Shelter
Saturday, January 20, 7:15 pm
Chrysler Museum
1 Memorial Place, Norfolk
Opening Night Film & Reception, Celebrating 25 Years of the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film

Naomi Rimon, a Mossad agent, is sent on an easy mission: to protect Mona, a Lebanese collaborator, in a safe house in Hamburg, Germany, for two weeks. But there are no easy missions, certainly not in the world of espionage and intrigue.

Based on The Link by Shulamit Hareven, this subtle thriller explores the intimacy that develops between the two women as they are exposed to the threat of terror that now engulfs the world. In this game of deception, beliefs are questioned and choices made that are not their own. Their fate takes a surprising turn in this suspense-laden, elegant neo-noir.

If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Sunday, January 21, 2:00 pm
Beth Sholom Village
6401 Auburn Drive, Virginia Beach
In partnership with Beth Sholom Village and Brith Sholom Center
FREE. RSVP requested to 321-2304 or MEichelbaum@ujft.org.

What’s the secret to living into your 90s – and loving every minute of it? In this documentary, irrepressible writer-comedian Carl Reiner (who shows no signs of slowing down at 95), tracks down several celebrated nonagenarians, and a few others over 100, to show how the twilight years can truly be the happiest and most rewarding.

Memorable quote from Dick Van Dyke, “I have people who say to me, ‘You look good.’ Nobody, when I was 30 said, ‘You look good.’ What they mean is, ‘You don’t look dead.’”

Fanny’s Journey
Sunday, January 21, 2:00 pm
TCC Roper Performing Arts Center
340 Granby Street, Norfolk
In partnership with the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater

This true story tells the compelling tale of Fanny Ben-Ami. After the arrest of their father in German-occupied Paris, Fanny (Léonie Souchaud) and her younger sisters Erika (Fantine Harduin) and Georgette (Juliane Lepoureau) are sent by their mother to a children’s boarding school in rural southeast France.

The younger girls, particularly clingy Erika, stay close to their older sister, but Fanny is clearly very much still a child herself, with a penchant for climbing trees. She takes care of her two younger sisters until she is forced to flee in a rush, becoming the head of a group of eight children heading across occupied France.

Cabaret
Monday, January 22, 7:15 pm
Naro Expanded Cinema
1507 Colley Avenue, Norfolk
Discussion before the film with Virginian-Pilot critic Mal Vincent, as he shares interesting stories and juicy Hollywood gossip about the film and its’ stars in his ninth annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film appearance.

Cabaret tells the story of Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli), an American cabaret singer in Berlin in 1931. Sally meets British academic Brian Roberts (Michael York), who is finishing his university studies. Despite Brian’s confusion over his sexuality, the pair become lovers. The arrival of the wealthy and decadent playboy Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem) complicates matters. This love triangle plays out against the rise of the Nazi party and the collapse of the Weimar Republic.

1945
Tuesday, January 23, 7:15 pm
Simon Family JCC
5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Virginia Beach

In August, 1945, a remote Hungarian town prepares for the wedding of the village magistrate’s son. Meanwhile two Orthodox Jews arrive at the train station with two coffin-shaped wooden crates, supposedly filled with soaps and perfumes.

When the town gets wind of their arrival, rumors spread about their intentions. Are these men going to set up shop? Is this a harbinger of the return of more Jews? Led by the boorish village magistrate, the townspeople fear that these strangers may be heirs of the village’s denounced and deported Jewish neighbors and have come to claim their family’s stolen property. Paranoia runs rampant, leading to tragic events and a potent, unexpected ending.

While many films exist about the Holocaust, few are about its immediate aftermath when greed and material gain from the Jewish peoples’ demise was pervasive. Director Ferenc Török cleverly captures this often overlooked moment in history where one town’s actions become a metaphor for the moral decay of the enitre country. Filmed in black and white with an eye for exquisite composition and a minimal evocative score, 1945 is a subtle and nuanced study of the collective guilt and enduring anti-Semitism of postwar Hungary.

Keep the Change
Wednesday, January 24, 7:15 pm
Zeiders American Dream Theater
4573 Bank Street, Virginia Beach
Limited seating.

David, an upper-class charmer, leads a very comfortable life until he is mandated to attend a support group for adults with disabilities. There, he is forced to come to terms with his own high-functioning autism, despite his resentment towards being singled out as different, or anything other than what he interprets as ‘normal.’

At the group, David is paired with Sarah – a quirky and outgoing woman whose optimism initially irks David. Despite their contrasting personalities, they forge a bond. As their relationship deepens, Sarah, confident in herself and her individuality, challenges David to embrace his own uniqueness.

An endearing and naturalistic romantic comedy about people navigating the difficulties of a relationship, Keep the Change details an underrepresented community with authenticity, optimism, and humor.

The Pickle Recipe
Thursday, January 25, 7:15 pm
Beach Cinema Alehouse
941 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach
Limited seating. Dinner and drinks available for purchase. Arrive by 6:30 for ordering and best seating.
Discussion before the film with writer/producer, Sheldon Cohn.

Joey Miller is the king of Detroit party emcees, a single father, and drowning in debt. During one of his latest gigs, a freak accident destroys all his prized sound equipment. With his daughter Julie’s bat mitzvah only four weeks away, he is willing to do almost anything to replace it.

As a last resort, he turns to his shady Uncle Morty, who agrees to give him the needed 20 grand, but under one condition: Joey must steal his grandmother Rose’s top-secret kosher dill pickle recipe.

Body & Soul: An American Bridge
Saturday, January 27, 7:15 pm
Harbor Club
333 Waterside Drive, Norfolk
John Toomey Trio LIVE, following the screening. Food and drinks available for purchase.

Josh Kun of the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at University of Southern California, says that every musical encounter is a cross-cultural encounter. Out of all such encounters that have resulted in the richness of American popular music, none has been so prominent or so fraught with fraternity and conflict as the one between African Americans and American Jews.

Written by bandleader Johnny Green and with lyrics by Edward Heyman, Body and Soul is among the most enduring standards. Through interviews with historians and music enthusiasts and featuring rare archival footage, the film examines this timeless song’s history and illustrates the complex musical interplay between Jewish and African-American cultures.

Also showing on Wednesdau, January 24 at noon for seniors at the Simon Family JCC. This screening is free and open to all seniors with lunch included. RSVP requested to 321-2304 or MEichelbaum@ujft.org.

Animal House
Sunday, January 28, 7:15 pm
Naro Expanded Cinema
1507 Colley Avenue, Norfolk
Discussion before the film with Lorraine Wright, widow of the late, local born actor and comedian, Stephen Furst(stein).

When they arrive at college, socially inept freshmen Larry (Thomas Hulce) and Kent (Stephen Furst) attempt to pledge the snooty Omega Theta Pi House, but are summarily rejected. Lowering their standards, they try the notoriously rowdy Delta Tau Chi House, and get in. The trouble is, the college dean (John Vernon) has it in for the Deltas. He has put them on “Double Secret Probation” and secretly assigned Omega’s president (James Daughton) the task of having their charter revoked.