer fan that recently found out he doesn’t have much time to live, depart spontaneously to the World Cup Games in Brazil- their former homeland. Their unplanned trip turns into an emotional journey that changes all of them forever. VIEW TRAILER
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Exodus 1947
Sunday, March 15 | 2:00 PM Directed by Robby Henson and Elizabeth Rodgers | 1997 | USA | 56 Minutes After World War II, a group of private American citizens banded together in a clandestine effort to transport Holocaust survivors to Palestine. On July 11, 1947, in the port of Sête, France, 4,500 Jewish refugees were crammed into the hull of a decrepit steamship, later named Exodus 1947. A British blockade intercepted Exodus 1947 in international waters off the coast of Palestine. The tense standoff culminated in a direct attack by military personnel against the unarmed civilians on the Exodus 1947. This highly publicized international incident heavily influenced the United Nations resolution authorizing the partitioning of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Thus, the Exodus 1947 voyage acted as a catalyst in forming a new nation. The program focuses on clandestine and illegal American efforts to finance and crew the most infamous of ten American ships that attempted to bring Jewish refugees to Palestine. VIEW TRAILER |
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Box for Life
Sunday, March 15 | 3:00 PM Directed by Uri Borreda | 2017 | Israel | Hebrew, French (with English subtitles) | 60 Minutes Noah Klieger is the last living survivor of the boxing team of Auschwitz and the oldest active journalist in the world. In between, he saw from close up and survived many of the defining events of the 20th century, and some of the events he may have even steered a bit. 91-year old Klieger is a Jewish Forrest Gump. VIEW TRAILER |
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Gloomy Sunday
Sunday, March 15 | 7:30 PM Directed by Rolf Schübel |Based on the novel by Nick Barkow | Germany, Hungary | Released: 2001 | German | 112 minutes A hit song during the 1930s, recorded most famously by Billie Holiday, the evocative "Gloomy Sunday" was notorious for allegedly driving people to suicide. Now it's the inspiration for this marvelous film, a love story with a twist. Gloomy Sunday flashes back from the 1990s to the early 1930s in the lush and romantic city of Budapest, where three people are caught in a love triangle. |
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Esau
Thursday, March 19 | 2:00 PM Directed by Pavel Lungin | 2020 | Israel, Russia, United Kingdom | English | 117 Minutes A 40-year-old writer returns to his family house where he was raised and that he escaped after half a lifetime - to face his brother who stayed instead, inherited their family bakery and married the woman who they both loved. |
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Incitement
Thursday, March 19 | 7:30 PM -Hawaii Premiere- Directed by Yaron Zilberman| 2019 | Israel | Hebrew (with English subtitles) | 123 Minutes In September 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin announces the Oslo Accords, which aim to achieve a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians after decades of violence. Yigal Amir, a law student and a devoted Orthodox Jew, cannot believe that his country's leader will cede territory that he and many others believe is rightfully - by the word of God - theirs. As the prospect of a peaceful compromise approaches, Amir turns from a hot-headed political activist to a dangerous extremist. Consumed by anger and delusions of grandeur, he recruits fighters and steals weapons to form an underground militia intent on killing Palestinians. After his longtime girlfriend leaves him, Amir becomes even more isolated, disillusioned, and bitter. He soon learns of an ancient Jewish law, the Law of the Pursuer, that he believes gives him the right to murder Yitzhak Rabin. Convinced he must stop the signing of the peace treaty in order to fulfil his destiny and bring salvation to his people, Amir's warped mind sees only one way forward. VIEW TRAILER |
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The Tobacconist
Saturday, March 21 | 7:30 PM Directed by Nikolaus Leytner | 2018 | Germany | German (with English subtitles) | 108 minutes Seventeen-year-old Franz journeys to Vienna to apprentice at a tobacco shop. There he meets Sigmund Freud (Bruno Ganz), a regular customer, and over time the two very different men form a singular friendship. When Franz falls desperately in love with the music-hall dancer Anezka, he seeks advice from the renowned psychoanalyst, who admits that the female sex is as big a mystery to him as it is to Franz. As political and social conditions in Austria dramatically worsen with the Nazis' arrival in Vienna, Franz, Freud, and Anezka are swept into the maelstrom of events. Each has a big decision to make: to stay or to flee? VIEW TRAILER |
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The Keeper
Sunday, March 22 | 2:00 PM Directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller | 2018 | United Kingdom, Germany | English, German | 113 minutes The Keeper tells the incredible true story of Bert Trautmann (David Kross), a German soldier and prisoner of war who, against a backdrop of British post-war protest and prejudice, secures the position of Goalkeeper at Manchester City, and in doing so becomes a footballing icon. His signing causes outrage to thousands of fans, many of them Jewish. But Bert receives support from an unexpected direction: Rabbi Alexander Altmann, who fled the Nazis. Bert’s love for Margaret (Freya Mavor), an Englishwoman, carries him through and he wins over even his harshest opponents by winning the 1956 FA Cup Final, playing on with a broken neck to secure victory. But fate will soon twist the knife for Bert and Margaret, when their love and loyalty to each other is put to the ultimate test. VIEW TRAILER |
