The Mayerson JCC Jewish and Israeli Film Festival presents a diverse, inspiring lineup of award-winning films and engaging, educational programming that connects to the Jewish and Israeli stories.

The 2023 Festival has a hybrid lineup with each film offered either in-person only or virtual only to allow for viewing in community or from the comfort of your home. There are six in-person and five virtual film offerings. Each film ticket includes access to film screening and companion special feature, if scheduled.

- Virtual film showings and companion special features will have a 48-hour watch availability. Please note the specific geographic regions in which each virtual film is available.
- For in-person film showings and companion special features, please note the specific venue at which each event will take place.
- These films are not rated and are recommended for mature audiences. Only film, not special feature, runtimes are noted. All times listed are Eastern Time.
- Film Festival ticket sales, as well as virtual content, will take place on the Eventive platform. If you have attended past Film Festivals or already have an Eventive account, you will be prompted to login; if you are new to Eventive, please create an account.

Additional help and FAQs about the festival and Eventive can be found HERE. You can also visit https://watch.eventive.org/help for technical information and support, available 9am – 3am ET, 7 days a week, through Live Chat.

Schedule:

Saturday, January 28, 2023

7:30pm: OPENING NIGHT: One More Story

Location: 20th Century Theater

2021 - Romantic Comedy - 91 minutes - Hebrew - Guri Alfi

Join us for the opening night of Jewish and Israeli Film Festival! The first film is One More Story. (In person)

This charming story-within-a story features a young and brilliant journalist working on a famous newspaper who doesn’t really believe in love. Still, she decides to go on a date. Soon she’s talking about relationships’ past, and the cringe-worthy parade of infidelity, humiliation and burned bridges. Maybe it’s not the best story to share on a first date. Or maybe it is…

Content Warning: language, sexual situations

Special Feature: Ticket includes an opening night reception.

Presenting Partners: Jewish Federation of Cincinnati – Young Adult Division and Mayerson JCC 20s and 30s

Join us for the 20s and 30s Opening Night Happy Hour here.

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7:30pm: Young Adult Opening Night Happy Hour

Location: 20th Century Theater

Enjoy opening night of the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival with the JCC 20s and 30s and the Young Adult Division (YAD) of Jewish Federation! Say cheers and get into the movie-watching mood at our special young adult event, including discounted tickets to the film-screening and a dessert reception! Ticket includes a free drink ticket. Tickets are limited!

When purchasing tickets on Eventive, please select the following:

Opening Night: One More Story [In-Person Film Screening]
Young Adult Ticket (21-45yo)

Price: $26

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January 29-31, 2023

7:30pm: The Conference

Location: Virtual

Join us for the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - The Conference. (Virtual)

Viewing Region: Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana

Virtual 48-hr Viewing Window Opens at 7:30pm ET on January 29

2022 - Historical Drama - 108 minutes - German - Matti Geschonneck

On January 20, 1942, leading members of the Nazi regime met in a villa in Berlin-Wannsee for a meeting that went down in history as the “Wannsee Conference.” The sole topic on the agenda that morning was what the Nazis called the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question,” the organization of the systematic mass murder of millions of Jews from across Europe. This historically accurate, haunting drama was produced for the 80th Commemoration Day of the Conference.

Presenting Partner: Jewish Family Service

Additional partnership support from The Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center

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Monday, January 30, 2023

Special Feature

7:30pm: The Conference - Virtual Special Feature Event

Location: Virtual

Jodi Elowitz, Chief Learning Officer at The Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center
Erik Jensen, Associate Professor of History at Miami University

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Thursday, February 2, 2023

7:30pm: On This Happy Note

Location: In-Person at Mariemont Theatre

Join us for the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - On This Happy Note (In person)

2021 - Documentary - 67 minutes - Hebrew - Tamar Tal Anati

As she prepares for her death, celebrated playwright Anat Gov asks literary agent Arik Kneller to execute her will. Their last documented conversation touches upon life, death, and her writings. Consciously accepting her nearing end with humor and grace, Anat leaves behind a spiritual legacy: there can be such a thing as a happy ending. Almost a decade after her death, her loved ones try to fill the void left by her words with their own. Through excerpts from her plays and footage of her family and political world, a new script is written: one in which the line between the play and reality is blurred.

