Around the same time as the Mandell JCC’s Hartford Jewish Film Festival, which runs March 16 to 26, two other film festivals in the area also celebrate the Jewish experience.
Springfield
The 12th annual Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, presented by the Springfield Jewish Community Center in Massachusetts, will show 22 films in nine cities in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties from March 18 to April 4. Many films are the same as the Hartford festival. Dates, times, venues, details about films and to buy tickets: pvjff.org. Here are the films that differ from the JCC film fest.
Café Nagler, a doc about a legendary Berlin restaurant.
Cloudy Sunday, a love story between a Christian man and a Jewish woman set in WWII-era Greece.
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War, a doc about a Massachusetts couple who travel to Nazi Germany to help refugees.
Disturbing the Peace, a doc about former Israeli soldiers and former Palestinian fighters who unite to call for peace.
Finding Babel, an animated doc about Ukrainian writer Isaac Babel.
The Freedom to Marry, a doc about same-sex marriage.
Labyrinth of Lies, a drama about a conspiracy to cover up Nazi crimes.
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, a doc about the Hartford native who became a trailblazing TV producer.
The Pickle Recipe, a comedy about the theft of a top-secret pickle recipe.
Remember, a thriller about a Holocaust survivor with dementia (Christopher Plummer) tracking down a former camp guard.
Short film showcase: “Joe’s Violin,” a doc about a New York City man donating his violin to a school; “The Kiddush Man,” about a boy who likes to sneak out of worship services; “Pigeon,” about an act of charity during World War II; and “The Walk,” about a grieving boy and a kind stranger.
To Life!, a drama about two people bonding over their shared troubles.
Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks’ 1974 parody of monster movies.
New Haven
The 2nd annual Beckerman Jewish Film Series, sponsored by CT Humanities and the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, will run from April 2 to May 11 at locations in Hamden, Branford, Seymour, Woodbridge, West Haven, Madison and New Haven. One of that festival’s films, “The Women’s Balcony,” is also being shown in Hartford. Dates, times, venues, details about films and to buy tickets: jccnh.org/filmlecture-series.
Some of the films include:
Raise the Roof, a doc about an effort to reconstruct a 18th-century Polish wooden synagogue.
The Kind Words, a drama about three siblings on the hunt for their real father.
Denial, the Rachel Weisz drama about a scholar who is sued by a Holocaust denier.
Streit’s: Matzo and the American Dream, a doc about the last family owned matzo factory in America.
Remember, a thriller about a Holocaust survivor with dementia (Christopher Plummer) tracking down a former camp guard.
Indignation, a drama about a Jewish youth in a predominantly Christian private college.
The Age of Love, a doc about speed dating among senior citizens.
Disturbing the Peace, a doc about former Israeli soldiers and former Palestinian fighters who unite to call for peace.
