Las Vegas Weekly

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 // THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

9th Annual Las Vegas Jewish Film Fesitval

Star-crossed love in a Jaffa garage. A vibrant Jewish community discovered in the remote Amazon jungle. A man who saved 1,700 people, prosecuted as a traitor. Japanese schoolchildren unravel the mystery of a little girl’s suitcase from Auschwitz. Lemon trees become a bitter divide in the search for peace. These captivating tales are included among 17 unique and award-winning comedies, dramas and documentaries awaiting movie-goers at the 9th annual Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival.

The 18 day festival will take place Jan. 14 through Jan. 31, 2010. Most films will be screened in the stadium-style theater at The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Educational Campus in Summerlin and presented by Las Vegas-based Jewish agencies, organizations and synagogues. Additional screenings will be held at Cinemark Century Theaters at the South Point Hotel Casino and UNLV Greenspun Hall. Each film will be moderated by film makers and special guests who will conduct post screening dialogue with audiences.

The Jewish Family Services Agency (JFSA) is positioned to be the sole recipient of all donations received to support the Jewish film festival. JFSA is a comprehensive, non-sectarian, social service agency. Funded through grants and donations the JFSA provides food, jobs, counseling, emergency aid, adoption, indigent burials, Holocaust Survivor support and educational outreach through the Holocaust Resource Center.

2010 LVJFF SCHEDULE:

Lemon Tree
Date: Thursday, Jan. 14
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Cinemark Theaters, South Point Hotel Casino
Presented by: Congregation Ner Tamid
Tickets: $10 - Call 733-6292
Synopsis: A Palestinian widow tests the integrity of the Israeli justice system. Her lemon grove is on the border of Israel and the Occupied Territories and the security authorities declare her trees a threat to the Israeli Defense Minister and his family. She, however, is determined to protect her trees as if she were fighting for her own life. (English subtitles)

Jaffa
Date: Saturday, Jan. 16
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Temple Bet Knesset Bamidbar
Tickets: $10 and $18 – Call 228-7040
Synopsis: This contemporary story of star-crossed love between a young Jewish woman and an Arab mechanic unfolds in a family-owned auto garage in Jaffa, the ancient seaside city where Jews and Arabs live an uneasy alliance. The clandestine affair is shadowed by strained relations among the girl's family fuelled by prejudice and jealousy. (English subtitles)

Inside Hana’s Suitcase
Date: Sunday, Jan. 17
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Adelson Educational Campus
Tickets: Free and open to the public. Limited Seating
Synopsis: Japanese students and their teacher seek to solve the mystery of a young girl, whose name was painted on an old battered suitcase they receive from Auschwitz. Their investigation transports them across continents and through 70 years of history to discover universal truths.

A Matter of Size
Date: Sunday, Jan. 17
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada
Tickets: $10 – Call 794-0090
Synopsis: Herzl is overweight, unemployed and living at home with his mother. Finding a job as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant he observes his coworkers watching sumo wrestling on TV and has a revelation to pursue a sport where his size is an asset. (English subtitles)


Four Seasons Lodge
Date: Monday, Jan. 18 (MLK Holiday)
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Hadassah Tzipor Group
Tickets: $10 - Call 657-0456
Synopsis: Hailed by New York Times as “an awesome spectacle of life,” the film portrays Holocaust survivors who come together each summer to celebrate their lives. The documentary is about tightly bonded friendships and the quest for inner peace in spite of haunting memories.

Killing Kasztner
Date: Monday, Jan. 18 (MLK Holiday)
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Jewish Family Service Agency’s Holocaust Resource Center
Tickets: $10 – Call 732-0304
Synopsis: Rudolph Kasztner rescued 1,700 Jews by negotiating with the Nazis. He had to choose who would live and who would die and was branded a traitor for doing so. This incredible story uncovers the truth as it reflects back and follows Kasztner’s family plagued by a legacy they are determined to change.

Against the Tide
Date: Thursday, Jan. 21
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Jewish Federation of Las Vegas
Tickets: $10 & $25 – Call 732-0556
Synopsis: A revealing examination about what happened in the United States during the Holocaust, highlighting how a lone radical activist challenged Washington and the Jewish establishment to demand that the rescue of Europe’s Jews become a top priority of America’s war policy.

The Wedding Song
Date: Saturday, Jan. 23
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Jewish Family Service Agency
Tickets: $10 – Call 732-0304
Synopsis: A richly sensual portrait of female bonds and sexual awakening in a traditional society on the verge of profound change. This mystical and poetic film evokes the disappearance of the delicate fabric of Jewish-Arab co-existence across North Africa with a beautifully assured historic rendering. (Adult Theme, English subtitles.)

