The Ninth Edition of the Oklahoma Jewish Film Festival
Location
Sunday, March 26, 2:00 PM
Opening Reception for the 9th edition of the Oklahoma Jewish Film Festival with vegetarian food, specialty drinks, and live music with Stephen Schultz and Olivia McGraw.
Special thank you to our OKJFF sponsors:
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Jewish Federation of Tulsa Foundation
Barbara and Dave Sylvan
Brian Brouse
Movie tickets and info are available below and at: CircleCinema.org/OKJFF
Tickets: $12 each; All Festival Pass $60
Sunday, March 26, 3:00 PM
America (Drama — Hebrew and English with English subtitles; 127 minutes)
Visually stunning and full of emotional storytelling, America is an award-winning film from director Ofir Raul Graizer (The Cakemaker). An Israeli man returns home after 10 years in America. An encounter with his childhood friend and fiance will change everyone’s lives. The story takes place in a flower shop, an ancient monastery, a swimming pool, and the Mediterranean Sea…with life and death—and somewhere in the middle. Grazier expertly weaves important pieces of backstory in a gradual manner and the stunning cinematography brings forth the emotion, color, and fragrance that touches on friendship, love, and moral responsibility. Winner of the Best Actress Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival, this sensual cinematic experience is a work of true magic, all built with love and redeemed by love.
Monday, March 27, 7:00 PM
Farewell, Mr. Haffmann (Drama—French with English subtitles; 115 minutes)
In this acclaimed, engrossing drama set in Paris during the Nazi occupation, beloved French actor Daniel Auteuil (Jean de Florette) stars as Joseph Haffmann, a Jewish jeweler who sends his family away to safety, with the intention of joining them later. Haffmann has decided to hand off the business to his trusted employee François Mercier and his wife, Blanche, who are recently married and struggling to conceive a child—though Haffmann’s plans go awry when he is unable to escape the city under the watch of German authorities. After Haffmann returns home, the couple agrees to let him stay in their basement, but they strike a deal that will change the course of all their lives. Based on a play by Jean-Philippe Daguerre, Farewell, Mr. Haffmann is a twisting, turning, and satisfying tale that reveals the complex and contradictory sides of humanity pushed to its darkest limits.
Tuesday, March 28, 7:00 PM
One More Story (Romantic Comedy—Hebrew with English subtitles; 92 minutes)
This charming and uniquely Israeli Rom-Com marks the directorial debut from Israel’s beloved comedian and TV personality, Guri Alfi. Encouraged by her unscrupulous boss, (played by Alfi), who is also her secret lover, newspaper journalist Yarden Gat convinces her best friend Adam –a hopelessly romantic, geeky, single man – to star in her new reality TV-inspired article. The article is based on a speed dating project for Adam to find his soul mate and get married within one month. Meanwhile, Yarden, confesses to her blind date the bargain she struck with her sleazy editor and lover, in exchange for completing the dating article with her best friend as a pawn. What possibly could go wrong?
YJP cocktail hour at 5:30-6:45 PM
Co-Sponsored by Tulsa Tomorrow
Wednesday, March 29, 12:00 PM
Our Almost Completely True Story (Comedy—English; 92 minutes)
Real-life couple Mariette Hartley and Jerry Sroka wrote and co-star in this thoroughly enjoyable romantic comedy. Based almost completely on their own story, Hartley plays a tall, famous, aging screen legend who meets a short, out-of-work, Jewish voice actor (Sroka) as they navigate the senior dating scene in Hollywood. Despite the humiliations that come with being unemployed actors of a certain age and the baggage of ex-spouses and health challenges, they find that it’s never too late for love. A delightful and fun crowd pleaser, the film features a “Who’s Who” ensemble cast that includes Bernie Koppell, Tess Harper, Morgan Fairchild, John Rubinstein, Peter MacNicol, Sam McMurray, and others.
Wednesday, March 29, 7:00 PM
Cinema Sabaya (Drama — Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles; 92 minnutes)
*Sisterhood Night*
Cinema Sabaya tells the story of eight women, Arab and Jewish, varying widely in age, income, marital status, and outlook as they attend a workshop learning to document their lives on video. As each woman shares her raw footage with the others, they are all forced to challenge their preconceived views and beliefs, coming together as mothers, wives, and women, and forming an empowering and lasting bond. Cinema Sabaya presents a clever and heartfelt portrait of art’s capacity to unite disparate communities. Winner of five Israeli Academy Awards including best film, the story is full of life, love, humor, and authenticity.
Post-film discussion with Chloe Kirk, Director of Community Relations
Thursday, March 30, 7:00 PM — Double Feature: Jewish Journeys in Space
Mission of Hope (Documentary—English; 54 minutes)
Commemorating 20 years since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Mission of Hope is the untold, story of Israel’s first astronaut Ilan Ramon’s “mission within the mission.” Ramon carried with him a small Torah scroll spirited out of the Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen by its owner, a young boy at the time who went on to become one of Israel’s top physicists. The film follows the scroll’s path from the concentration camp to the flight deck of Columbia. From the depths of hell to the heights of space, this Torah would serve to honor the hope of a nation and to fulfill a promise made to generations past and future. A powerful story about the resilience of the human spirit.
Space Torah (Documentary—English; 25 minutes)
A Film by Verissima Productions
Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman was the first Jewish American male astronaut to fly into space. Over five space missions, he chose to bring numerous Jewish objects, such as mezuzot that he posted in his sleep compartment and dreidels that he spun during Hanukkah. The highlight was a small and light Torah scroll that he took with him on his fifth and last mission in February 1996. Rabbi Shaul Osadchey, Hoffman’s spiritual leader, was instrumental in making it possible to take a Torah scroll into space. Hoffman saw the act of bringing religious objects into space not only carrying his own traditions with him but bringing the Torah into space had the added symbolic meaning and significance of bringing the holiness of human life into space. This short documentary tells how family, educators, scientific and religious communities can achieve great things and bring our identity to new realms.
Post film discussion with Rabbi Shaul Osadchey and Young Jewish Professional community member, Zack Rabin.
