The Dayton Jewish International Film Festival offers outstanding world cinema that promotes awareness, appreciation and pride to the diversity of the Jewish people and to the community at large. Our goal is to educate and entertain through evocative, narrative and documentary films that portray the Jewish experience from historic to current global perspectives.
JCC International Jewish Film Festival Opening Night – The Catskills
Thursday, May 30 at 7:00 p.m.
The film will be followed by guest speaker Dr. Jenny Caplan, and a dessert reception
The Roger Glass Center for the Arts
(29 Creative Way, Dayton, OH 45479)
Cost:
Opening Night Reception + Individual Ticket $18
Season pass $95 (includes Opening Night)
(United States, 2023, 86 minutes) Documentary
The Catskills is a delightful account on the rise and fall of the Borscht Belt and the powerful women who made it happen. With a trove of lost-and-found archival footage and a cast of characters endowed with the gift of gab, this charming documentary journeys into the storied mountain getaway north of New York City that served as refuge for Jewish immigrants and affluent Jewish families alike. Stand-up comedians share their best shtick while former waiters, entertainers, and dance instructors recount tales of the family-run resorts and bungalows. Punctuated with expert commentary—including from Dayton’s Dr. Jenny Caplan!—The Catskills is where nostalgia and memory meets the American Jewish experience.
Jennifer Caplan is Associate Professor and The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Chair in Judaic Studies at University of Cincinnati. Her first book Funny, You Don’t Look Funny: Judaism and Humor from the Silent Generation to Millennials was published by Wayne State University Press in 2023, and she is a co-editor of the forthcoming book No Respect: Themes and Trends in Global Jewish Humors. Currently she is working on Unmasked: Jewish Characters in DC and Marvel, which looks at the history and evolution of Jewish comic book characters.
Home
Tuesday, June 4 at 7:15 p.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Season pass $95
Home
Tuesday, June 4 at 7:15 p.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Season pass $95
(Israel, 2023, 111 minutes) Crime/Drama
Home, nominated for nine Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Film, is a portrayal of the tensions between religious power and personal ambition in an ultra-Orthodox enclave. Yair opens a computer store in his Jerusalem neighborhood, instigating the scrutiny of the rabbis who police the boundaries between the secular and the sacred. His wife’s distinguished family has doubts, but the stream of customers interested in “kosher” electronic products says otherwise. Yair’s success clashes with the gatekeepers of propriety in this insular community. Based on the personal story of writer-director Benny Fredman, Home’s dynamic performances and tremendous cinematography places us in the heart of contemporary Jerusalem.
An Evening of Short Films
Thursday, June 6 at 7:15 p.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Season pass $95
FEATURING THE FOLLOWING FILMS:
Sevap/Mitvah
(United States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2023, 20 minutes)
In 1941 Nazi-occupied Bosnia, a Muslim woman risks her life to save her Jewish friends and is saved by them in turn 50 years later. Inspired by a true story.
BrownWhite
(Israel, 2022, 10 minutes)
BrownWhite explores how skin color influences the development of identity. Weaving Israeli biracial kids’ life experiences with findings from academic research, the film reveals the dilemmas of identity in the blended family – a world that’s more complicated than black, white, or brown.
Mazel Tov Cocktail
(Germany, 2020, 30 minutes)
Dima is a charismatic, tough Russian-Jewish teenager living in Germany. Breaking the fourth wall he passionately and ferociously talks about his views, the Jewish condition in Germany, and about the tolerant, but hypocritical ways in which his world works.
Call Me Alvy
(United Kingdom, 2017, 10 minutes)
Brian Silver – almost 13 and preparing for Bar Mitzvah – has been obsessed with Woody Allen ever since his older brother introduced him to the film Annie Hall. Does his mother have a reason to worry, or is it just a phase?
Jack and Sam
(United States, 2023, 20 minutes)
A poignant film about two Holocaust survivors who were miraculously reunited after 80 years and are now spending time rekindling their friendship and teaching others about the dangers of hatred. NOTE: After the war, Jack Waksal moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he lived until 1992.
The Interpreter
Monday, June 10 at 7:15 p.m.
(also available virtually June 10 and 11)
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Virtual Access Ticket $12
Season pass $95
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Virtual Access Ticket $12
Season pass $95
(Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, 2018, 113 minutes) Drama/Comedy
What happens when you seek revenge but find friendship? Eighty-year-old Jiri believes he has located the former SS officer who executed his parents but finds instead the man’s wastrel middle-aged son. The bittersweet odd-couple journey to meet surviving witnesses of war and to come to some resolve about history and guilt and wisdom about life and loss. Variety’s Jessica Kiang writes “the subtlety of the film’s elegant craft, the restraint of well-known Slovakian director Martin Šulík’s characterful screenplay, and the superb chemistry between the two lead actors gives The Interpreter a respectful, quiet resonance.”
All About the Levkoviches
Sunday, June 16 at 7:15 p.m.