Content Warning: language
Presenting Partner: Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati – Guardians and Friends
Official Selection – 2021 Docaviv International Film Festival

Special Feature:
Short documentary film screening of Polonsky (30 minutes) by Ofir Trainin
Content Warning: brief nudity

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Sunday, February 5, 2023

3:00pm: Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin

Location: In-Person at Mariemont Theatre

Join us for the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin (In person)

2021 - Documentary - 87 minutes - English, Hebrew, Arabic - Jonathan Gruber

A proud yet scarred leader haunted by the Holocaust and decades of war, former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin struggled to balance history and heroism to make peace with his greatest enemy and cement a legacy long misunderstood. This portrait captures the life of Menachem Begin, a nuanced and complicated canvas that tells the story of key events in the history of modern Israel.

Content Warning: Violence
Presenting Partner: Jewish Federation of Cincinnati – Jewish Community Relations Council

Special Feature: Join for a discussion with Avi Shilon Ph.D., author of the book, Menachem Begin: A Life.

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February 6-8, 2023

7:30pm: Schachten – A Retribution

Location: Online

Join us for the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - Schächten - A Retribution (Virtual)

Viewing Region: Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana
Virtual 48-hr Viewing Window Opens at 7:30pm ET on February 6
2022 - Drama - 110 minutes - German - Thomas Roth

VIENNA 1960s. Victor, a young Jewish businessman, has to witness how the prosecution of a Nazi crime perpetrated against his family unjustly fails in the courtroom. The political and legal system is still run by former Nazis. When Victor also loses his grief-stricken father and his girlfriend’s family opposes their relationship and his identity, Victor completely loses faith in the system and takes matters in his own hands.

Content Warning: Violence
Presenting Partner: AJC Cincinnati
Additional partnership support from The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center

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Thursday, February 9, 2023

7:00pm: Restoration Midwest Premiere of Lee Grant’s Tell Me a Riddle

Location: Cincinnati Art Museum

Jewish and Israeli Film Festival partner event, Tell Me A Riddle. A partnership of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Women in Film Cincinnati, and Mayerson JCC Jewish & Israeli Film Festival.

Restored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2022, and presented here for the first time outside of the Academy, Tell Me a Riddle (1980) was the major motion picture directorial debut for Academy Award winner, Lee Grant. Based on Tillie Olsen’s O. Henry Prize winning novella of the same name, the film celebrates life and love’s miraculous power of renewal.

Eva and David are Russian-Jewish immigrants who experience the most intense conflict of their marriage right at the end of their lives. Eva becomes ill, and David decides they should keep it a secret. While they travel the country to visit the homes of their children and granddaughter, Eva remembers both the violence of pre-revolutionary Russia and the stresses of married life with David, when she was without a moment to herself to read or shine.

Jaime Meyers Schlenk, President of Women in Film Cincinnati, and the film’s producer, Rachel Lyon, will engage in a post-film conversation about the remarkable restoration, working closely with Lee Grant over decades, and the many firsts for women that this film launched.

A partnership of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Women in Film Cincinnati, and Mayerson JCC Jewish & Israeli Film Festival.

Cost: Free

Monday, February 13, 2023

7:30pm: 1341 Frames of Love and War

Location: In-Person at Cincinnati Skirball Museum

Join us for the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - 1341 Frames of Love and War (In person)

2022 - Documentary - 90 minutes - Hebrew - Ran Tal

World Premiere – 2022 Berlin International Film Festival
Winner – Best Director, Best Editing, Kadar Award 2022 Docaviv International Film Festival

Composed entirely of images from an archive of over half a million negatives taken by acclaimed photo-journalist Micha Bar-Am, this story begins in Berlin in 1930, moves to Palestine in 1936, becomes a love affair with Zionism in the 1950s and turns into a journey of self-doubt and questioning, in a profound exploration of photography, memory, identity, and the personal cost of a life devoted to recording a conflict.  

Content Warning: brief nudity, violence
Presenting Partners: Cincinnati Skirball Museum and Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion

Special Feature:
Discussion
Dr. Elliot Ratzman, Chair in Jewish Studies at Earlham College
As a complement to the film, the Skirball Museum will display a group of works by Israeli artists that address the themes of love and war in Israel, as well as some documentary materials about Micha Bar-Am.

