(DEAL, NJ) -- Live cinema is back! The 14th Annual Axelrod Jewish International Film Festival (AJIFF) runs from August 4-14, 2024 at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal. Two films will be screened at Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel as well. The nonprofit festival features 10 award-winning Israeli and Jewish international films. Film series passes are available for $68 through July 15 ($78 after). Individual film tickets are $12.
“Film enthusiasts will delight in our heartwarming, funny and poignant award-winning and acclaimed films,” said Toby Shylit Mack, director of the Jewish International Film Festival and Film Education. “You will laugh! You will cry! You will be motivated to think about relevant topics.”
The mission of AJIFF is to entertain, but along the way viewers will be treated to eye-opening experiences. The critically-acclaimed films reveal expansive cinematic landscapes where audiences are immersed in a world of adventures filled with drama, romance, comedy and riveting true stories.
“Our primary goal is to entertain with a diverse lineup of award-winning and acclaimed films including comedies and family dramas,” said Shylit Mack. “We also strive to educate with riveting cinema based on true events such as Kidnapped, One Life, The Goldman Case, Irina’s Vow and Martha Liebermann: A Stolen Life.”
Opening the festival at 4:00pm & 7:00pm on Sunday, August 4 is Seven Blessings, Israel’s official entry for the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. Ayelet Menahemi’s film revolves around a Jewish Moroccan family wedding and the traditional blessings that are pronounced during the ceremony, again at the reception and then again for the next seven nights with loved ones hosting special dinners in the couple’s honor.
At 7:00pm on Monday, August 5, AJIFF presents No Name Restaurant, set in Alexandria, Egypt. To save the synagogue of the once largest Jewish community in the world from being shut down, Ben, an ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn Jew visiting Jerusalem, is sent out to be the desperately needed tenth man for the ceremonies of Pesach. Having missed his plane and been kicked off the bus in the Sinai Desert, his last hope is Adel, a grumpy Bedouin looking for his camel.
At 4:00pm on August 6, Martha Liebermann: A Stolen Life tells the true story of this upper-class widow who could never have imagined leaving her beloved homeland at the age of 85. As a Jew in 1943 Berlin, her only choice is to go abroad or wait to be deported to a concentration camp. The high reputation and valuable paintings of her world-famous artist husband, Max Liebermann, still give her protection. But for how much longer?
Road to Eilat screens at 7:00pm on August 7 and 4:00pm on August 11. This semi-autobiographical tale is about estranged father and son Kibbutzniks who set off on a road trip across Israel on an old tractor. Albert, an aging war veteran brilliantly portrayed by Shmuel Vilozni, impulsively makes a drunken bet: that he will drive his rundown old tractor all the way to Eilat. Winner of Best Israeli Film, Best Actor and Best Cinematography at the Jerusalem Film Festival and nominated for eight Israeli Academy Awards (Ophirs).
The Goldman Case will be shown at 7:00pm on August 7. In 1975, Pierre Goldman, a fiery and controversial figure of revolutionary left-wing activism, was put on trial in France. Accused of multiple crimes including two murders, Goldman proclaims his innocence. Twenty years before the O.J. Simpson case, the Goldman trial reflects the political, ideological and racial tensions that marked the 1970s in France and Europe. Considered to be the trial of the century, it divided an entire country and widened the gap between the conservative right and left wing intellectuals.
This is My Mother will be shown on August 8 at 4:00pm. Agnes Jaoui is unforgettable in this beautiful film about the unshakeable bond between a mother and her son. Pierre has his life turned upside down when his mother appears on his doorstep after a two year absence. Her bipolar disorder had resulted in her being committed to a psychiatric clinic. Determined to ensure her return to the hospital, Pierre accompanies his mother on a 24-hour road trip that will test his patience even as it reinforces his love for her. Recipient of a lifetime achievement César Award.
At 7:00pm on August 8, AJIFF presents Nor by Day, Nor by Night, which tells the story of a French family of Sephardic heritage living in the heart of the Ashkenazi community in Bnei Brak, Israel. The story centers at the struggle between the father, Shmuel, and his son’s Talmud Torah (Torah study) headmaster - a conflict that will lead to tragic, unexpected results.
Closing out the festival on August 11 at 7:00pm is Kidnapped. In 1858 Bologna, six-year-old Edgardo Mortara was seized by authorities of the papal state, taken away from his Jewish parents and placed in the care of the church. Believed to have been baptized in the cradle under odd circumstances, the child would be claimed as a Catholic. His mind erased of his family’s religious heritage and beliefs, Edgardo was at the center of an international firestorm that led directly to the Italian people’s rejection of the pope’s rule amidst the tumultuous Risorgimento.
The following films will be screened at Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel:
August 5 at 4:00pm brings Irena’s Vow, a period film set during the German occupation of Poland in the 1940s. Based on true accounts, the drama follows Irene Gut Opdyke, a 19-year-old hotel kitchen worker hired by Rugmer, a Nazi official. She was later promoted as a housekeeper to serve in Rugmer's home, where, unbeknownst to him, she also managed to shelter twelve Jews in the cellar.
One Life will be shown at 4:00pm on August 14. Based on true events, two-time Academy Award winner Sir Anthony Hopkins gives an intensely moving performance as Sir Nicholas Winton, a mild-mannered British stockbroker who during World War II helped Jewish refugee children escape to safety from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. In the 1980s, suddenly forced to recall the events he had for decades kept to himself, Winton flashes back to stories of this heroism, which was aided by his lionhearted mother (played in flashbacks by Helena Bonham Carter. One Life is a vibrant reminder of the importance of human compassion.
The Axelrod Performing Arts Center is located at 100 Grant Ave., Deal Park. Bell Theater is located at 101 Crawfords Corner Road in the Bell Works complex.
The Axelrod Jewish International Film Festival receives major support for this annual event from the Jewish Federation in the Heart of N.J.
