The 16th Annual Dayton Jewish Film Festival will open at the newly renovated Historic Plaza Theatre in Miamisburg on Tuesday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m. The festival (running from April 5 through April 19) will bring to Dayton, Yellow Springs, Beavercreek, and Miamisburg the best in Jewish, Israeli, and local cinema. This year’s selection includes the Dayton premiere of Making Morning Star, a new documentary from local filmmakers and Academy Award nominees Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, along with an international selection of feature and documentary films. Festival venues include the Historic Plaza Theatre in Miamisburg, The Neon in downtown Dayton, The Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs, and Cinemark @ The Greene 14 in Beavercreek.
Opening night (Tuesday, April 5, 7:30p.m.) at the Historic Plaza Theatre in Miamisburg will feature Once in a Lifetime (Feature, 105 min., French with English subtitles) sponsored by Morris Home Furnishings. Once In A Lifetime brings into focus a teacher in France who is confronted with apathetic and short-fused students in a multicultural, struggling inner city setting. She chooses to push them into a national competition. The theme: Child victims of the Holocaust. The rebellious teens come to see each other — and their history — in a new light, demonstrating the enduring impact of the Holocaust in transforming future generations. The Opening Night dessert reception will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Mosaic Institute of Greater Dayton, which is next door to the Historic Plaza Theatre. The dessert reception will include as well as musical entertainment from Mediterranean folk band, Baladino. Baladino is brought to our festival as a part of the Arts Midwest World Fest through the sponsorship of 3M, the Ohio Arts Council, Murphy Theatre, and the Israel Consul General to the Midwest.
The 2016 line-up of nine films and ten screenings includes American and foreign films. The festival spans genres from thriller to drama to documentary, and explores varied themes of injustice, love, war, politics, religion, and family relationships. This year, five of our films will have special guest speakers following their showings.
. Wednesday, April 6 Yellow Springs showing of Once In A Lifetime features guest speaker and Holocaust education expert Renate Frydman.
. Tuesday, April 12 showing of Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, partnering with Hadassah and sponsored by Square One Salon and Spa features guest speaker and retired lawyer Ellen Leffak.
. Sunday, April 17 showing of Making Morning Star, sponsored by the Washington Centerville Library and Friends of Washington Centerville Library features a discussion with local Academy Award nominated filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar.
. Closing Night of the JCC Film Festival on Tuesday, April 19 screening of Rosenwald, sponsored by Economy Linen and Towel Service, Inc. features a special Q & A with award-winning Rosenwald director, Aviva Kempner.
The Dayton Jewish Film Festival is presented annually by the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Greater Dayton. “On behalf of the Dayton Jewish Community Center, we are excited to bring an array of thought provoking, captivating, and award-winning films to the community. Our festival allows participants to view excellent movies that might not otherwise make it to the Dayton area. We are thrilled to showcase these unique films; we have something for everyone.” says Jane Hochstein, director of the JCC.
The chairperson of this year’s festival, Martin Gottlieb, comments in regards to this year’s special local selection. “We are honored and excited to have a Bognar-Reichert film this year: Making Morning Star, a short documentary about the making of an opera by an accomplished New York writer working with the Cincinnati Opera and University of Cincinnati. The Opera is about the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York, where lots of immigrant Jews worked.”
Season passes ($75) and group tickets for single events are available at a discount in advance. For more information please call the JCC at 937-610-1555 or visit www.jewishdayton.org.
