32nd Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film

One of the nation’s longest-running Jewish film festivals, the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg, entertains, educates, and engages the Tidewater community by presenting world-class films, repertory cinema, and programs that are inspired by Jewish or Israeli history, heritage, and values.

Running on Sand

Sunday, February 16 • 2:30 pm
Kramer Family Theater at Cape Henry Collegiate, 1320 Mill Dam Road, Virginia Beach
Director Adar Shafran • 104 min • Israel • 2023 •Hebrew with English subtitles • Drama

Aumari, a young Eritrean refugee living in Israel, is about to be deported back to his home country. After a spontaneous escape attempt at the airport and a case of mistaken identity, Aumari is assumed by Maccabi Netanya fans to be their new Nigerian soccer star. With no sporting talent, but hailed as a hero, he unites and uplifts the floundering squad, all while hiding his true identity. Amid their quest for victory, he finds himself falling for the team owner’s daughter, risking exposure.

Awards
NOMINEE, 4 Categories | Israeli Academy Awards 2023
WINNER, Best Debut Film | Haifa International Film Festival 2023
WINNER, Best Film | Israeli Film Festival in Paris 2024

Yaniv

Thursday, February 20 • 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm
Cinema Cafe Kemps River, 1220 Fordham Drive Virginia Beach
Director Amnon Carmi • 85 min • United States • 2024 • English (Captioned) • Comedy

A high school teacher in the Bronx loses funding for the school musical and convinces his fellow statistics teacher, secretly a recovering gambling addict, to help him cheat at an underground card game run by the Hasidic Jewish community. The plan goes awry with mounting consequences, but help comes at an unexpected time from the least likely people.

THE BIG SATURDAY NIGHT CELEBRATION OF JEWISH FILM
Midas Man

Sponsored by Harry Laderberg, Linda (Laderberg) and Leigh Baltuch, and Mallory (Stark) and Romney Laderberg, in memory of their dear brother, William Laderberg.

Hors d’oeuvres, cocktail hour and open galleries begin at 6 pm. Dessert reception to follow, featuring live music and karaoke from John Lennon Tribute Star Tim Beasley.

Saturday, February 22 • 7 pm
Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, 2200 Parks Avenue, Virginia Beach
Director Joe Stephenson • 112 min • United Kingdom • 2024 • English (Captioned) • Biography, drama

On Thursday, November 9, 1961, Brian Epstein descended the stairs to a cellar in Liverpool and changed the world forever. When Epstein watched The Beatles perform, he saw something no one else could – a glimmer of gold. Jewish, closeted, and having grown up as an outsider who had failed at pretty much everything, he was a 26-year-old with something to prove and who wanted to tear up the rulebook.

Awards
WINNER, Best Film in Festival | Birmingham Film Festival 2024

October H8te

Presented in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, & community partners’ 14th annual Israel Today series.

Sunday, February 23 • 2:30 pm
Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center at Virginia Wesleyan University, 5817 Wesleyan Drive, Virginia Beach
Director Wendy Sachs • 100 min • United States • 2024 • English (Captioned) • Documentary

Executive Producer Debra Messing’s and Director Wendy Sachs’ searing documentary explores the explosion of antisemitism on college campuses, on social media, and on America’s streets in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. The film features interviews with Debra Messing, Michael Rapaport, Sheryl Sandberg, Congressman Ritchie Torres, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Dan Senor, Noa Tishby, and Bari Weiss, among others.

Bad Shabbos

Preceded by the short film We Should Eat.

Monday, February 24 • 7:15 pm
Naro Expanded Cinema, 1507 Colley Avenue, Norfolk
Director Daniel Robbins • 84 min • United States •2024 • English (Captioned) • Comedy

Audience Award Winner at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, Bad Shabbos proves that even Shabbat can go haywire. This off-beat comedy centers around an engaged interfaith couple who are about to have their parents meet for the first time over a traditional Shabbat dinner. Things spiral faster than you can say “hamotzi” when an accidental death gets in the way.
Directed by Daniel Robbins and co-written by Zack Weiner, this chaotic “one-night-in-New-York” story turns family dinner into a sidesplitting disaster of biblical proportions.

Starring Kyra Sedgwick, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, David Paymer, Milana Vayntrub, Jon Bass, Meghan Leathers, Catherine Curtin and Ashley Zukerman.

Awards
WINNER, Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Tribeca Film Festival 2024

We Should Eat

Director Shaina Feinberg • 9 min • United States • 2024 • English • Comedy

A comedy about family, identity, and the immense anxiety over what to order for dinner.

Starring Alysia Reiner (Orange Is the New Black), Tovah Feldshuh (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Jackie Hoffman (Only Murders in the Building), Joel de la Fuente (The Walking Dead), Bob Ari (Kissing Jessica Stein), and Lexi Perkel (The Sack Lunch Bunch).

June Zero

Presented in partnership with the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

Wednesday, February 26 • 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm
Beach Cinema Alehouse, 941 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach
Director Jake Paltrow • 105 min • Israel, United States 2022 • Hebrew, Spanish with English subtitles • Historical drama

The 1961 preparations for the execution of Adolf Eichmann, a principal architect of the Holocaust, are revisited in a gripping and surprising new vision from American filmmaker Jake Paltrow. Shot on 16mm film and based on true accounts, June Zero is told from the unique perspectives of three distinct figures: Eichmann’s Jewish Moroccan prison guard, an Israeli police investigator who also happens to be a Holocaust survivor, and a precocious and clever 13-year-old Libyan immigrant.