The UK Jewish Film Festival returns to Manchester with an exceptional range of world cinema.
OPENING NIGHT GALA
Closer to the Moon
8th November, 6pm – Cineworld, Didsbury
Set in Communist Romania in 1958, Closer to the Moon is an inventive and fast-paced comic heist movie starring Mark Strong and Vera Farmiga. It’s based on the true story of a group of Jewish friends and former Resistance members who set out to rob a bank.
Encirclements
10th November, 8pm – Cineworld, Didsbury
Approaching his Bar Mitzvah, Aharon Ninio is chosen to carry the Torah scrolls on Simchat Torah, but the neighbourhood’s belief that those who carry the Torah can request gifts on behalf of others awakens age-old tensions in his family. After dropping and shattering the Torah during the honorary round, life takes an unexpected and devastating turn.
My Nazi Legacy
11th November, 6.20pm – HOME (2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester M15 4FN)
Includes discussion with director David Evans
Internationally-renowned human rights barrister Philippe Sands QC goes on a road trip with two sons of SS officers to find out if they can admit to their fathers’ crimes. When they arrive in the Ukrainian town where Sands’ own family were killed, the three men are forced to confront history in a unique way.
Apples from the Desert
12th November, 6.20pm – HOME
Includes Q&A with lead actress Moran Rosenblatt
Nominated for three Israeli Academy Awards and adapted from the much-loved book, Apples From The Desert is a moving tale of tradition versus modernity. Rebecca Avranel is an only child, living a cloistered existence with her strictly religious Sephardic parents in Jerusalem. Unhappy with the restrictive traditions, she secretly breaks taboos.
Dough
14th November, 8.30pm – Cineworld, Didsbury
An old Jewish baker’s failing business gets an unexpected boost when his young Muslim apprentice, also a cannabis dealer, drops a load of dope in the dough. Suddenly the customers can’t get enough of his bread. In honour of British Jewish screenwriter Jez Freedman who sadly passed away earlier this year.
The Bentwich Syndrome
15th November, 4pm – Cineworld, Didsbury
Includes Q&A with film-makers Gur Bentwich and Maya Kenig
From humble origins in Whitechapel, the eccentric and ambitious 19th Century lawyer Herbert Bentwich set out to establish an aristocratic Jewish dynasty, having a profound impact on British Jewish life and on the new state of Israel. In this documentary, Bentwich’s great-grandson Gur discovers the truth about this enigmatic family.
Hill Start
15th November, 6.30pm – Cineworld, Didsbury
A box-office comic sensation in Israel about a bourgeois Jerusalem family who bring new meaning to the word dysfunctional. Plastic surgeon Micha (Shlomo Bar-Aba) wants an ordinary life. But when he causes a car accident that leaves his wife in a coma, things unravel around him.
Félix and Meira
17th November, 8.30pm – Cineworld, Didsbury
Hadas Yaron stars in this unconventional romance between two people living vastly different lives mere blocks away from one other. Meira meets Félix at a bakery in Montreal’s Mile End district. What starts as an innocent friendship becomes more serious as the two wayward strangers find comfort in one another.
Fire Birds
18th November, 8pm – Cineworld, Didsbury
Amir Wolf’s electrifying directorial debut is a thriller combining a murder mystery with the lives of two men purged from society. After the body of an 80-year-old man is found with three stab wounds and a mysterious tattoo, police detective Amnon reluctantly takes on the case.
Septembers of Shiraz
19th November, 8pm – Cineworld, Didsbury
Academy Award winner Adrien Brody and Salma Hayek lead this stunning adaptation of Dalia Sofer’s critically acclaimed novel. Amid the turmoil of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Isaac (Brody), a secular Jew, is brutally interrogated on baseless charges of being an Israeli spy.
Look At Us Now, Mother!
21st November, 6.30pm – HOME
Director Gayle Kirschenbaum will attend a Q&A after the screening
Told with humour and honesty, Look At Us Now, Mother! is an intimate story about family dysfunction. Prompting sell-out screenings worldwide, writer and director Gayle Kirschenbaum has achieved iconic status with her efforts to confront her outspoken Jewish mother, whose life mission was to get her daughter a nose job!
The Farewell Party
22nd November, 4pm – HOME
A huge box-office hit in Israel, The Farewell Party is a unique story of a group of friends at a Jerusalem retirement home who decide to help their terminally ill friend. When rumours of their assistance begin to spread, more and more people ask for their help, and the friends are faced with a life and death dilemma.
For tickets, visit Ukjfmcr.com.