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Love in Suspenders
Sunday, March 22 | 7:30 PM Directed by Jorge Weller | 2019 | Israel | Hebrew | 102 min The encounter between two people with such different personalities, such as Tammy and Beno, has to result in a nightmare…but love has its own rules. So it happens that Tammy, a 64 year old widow who constantly deals with the memory of her loving late husband, meets Beno, a 70 year old sarcastic lone wolf widower – and the two fall in love. From their first unfortunate encounter, when Tammy hits Beno with her car until they unite in front of the altar, Tammy and Beno experience all sorts of emotional, funny struggles. They get closer, break up, get back together and fight again, until ultimately their love wins out. VIEW TRAILER |
MARCH 17 SHORTS Descriptions
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Vishneva, Belarus Soviet Union Poland
Matinee | Introduction by Dr. Jacob Podber Directed by Dr. Jacob J. Podber | 2014 | United States | English | 3 Minutes Vishneva, Belarus Soviet Union Poland is grounded in the oral history testimony of a Holocaust survivor and has been deconstructed by the interviewee’s son. Unlike most oral histories that focus on the words of the interviewee, Vishneva uses silent images from the interview superimposed with typed memories that describe the unspoken pain borne by father and son through more than half a century. |
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Sugihara Survivors
Matinee Directed by Junichi Kajioka | Japan, United Kingdom | 2017 | 25 Minutes This short documentary tells the story of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara and some of the 6,000 Jewish lives he helped save from the Nazi persecution during World War II. Sugihara, then Japanese Vice-consul to Lithuania, issued over 2,000 transit visas to Jewish people against his government’s orders. The film follows Japanese writer, Akira Kitade, as he traces the identities of some of the “Sugihara Survivors.” The film uncovers close connections between Jewish and Japanese people in the past that should help inform and encourage future relationships. |
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Refuge
Matinee Directed by Sara Logan Hofstein | Austria | English | 2019 | 19 Minutes Rachel, a Jewish-American woman, moves to Vienna, Austria to begin a new job at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s headquarters. While in Austria, she hopes to rediscover her family’s past and further pursue her dreams of travel. During this time of exploration, she comes to realize that the memories and recent history of the Holocaust are not easy issues for Austrians to acknowledge, especially when the infamous WWII Flak Towers ominously loom over the city. The Austrian insistence to keep these World War II remnants intact belies a deeper national emotion. With Vienna’s omnipotent flak towers observing Rachel’s every move, cultural memories overtake her senses. She hears the crunch of Gestapo boots running on the hardwood steps and across the floor of her pre-war building, she sees a vestige of her great-grandmother, killed in a concentration camp, walking in a crowd, she imagines the sounds and sees the people of a bygone era. As refugees from war-torn Syria descend upon the central European republic, the rise of the far-right political party, the FPÖ, inheritor of Hitler’s xenophobic rhetoric, grows through the country. Images of pre WWII Vienna parallel current situations within the country as groups of young gangs spray paint anti-refugee slogans across buildings and walls. Rachel observes the worrying signs of “Ausländer raus,” and recognizes they are no different than the Nazi-era chant of “Juden raus.” |
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The Good Nazi
Matinee Directed by Yaron Niski, Ric Esther Bienstock | 2019 | Canada | English, Hebrew, German (with English subtitles) | 52 Minutes During the Holocaust, a Nazi major named Karl Plagge, arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania as part of the occupation force. When he saw that the SS was hellbent on murdering every Jewish man, woman and child, Plagge decided to save Jews, rather than murder them. So he began a covert operation. On the surface, he was commandant of a forced labor camp called “HKP”. In reality, he was sheltering hundreds of Jewish families. By the end, many were saved in hiding places dug into the ground and carved into the walls. However, many more were discovered and executed by the SS then buried in a mass grave. Today, the former “HKP” - unchanged! - is home to impoverished Lithuanians. As the government prepares to tear the site down to develop the area, a group of scientists arrive to locate the hiding places of those that were saved, and identify the mass grave of those who were murdered. A child survivor of the camp and an American physician, whose mother was saved by Major Plagge, joins them. The film tracks their three stories and, ultimately, brings to light the unknown tale of a Schindler-type German who listened to his conscience instead of his superiors. |
EVENING SELECTIONS | 7:30 PM
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I'm That Jew
Evening Showing Directed by Eitan Chitayat | 2015 | United States | English | 6 Minutes This viral video sensation discusses the complex issue of Jewish identity in a brilliant 6 minute short. |
Save the Date for An Evening with Eitan Chitayat
Saturday, March 28 | Time TBA
Temple Emanu-El
Eitan Chitayat, film maker for “I Am That Jew”, will be our honored speaker series guest discussing Jewish identity in the modern world following heavy pupus on Saturday, March 28, 2020 at Temple Emanu-El.