(also virtually June 16-18)
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Virtual Access Ticket $12
Season pass $95
**First 50 dads get in FREE!! Use code DAD50 at checkout**
(Code only available for in-person screening; can only be used one time per transaction)
All About the Levkoviches
Remembering Gene Wilder
Tuesday, June 18
Reception at 9:30 a.m. (sponsored by Hadassah)
Film begins at 10:00 a.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Season pass $95
In iconic roles from Leo Bloom to Willy Wonka, and in comedy classics like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman) charmed audiences with his neurotic charisma and manic energy. Wilder also faced personal tragedy, losing his wife, comedian Gilda Radner, and later battling Alzheimer’s. A “disarmingly lovable documentary” award-winning filmmaker Ron Frank has gifted us a “captivating, insightful and profoundly moving” account of one of our great comic actors. With rare never-before-seen home videos and memorable scenes from our favorite Gene Wilder films, this winning documentary reveals intimate insights detailing his life and career with many astonishing surprises. An audience favorite at more than a dozen film festivals, do not miss the timeless comic genius of Wilder on the big screen.
Nathan-ism
Thursday, June 20 at 7:15 p.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Season pass $95
(United States, 2023, 79 minutes) Documentary
Shortlisted for the International Documentary Association’s best films of 2023
(United States, 2023, 79 minutes) Documentary
Shortlisted for the International Documentary Association’s best films of 2023
For decades Nathan Hilu has been unable to stop drawing: his years during and after World War II, his Syrian-Jewish family, his Yiddish New York. His quirky drawings—part underground comix, part Jean-Michel Basquiat, all Nathan—have the attention of archivists, galleries, and historians. Tablet Magazine described him as the “most significant Jewish Outsider artist you’ve never heard of.” But doubts arise: was Nathan really a guard at the Nuremberg Trials? What is memory and what is invention? A compelling documentary with twists and turns of the creative spirit. Do not miss the spectacular visual kaleidoscope of urgency as Nathan races against the clock to document history.
An American Tail
Sunday, June 23 at 3:00 p.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
No charge (seating is limited)
An American Tail
No charge (seating is limited)
(United States, 1986, 80 minutes) Animated Family Musical
An animated cinematic feast, not to be missed on the big screen! Steven Spielberg helped produce this now-classic tale of a young mouse named Fievel Mousekewitz who, with his family, emigrate from Russia to the United States by boat after their home is destroyed by cats. Separated from his family but aided by a team of new-immigrant ethnic mice, Fievel explores the new world, facing adventure, hardship, and reunion. An entertaining, sensitive, and unforgettable tribute to the immigrant experience, An American Tail will sensitize another young generation to the challenges of many of our forebears.
In partnership with PJ Library
Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara
Sunday, June 23 at 7:15 p.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Season pass $95
(Italy, France, Germany, 2023, 134 minutes) Historical Drama
A captivating depiction of the controversy that shocked the world: the 1858 forced removal of a Jewish child, Edgardo Mortara, from his family by agents of the Inquisition, approved by the Pope himself. Brought to the screen with historical accuracy and striking cinematography, Kidnapped narrates a turning point in the history of Italy in general and the Jews in Europe in particular. This is the story Steven Spielberg considered filming, now brought to life by acclaimed Italian director Marco Bellocchio. Don’t miss this full-tilt drama “with the passionate vehemence of Victor Hugo or Charles Dickens” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian).
Less than Kosher
Tuesday, June 25 at 7:15 p.m.
(also available virtually June 25-27)
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Virtual Access Ticket $12
Season pass $95
(Canada, 2023, 67 minutes) Musical Comedy
Can the pizzazz of pop and the chutzpah of the digital age capture the spirit of tradition? At 20, Viv was a promising young singer. At 30, her failing music career has forced her back into her mother’s basement. But when this self-proclaimed “Bad Jew” lands ass-backwards into a job as a Cantor at her family’s synagogue, she’s thrown into a wild ride of illicit affairs, drug trips, family drama, self-discovery and some serious Jewish bops. It’s Shiva Baby meets A Star is Born. Modern Jewish wit and viral Hebrew Electro-Pop. Don’t miss the delightful performances which earned Less than Kosher the Audience Award at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.
Stella. A Life.
Thursday, June 27 at 7:15 p.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Season pass $95
(Germany, 2023, 121 minutes) Historical Drama
In extraordinary times, betrayal becomes ordinary. During wartime Berlin, some Jews found ways to evade Nazi round-ups, living surreptitious lives through guile and chutzpah. But standing in the eye of the storm had its risks. This powerful film is based on the true story of Stella Goldschlag, a young German Jew who became a “catcher” for the Gestapo. Stella explores how one can transform from survivor to snitch; a portrait of how ordinary souls become corrupted by dark circumstances. With award-winning actress Paula Beer as Stella, this beautifully filmed account of complexity and loyalty will stimulate audience discussions as few films have.
My Neighbor Adolf
Sunday, June 30 at 7:15 p.m.
The Neon
(130 E. 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402)
Cost:
Individual Ticket $12
Season pass $95
(Israel, Poland, Colombia 2022, 96 minutes) Comedy/Drama
In the shadow of the capture of Adolf Eichmann, Polsky, a grumpy Holocaust survivor living in the countryside begins to have suspicions about his secretive new neighbor Mr. Herzog (played by German cult-actor Udo Kier). Piecing together clues and cues, Polsky goes to risky lengths to investigate. Might his portrait-painting, dog-loving nemesis be that Adolf? In order to verify, he will have to engage and entertain his neighbor, but at what costs to his loneliness? A comedy of misrecognition and misanthropy, My Neighbor Adolf is a charming and gripping black comedy, a hit for festival audiences worldwide.
Tickets also available for purchase at the door as space allows.
Questions? Contact Laura Smith, JCC Administrative Assistant, at [email protected].
For more information or help please contact Laura Smith, JCC Administrative Assistant, at [email protected].