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February 15 – February 17, 2023

7:30pm: Greener Pastures

Location: Virtual

Join us for the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - Greener Pastures (Virtual)

Viewing Region: Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana

Virtual 48-hr Viewing Window Opens at 7:30pm ET on February 15
2020- Comedy- 88 minutes- Hebrew- Matan Guggenheim and Assaf Abiri
12 Nominations including Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress – 2020 Ophir Awards

When Dov is forced to move into a retirement community, he is determined to find a way back to his beloved family home. When cannabis, love, and crime come into play, he finds himself at a crossroad: will he risk it all to make his dream come true?

Content Warning: drugs
Presenting Partner: Jewish Home of Cincinnati
Special Feature: Short narrative film screening of White Eye (20 minutes) by Tomer Shushan

Content Warning: language
Nomination – Best Live Action Short Film 2021 Academy Awards
Nomination – Best Short Feature Film 2020 Ophir Awards

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Sunday, February 19, 2023

3:00pm: Rose

Location: In-Person at Mayerson JCC

Join us for the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - Rose (In person)

2021- Drama, Comedy - 102 minutes - French - Aurélie Saada
Winner – Variety Piazza Grande Award 2021 Locarno International Film Festival

Rose, 78 years old, has just lost her husband whom she adored. When her grief gives way to a powerful impulse to live, making her realize that she can still redefine herself as a woman, the whole balance of the family is upset. This film acts as a life-affirming reminder that it’s never too late to seek happiness.

Content Warning: brief language, sexual references
Presenting Partner: Jewish Federation of Cincinnati – Silver Circle Society and Create Your Jewish Legacy

FREE tickets available for Jewish Federation Silver Circle Society and Create Your Jewish Legacy donors. Please contact Emma Chaney at [email protected] or 513.985.1526 to redeem your tickets .

Special Feature: Join for a recorded discussion with film director Aurélie Saada.

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February 21 – February 23, 2023

7:30pm: Not a Hero

Location: Virtual

Viewing Region: USA
Virtual 48-hr Viewing Window Opens at 7:30pm ET on February 21
2021 - Documentary - 65 minutes - Hebrew - Rubi Gat

Yam doesn’t like when people tell him no. No, you can’t act on stage, no, you can’t fly with your family, no, you can’t go out with your friends for a beer. Especially not if the reason is his wheelchair. But when they told him he couldn’t be drafted into the army, he set out on the battle of his life.

Presenting Partners: Jewish National Fund USA and Mayerson JCC Milton and Frances Schloss SpecialNeeds and Services Department

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Wednesday, February 22, 2023

7:30pm: Not a Hero - Virtual Special Feature Event

Location: Virtual

Virtual Discussion
Rubi Gat
Film Director and father of the film subject

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February 26 – February 28, 2023

7:30pm: Marry Me However

Location: Virtual

Join us for the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - Marry Me However (Virtual)

Viewing Region: Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana
Virtual 48-hr Viewing Window Opens at 7:30pm ET on Feb. 26
2020 - Documentary - 63 minutes - Hebrew - Mordechai Vardi

This documentary tells the story of three men and two women who marry against their orientation in order to fulfill religious and cultural expectations. We hear painful accounts of confusion, deception, anger and guilt. The film exposes how both the gay partners and their straight spouses suffer devastating consequences when they are expected to follow these norms. The subjects experience journeys of self-acceptance and social activism, as they try to affect change in their religious environments.

Trigger Warning: suicide, conversion therapy
Content Warning: sexual references
Presenting Partner: Cincinnati Hillel

Special Feature:

Short documentary film screening of Periphery (28 minutes) by Sara Yacobi-Harris

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Monday, February 27, 2023

7:30pm: Marry Me However - Virtual Special Feature Event

Virtual

Join for a discussion with film director Rabbi Mordechai Vardi and Rabbi Steven Greenberg, Founding Director of Eshel.

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Wednesday, March 1, 2023

7:30pm - 10:15pm: Closing Night: Farewell Mister Haffmann [In-Person Film Screening]

Location: Union Terminal, Reakirt Auditorium

SPECIAL FEATURE

Ticket includes a closing night dessert reception.

Presenting Partner: The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center

Farewell Mister Haffmann

PARIS 1941. François Mercier is an ordinary man whose only goal is to start a family with Blanche, the woman he loves. François works for Mr. Haffmann, a talented Jewish jeweler. Under the German occupation, the employer and employee are forced to strike a deal which, over the following months, will upend the fate of all concerned.

Content Warning: mild nudity, sexual violence.

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Date: January 28 - March 1, 2023

Location: Various Venues in Cincinnati, OH 45209.

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