The Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival will light up the Hanukkah season for the 24th time at the Jerusalem Cinematheque from December 17-22, and will open with James Gray’s Armageddon Time, it was announced Tuesday.
Gray’s movie is a semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age drama film about an American Jewish middle-schooler (Banks Repeta) in the 1980s, focusing on his family life and his friendship with a black classmate. The movie, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, co-stars Jeremy Strong (Succession) as the boy’s father, Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) as his mother, and two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins as his Holocaust-survivor grandfather.
The film will open throughout Israel in late January, but if you want to get an early viewing, you should see it at the festival and also enjoy the holiday atmosphere, which includes candle lighting by the festival guests.
The much-anticipated festival will include more than 40 films from 20 countries and will feature many special events, such as live music, meetings with filmmakers from Israel and around the world, introductory lectures by academics before screenings, panel discussions and more.
There are competitions in several categories, both for Israeli and international films. The movies run the gamut from dramatic films to documentaries that focus on every aspect of the Jewish experience.
Roni Mahadav-Levin, the CEO of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and director of the festival, and Daniella Tourgeman, the festival’s artistic director, said in a statement: “We are very excited about the upcoming festival, which attracts a diverse audience from all over the country in the pleasant and festive atmosphere of Hanukkah. As it is every year, the program has been carefully curated with the idea of giving festival-goers new and in-depth perspectives on Jewish identity, art and culture, in a process that changes, develops and is constantly updated.”
Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival
This year’s Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival is being held with the support of the Culture Ministry, the Azrieli Foundation, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Jerusalem Foundation, the Avi Chai Foundation, the Gesher Fund for Multicultural Cinema, Helene Schoumann and Jill Samuels.
More details will be available soon on the Jerusalem Cinematheque website at https://jer-cin.org.il/en