Saturday, March 28 | Time TBA
Temple Emanu-El
Eitan Chitayat, film maker for “I Am That Jew”, will be our honored speaker series guest discussing Jewish identity in the modern world following heavy pupus on Saturday, March 28, 2020 at Temple Emanu-El.
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L'Dor V'Dor
Evening Showing Directed by Michael Tobin | 2019 | United States | English | 17 Minutes This short film is about a Jewish father who fears that his son will lose his faith by marrying outside of it. The movie shows how a single conversation can change the course of an entire relationship and explores the purpose and place of religion in today's society. |
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Outer Circle
Evening Showing Directed by Adam Baroukh | 2017 | United Kingdom | English | 13 Minutes Midway through a gruelling Orthodox conversion, Daniel and his fiancée Katherine are eager to gain the blessing of his intimidatingly large and loud Iraqi Jewish family. At their annual Rosh Hashanah feast, Katherine’s natural elegance and ‘English English’ heritage immediately endears her to them, but it soon becomes apparent that beneath the warm and welcoming atmosphere, some are not ready as others to accept her. |
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Reverence
Evening Showing Directed by Collin Kornfeind | 2015 | Canada | English | 12 Minutes Batman, Homer Simpson, a New York Yankees logo – you’re likely to see any of these logos on the yarmulke of a Jewish boy in modern Jewish communities today. "Reverence" dissects the meaning and context behind branded kippahs and the concept of faith in a modern world while exploring the societal and religious norms that these garments may challenge, focusing on the notion of "fitting in" and "standing out" within the Reform and Conservative Jewish communities. |
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Torch
Evening Showing Directed by Odeya Rosenak | 2017 | Israel | Hebrew (with English subtitles) | 17 Minutes Fifteen-year-old Jerusalem resident Noga, lost her father in a terror attack. On Memorial Day, she and her mother go on a journey, which ends up at the annual torch-lighting ceremony at the local community center. The torch that she lights will be her voice, and her rebellion. |
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And Then, Violence
Evening Showing Directed by Jordan Goldnadel | 2016 | France | French (with English subtitles) | 15 Minutes Rebecca, 22, is a secular, Jewish, Parisian, law student. After the January Paris terror attacks, and in an increasingly violent and anti-Semitic context, she questions her identity. Has she become a target in this country she so dearly loves? |
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How to Swim
Evening Showing Directed by Noa Gusakov | 2018 | Israel | Hebrew (with English subtitles) | 15 Minutes Abigail is heavily pregnant, But something is missing. Terrified about the imminent birth, she kidnaps a comforting partner in crime for one afternoon. (Photo and description courtesy of IMDB) |
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The Jewish Question
Evening Showing Directed Doug Fishbone | 2019 | 10 Minutes The Jewish Question looks at various stereotypes and misconceptions about Jews and money over the years. It examines these questions through the prism of Fishbone's father's experience, growing up in the Jewish community of the East End of London, as well as his family’s broader immigration history rooted in fleeing antisemitism in Europe. The film was commissioned as part of London’s Jewish Museum's Jews, Money, Myth exhibit, exploring the role of money in Jewish life. |
Event Packages and All Access Passes
Here are more great ways to enjoy the Honolulu Jewish Film Festival!
$185 – “Red Carpet VIP Package” – Includes one “All Access Pass” for all HJFF 2020 films, and one admission to the Opening Night Reception on March 14th.
$125 – “All Access Pass” Only – Admission to all HJFF films (does not include the Opening Night Reception).
Full time students and active duty military members can now purchase passes at half price! ID is required.
$80 – “Opening Night Reception and Movie” – Admission to the Opening Night Reception plus admission to the Opening Night Movie, Return to Maracana.
$125 – “All Access Pass” Only – Admission to all HJFF films (does not include the Opening Night Reception).
Full time students and active duty military members can now purchase passes at half price! ID is required.
$80 – “Opening Night Reception and Movie” – Admission to the Opening Night Reception plus admission to the Opening Night Movie, Return to Maracana.