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Boston Jewish Film Festival 2009
Festival features over 40 films
The Boston Jewish Film Festival is set to return to the city once again November 4–15, 2009 presenting films that explore the theme of “home.” “Home is a word that acts like a Rorschach test,” said Sara L. Rubin, artistic director. “Some of our images are intensely unique and personal, some are joyous or poignant, some are archetypal remembrances – dreams of the ‘home’ for which we long. For the Jewish community especially, the term brings to mind Israel, immigration and diaspora. Our filmmakers probe these aspects and more, and our special events will engage viewers to share and scrutinize their own constructs of home.” The festival itself has a larger commitment to films that explore what it means to be Jewish in America, Israel and all over the world.
With over 12,000 in attendance last year, the Festival has become New England’s largest Jewish cultural event. “The Fall Festival is a homecoming event for Jewish people throughout New England each Fall,” added Rubin. “We challenge, celebrate, and engage each other in a reunion that has become an annual highlight. It’s true that home is where the heart is – and the Festival is at the heart of Boston’s Jewish and film communities.”
Highlights this year include the November 4 opening night film Eli & Ben. Set in a Tel Aviv suburb, the film explores the private and public lives of Jewish men in Israel and what it can mean to an often torn younger generation. On November 11, the mid–fest film event will be The Jazz Baroness. The story follows the life of Nica de Koenigswarter, née Rothschild, the granddaughter of Britain’s first Jewish Member of Parliament. After a lifetime of both wealth and tragedy, she fled her husband (a baron) and five children only to end up in New York as the unlikely muse of jazz great Thelonious Monk. The festival will close with Oscar winner Marleen Gorris’ Within the Whirlwind, a film starring Emily Watson as a Jewish prisoner in a Soviet Gulag. Gorris will be present at the screening.
The festival will feature many more films, panel discussions and accompanying concerts. For a detailed listing and ticket information, please visit www.bjff.com.