Love and Religion: The Challenge of Interfaith Relationships
Date: Sunday, Jan. 24
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Jewish Family Service Agency
Tickets: Free and open to the public. Limited seating
Synopsis: Interfaith couples openly discuss issues they face as partners from different religious backgrounds. These couples work on creating their religious identities by learning how they can make Jewish choices while still respecting their partner’s religion.

Matchmaker: In Search of a Kosher Man
Date: Sunday, Jan. 24
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Jewish Family Service Agency
Tickets: $10 – Call 732-0304
Synopsis: Gabrielle decides it is time to settle down and find a Jewish husband but in her hometown of Zurich, appropriate choices are few and far between. Undeterred, she calls up old school friends and other prospects and invites them over to her house for an unusual first date: she bakes challah with them. Eventually she has six delicious baked loaves, but has she found a recipe for love? (English Subtitles.)

The Impossible Spy
Date: Sunday, Jan. 24
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Brandeis National Committee
Tickets: $10 – Call 255-6667
Synopsis: The true story of Israel’s greatest spy Eli Cohen who reluctantly was recruited by the Mossad in the early ‘60s. Telling his wife he has a new job that required extensive business travel, he covertly went to Syria where he befriended a high-ranking Syrian government official who unwittingly provided invaluable information to Israel.

Zrubavel
Date: Thursday, Jan. 28
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: UNLV Greenspun Hall
Presented by: Hillel of UNLV
Tickets: Free for students with I.D., $10 general admission – Call 262-6583 or 732-0556
Synopsis: A powerful look into the contemporary culture of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel. The Zrubavel family find themselves caught between their love for their new homeland, the racism they face every day and the clash between their traditional customs and the assimilation of their younger generation. (Adult Theme, English subtitles.)

The Fire Within
Date: Thursday, Jan. 28
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Cinemark Theaters, South Point Hotel Casino
Presented by: Midbar Kodesh Temple
Tickets: Free and open to the public. Limited seating.
Synopsis: This documentary follows the remarkable conversion process of a contemporary Peruvian community descended from indigenous women and Jewish men who settled the Amazon in the late 19th century. Raised with mixed religious traditions and faced with numerous challenges, some remain in the Amazon while others become Israeli citizens. (English subtitles.)

The Yankles
Date: Saturday, Jan. 30
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Temple Beth Shalom
Tickets: $10 – Call 804-1333
Synopsis: A comedy tonight! A professional baseball player is fired from the LA Spirits for drinking. After he is released from serving time, his mandatory community service is coaching baseball. However, the only people willing to give him a second chance are a group of orthodox, yeshiva students who formed an upstart baseball team called “The Yankles.”

Praying in Her Own Voice
Date: Saturday, Jan. 31
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Valley Outreach Synagogue
Tickets: $10 – Call 436-4900
Synopsis: This powerful film documents the courageous struggle of the famed “Women of the Wall” movement which has spearheaded the battle for female equality in the religious world. Focused mainly at the Wailing Wall where women are not allowed to gather and pray, the story raises questions about gender conflict within the religious Jewish world.

The People vs. Leo Frank
Date: Sunday, Jan. 31
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Anti Defamation League
Tickets: $10 for general admission
Phone: (702) 862-8600
Synopsis: In 1913, 13-year-old Mary Phagan was found dead in the basement of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta. What followed remains one of the most complex episodes in American, Southern and Jewish history. The People vs. Leo Frank weaves an intricate whodunit with compelling themes of racial, religious and regional bias into a dramatized documentary.

The Little Traitor
Date: Sunday, Jan. 31
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Adelson Educational Campus Theater
Presented by: Temple Sinai
Tickets: $10 – Call 254-5110
Synopsis: Palestine 1947. Just a few months before Israel became a nation, an 11-year-old wants the occupying British to get out of his land. One evening after curfew he is seized by a British officer who kindly deposits him back to his home. What ensues is a friendship between these two would be foes, which the boy must keep a secret from his friends and family.

Where: The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Campus (Directions)

Start time: 7:00 pm

End time: 9:00 pm

Address: 9700 West Hillpointe Road, Las Vegas

Cost: Free - $10

Age limit: All ages

Categories:

• Fundraisers
• Film
• Summerlin

Related links

• 9th Annual Las Vegas Jewish Film Fesitval

Event posted Jan. 5, 2010

Last updated Jan. 5, 2010