29th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film • February 24–28, 2022 Presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg

A Starry Sky Above The Roman Ghetto

Thursday, February 24, 7:30 pm
Cinema Café Kemps River
1220 Fordham Drive, Virginia Beach

Tickets: $12

Director Giulio Base | 100 min
Italy | 2020 | Italian with English Subtitles | Not Rated

Led by a talented ensemble of young actors, this inspirational interfaith story is a reminder of the importance of memory, coexistence, and resolving generational friction. When teenaged Sofia finds a wartime photo of a Jewish child hidden in an old suitcase, she enlists the help of a group of students from Rome’s Jewish community to discover the fate of this person. Her quest will have life-changing consequences as she discovers the truth about the child’s history, as well as that of her own family. The film offers a refreshing look at history through the eyes of a new generation.

 

 

Tango Shalom

THE BIG SATURDAY NIGHT CELEBRATION

Includes a conversation with the film’s stars, followed by a champagne and dessert reception

Saturday, February 26, 7:30 pm
Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center
Virginia Wesleyan University, 5817 Wesleyan Drive, Virginia Beach

Tickets: $25

Director Gabriel Bologna | 115 min
|USA | 2020 | English | PG-13

How fitting that the first film in history that the Vatican, a Hasidic Synagogue, a Mosque, and a Sikh Temple collaborate on is a comedy! From the director of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Tango Shalom features an award-winning ensemble cast including Lainie Kazan, Renee Taylor, Joseph Bologna, and Dancing with the Stars pro, Karina Smirnoff.

Moshe Yehuda, a Hasidic Rabbi and amateur Hora dancer, played by Jos Laniado, enters a Tango competition to save his Hebrew school from bankruptcy. There is one problem: due to his orthodox beliefs, he is not allowed to touch a woman! At odds with his family, the Grand Rabbi of his orthodox sect, and the entire Hasidic community, Moshe asks a Catholic priest, a Muslim Imam, and a Sikh holy man to help him dance in the Tango contest “without sacrificing his sacred beliefs.” Tango Shalom tests the bonds of family and community, as well as the bounds of tolerance and faith.

 

 

Ben Gurion Epilogue

Followed by a discussion with world-renowned producer, Yael Perlov

Sunday, February 27, 2:30 pm

Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center
Virginia Wesleyan University
5817 Wesleyan Drive
Virginia Beach

Tickets: $12

Director Yariv Mozer | 70 min

Israel | 2016 | Hebrew with English Subtitles |
Not Rated

A six-hour interview with David Ben Gurion, one of modern history’s greatest leaders, emerges from the obscurity of an archive where it has lain unrecognized for decades. It is 1968, and Ben Gurion is 82 years old, five years before his death. He lives in the seclusion of his home in the desert, remote from all political discourse, which allows him a perspective on the Zionist enterprise. His introspective soul-searching is the focus of this film, and his reflections provide a surprising vision for today’s crucial decisions and for the future of Israel.

Yael Perlov is the two-time winner of the Israeli Academy Prize for film, laureate of the Art of Film prize of the Ministry of Art and Culture, senior lecturer at the Film and Television Department at Tel Aviv University, and currently a visiting scholar at Duke University.

 

Hester Street

A sparkling new 4K restoration in honor of the film’s 40th anniversary

An evening dedicated to longtime friend of the Festival, Mal Vincent

Includes a conversation with Rabbi Michael Panitz

Monday, February 28, 7:00 pm
Naro Expanded Cinema
1507 Colley Avenue, Norfolk

Tickets $12

Director Joan Michelin Silver | 89 min

USA | 1975 | English | PG

Among the great cinematic portraits of Jewish life in America, Joan Micklin Silver’s debut feature is anchored by her own screenplay and an unforgettable Oscar-nominated performance by Carol Kane. Kane stars as Gitl, one half of an Eastern European Jewish couple alongside Yankel (Steven Keats). Upon arriving in New York’s Lower East Side in the late 19th century, Gitl finds that Yankel, who’d come to America before her and their young son Yossele, has begun an affair with a dancer. Gitl finds herself in an unenviable situation in a strange new place. Hester Street tells the story of one woman’s journey towards assimilation—reconstructing the bygone haven for Jewish immigrants at the crossroads of tradition and modernity.

 

BEYOND THE FESTIVAL

Watch online from the comfort of home!

Tickets: $12 per household, FREE for Full Festival Pass holders

Tiger Within

View Online: Sunday, January 30 through Tuesday, February 1
Film available for viewing at your convenience. Reservation required.

Director Rafael Zielinski | 98 min

USA | 2020 |English | Not Rated

The incomparable Ed Asner stars in this tender story that recounts the unlikely friendship between Samuel, a Holocaust survivor, and Casey, a troubled teen runaway. Despite their respective traumas and initial mistrust of one another, they manage to develop a sense of family and mutual support for each other. While Casey gives Sam a new purpose, Sam gives Casey the guidance and courage she needs to start a new life. Gina Wendkos’ (The Princess Diaries) sensitive script, as directed by Montreal-born indie filmmaker Rafal Zielinski, promotes empathy and understanding in the face of prejudice.