The seventh season of the Mobile Jewish Film Festival features the most exciting and varied line-up so far, with feature films and documentaries, and subjects ranging from the Holocaust to the present by filmmakers from all over the world. Presented by the Mobile Area Jewish Federation along with Jewish Cinema South, each film will also include guest speakers, the filmmakers themselves, or special music events.
On Thursday, Oct. 25, the full-feature Israeli film “Pesya’s Necklace” (2006) will be presented in a special school showing at UMS/Wright Preparatory School. It tells the story of a woman who, on her 80th birthday, decides to return to her home in Poland to find a necklace she and her sister hid the day their family was taken to Auschwitz. Following the film, Agnes Tennenbaum, a survivor of Auschwitz, will share her incredible story.
The rest of the films will be screened at the Hollywood Theatre (1250 Satchel Paige Drive.) The first, “Olga,” will be on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 7 pm. This magnificent film adaptation of Fernando Morais’ best seller was one of the most popular films in the history of Brazilian cinema, winning three Brazilian Film Academy Awards and Brazil’s 2004 Oscar submission.
“Olga” tells the dramatic true story of a larger than life woman who never surrendered her ideals despite terrible persecution. German Jew Olga Benario Prestes entered into a life of political commitment at age fifteen when she ran away from home to join the Soviet Communist Party.
In 1934, she was assigned to pose as the wife of communist leader Luis Carlos Prestes and escort him to Brazil. The failure of the communist revolution sealed her fate and that of her unborn child, but she remained unbowed in the face of a desperate future. Dr Daniel Rogers from the University of South Alabama will be a guest speaker.
The next day, Monday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m., a 2005 documentary with a truly incredible story to tell will be screened. “Blues by the Beach” began with the intention of documenting the vibrant scene at Mike’s Place, a popular blues bar on the Tel Aviv beachfront, to prove that there is more to life in Israel than terror.
Unfortunately, one night, with the camera running, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside of the bar. Two musicians and a waitress were killed and filmmaker Jack Baxter was seriously injured along with dozens of others. Two other filmmakers helped Baxter finish telling a very different story that ultimately portrays rebirth and healing from a situation that was even more dangerous than they imagined. Filmmaker Jack Baxter himself will introduce him amazing documentary.
On a much lighter note, the Jewish Film Festival will close with the charming French coming of age film “The First Time I Was Twenty” on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Marilou Berry, from the wonderful film “Look at Me,” stars as a talented oddball teenager in 1960s Paris.
Her loving but ordinary Jewish family doesn’t understand her, particularly her dreams of playing the upright bass in her school’s all-male jazz band. This film is co-sponsored by the Mystic Order of the Jazz Obsessed (MOJO) and will feature a live jazz performance by Daddy-O before the screening. Dessert will follow.
For further information about the Mobile Jewish Film Festival, contact the Mobile Area Jewish federation at 343-7197 or email mobileareajewish@bellsouth.net. Tickets for each screening are $8 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Be advised that “Olga” and “The First Time I Was Twenty” have adult content.
Contact Asia Frey at afrey@lagniappemobile.com.
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