Opening Night Celebration and Screening of BAD SHABBOS
In this off-beat comedy, two couples – Abby and Benjamin, and David and Meg (freshly converted to Judaism) – gather for a traditional Shabbat dinner, but things spiral faster than you can say “hamotzi” when an accidental death (or is it a murder?) derails the evening entirely.

Screening of THE VERY NARROW BRIDGE + Q&A
The Very Narrow Bridge is a journey into the souls of four people – two Jews and two Palestinians – who have lost a child or parent to violent conflict as they transform their grief into a bridge for reconciliation. They all belong to Israeli Palestinian Bereaved Families, a controversial grassroots movement of broken-hearted people, who stand side-by-side to end the violence and build a future based on dignity and equality. Despite fierce political and family opposition, they refuse to give up.

Join for a Q&A session with Shiri Ourian, Executive Director of the American Friends of the Parents Circle, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization working towards peace. Moderated by Dr. Ranen Omer-Sherman, JHFE Endowed Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Louisville, and Trent Spoolstra, Director of Jewish Community Relations Council.

Screening of THE BOY IN THE WOODS
The Boy in the Woods follows the true story of Max, a Jewish boy escaping Nazi persecution. After he is separated from his family, Max finds temporary refuge with a Christian peasant (Richard Armitage). After a tense stand-off with Nazi police. Max must live in the woods and learn to survive alone in a landscape crawling with Jew-hunters and, partisans and haunted by ghosts. He and Yanek, another boy in hiding like Max, rescue a baby girl, but their heroic act comes at a tragic price. Based on the best-selling memoir by Holocaust survivor Maxwell Smart.

Screening of KIDNAPPED
Legendary Italian director Marco Bellocchio’s film tells the scandalous true story of a six-year old Jewish boy who, in mid-19th century Bologna, was abducted from his family by the church under the Pope’s orders and raised as a Catholic.

Screening of WHERE LIFE BEGINS
An ultra-orthodox Jewish family from Aix-les-Bains comes to a farm in Calabria for a brief stay every year to carry out a sacred mission: harvesting etrog citrons for Sukkot.  When Elio, the farm owner, meets Esther, the rabbi’s daughter, who is tired of the constraints imposed by her religion, their relationship sparks a lasting change for each of them.

Screening of NO NAME RESTAURANT
In this spirited and absurdist culture-clash comedy, two very different men must work together to survive in the Sinai Desert. One is the lost and befuddled Ben, an ultra-Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn who has missed his flight to Alexandria, where he is to help the dwindling Jewish community in need of a 10th man for its Passover celebration. The other is the dyspeptic Adel, a Bedouin man trying to track down his runaway camel. The men travel across the desert on foot, sharing details of their personal lives and love of food, giving their plans a chance to go increasingly haywire.

Screening of RUNNING ON SAND
Eritrean refugee Aumari is slated for deportation from Israel on a technicality. After ducking immigration authorities at the airport, he becomes the unlikely and very perplexed recipient of a hero’s welcome. He is mistaken for an eagerly anticipated Nigerian soccer player who is supposed to arrive at the same time, Though lacking a fundamental knowledge of the sport, he finds himself the face of the franchise.

Screening of COME CLOSER
In this poignant drama, a young woman’s life is shattered by her beloved younger brother’s tragic death.  Consumed by grief, Eden takes increasingly desperate measures to fill the void left by her brother’s absence. Her journey takes a passionate and dangerous turn when she discovers her brother had a secret girlfriend.

Screening of SABBATH QUEEN + Q&A
This feature documentary, filmed over 21 years, follows Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie’s epic journey as the dynastic heir of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis including the Chief Rabbis of Israel. He is torn between rejecting and embracing his destiny and becomes a drag-queen rebel, a queer bio-dad and the founder of Lab/Shul—an everybody-friendly, God-optional, artist-driven, pop-up experimental congregation.

Director of Sabbath Queen, Sandi DuBowski will join for a Q&A session, moderated by Cantor David Lipp.