Across the WatersNicolo Donato, Denmark, 2016, 95 minDanish with English subtitles In this white-knuckled Danish drama based on a true story, a Jewish guitarist and his family barely escape Copenhagen after the Nazis seize control, and they set off to a remote fishing village in the north of the country where they’ve heard local fishermen are ferrying runaway Jews to Sweden. When the Gestapo starts to close in on the refugees, the family is forced to put their lives in the hands of strangers. Director Nicolo Donato, whose grandfather was one of the ferrymen in the underground, masterfully ratchets up the tension, heightening the suspense until the very last frame.
NY PremiereTHU, JAN 18, 1 PMSAT, JAN 20, 7 PM
An Act of DefianceJean van de VeldeNetherlands/South Africa, 2017, 123 minEnglish/Afrikaans with English subtitles Based on the true story of the Rivonia Trial in apartheid South Africa, which led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and nine of his black and Jewish compatriots,
An Act of Defiance is the story of Bram Fischer, the lawyer who chose to put his life and freedom at risk to defend Mandela. Peter Paul Muller’s performance as Fischer is exceptional, and captures both his sympathetic and idealistic nature and his more conflicted, practical humanity, afraid that he’ll be implicated with the Rivonia Ten for his membership in the Communist Party. Jean van de Velde has crafted a film that is both a moving and powerful meditation on the sacrifices necessary to stand against injustice, and an exciting political thriller.
NY PremiereMON, JAN 15, 1 PMTUE, JAN 16, 3:30 PM
The CousinTzahi Grad, Israel/USA, 2017, 92 minHebrew/Arabic with English subtitles In this darkly comic thriller, a progressive-minded Israeli actor Naftali (writer-director Tzahi Grad) hires a Palestinian handyman Fahed (Ala Fakka), to do some work in his home. When a young girl is assaulted nearby, the neighbors immediately begin to suspect Fahed, and so Naftali steps up as the lone voice in Fahed’s defense. Grad cleverly evokes the moral complexities through Naftali, who is no Atticus Finch. Grad portrays him as a comically stubborn and self-righteous actor—one who, in the film, is developing a reality show about bridging the gap between Israelis and Palestinians—who must reckon with the uncomfortable realization that he, too, might be letting his politics cloud his reason.
NY Premiere Preceded by:The Law of AveragesElizabeth Rose, Canada/USA, 2016, 13 min A young woman must sort out her relationship with her mother while they await the death of her grandmother.
TUE, JAN 16, 8:45 PMWED, JAN 17, 6 PM
The Dead Nation (Tara Moarta)Radu Jude, Romania, 2017, 83 minRomanian with English subtitles With echoes of Chris Marker, Susan Sontag, and W.G. Sebald, Radu Jude’s
The Dead Nation consists entirely of photographs from Romanian photographer Costica Acsinte and audio of diary excerpts from Jewish doctor Emil Dorian, which both span the period from 1937 to 1944. A study in contrasts,
The Dead Nation presents idyllic images of pastoral life, while Dorian’s diary excerpts portray a surging wave of anti-Semitism and brutality. How do our memories hide the truth of our actions, or lack thereof? How can we measure our individual experiences against the enormity of historical experience? How do we make sense of what we have not—and cannot—witness? Radu Jude’s (
Aferim!) hauntingly relevant documentary is, in the words of its narrator, “torn between reality and poetry.”
WED, JAN 17, 1:45 PMSUN, JAN 21, 6:30 PM
The ImpureDaniel Najenson, Israel/Argentina, 2017, 69 minSpanish/Hebrew/Yiddish with English subtitles Daniel Najenson’s personal and trenchant documentary
The Impure investigates the institutionalization of Jewish prostitution in Argentina in the early 20th century. During the wave of Eastern European Jewish emigration, thousands of Jewish women were lured with promises of wealth to Argentinian brothels. The prostitutes and their pimps—in some cases the husbands of the prostitutes—were also newly-emigrated Jewish men, who quickly developed an expansive, flourishing underworld in Buenos Aires. They were seen as “the impure,” provoking the shame of the Argentinian Jewish community. But, as Najenson illustrates by digging up revelations of his own family’s history, “the impure” were inextricably woven into the social and political fabric of Argentinian-Jewish life.
U.S. PremierePreceded by:CompartmentsDaniella Koffler & Uli Seis, Germany, Israel, 15m; 2017U.S. Premiere Netta, a young Israeli woman, wishes to immigrate to Berlin. Her father, the son of Holocaust survivors, is horrified. Based on Daniella Koffler’s personal story,
Compartments is the first German-Israeli animation to explore collective memories of the Holocaust in the third generation.
TUES, JAN 16, 1:15 & 6:30 PMThe InvisiblesClaus Raefle, Germany, 2017, 116 minGerman with English subtitles In June 1943, the German government famously declared Berlin “judenfrei”—free of Jews. But, there were still about 7,000 Jews living in hiding in the German capital. In this extraordinary film, Claus Raefle tells the story of four of the 1,700 survivors who hid in plain sight throughout the war.
The Invisibles brings suspense to a remarkable true story by using a hybrid of documentary and highly accomplished dramatizations (gorgeously photographed by Joerg Widmer, whose previous credits include Terence Malick’s
The Tree of Life and Wim Wenders’s
Pina), which render the harrowing story even more astonishing.
NY PremiereTHU, JAN 18, 3:30 PMSUN, JAN 21, 1:30 PM
Iom Romi (A Day in Rome)Valerio Ciriaci, Italy/USA 2017, 30 minItalian with English subtitles In this intoxicating short documentary, Valerio Ciriaci chronicles a day in the life of the contemporary Roman Jewish community. The only cultural group that has lived in Rome uninterrupted since the days of the empire, Roman Jews have fostered their own unique set of traditions. Taking place over the course of one day,
Iom Romi (A Day in Rome) provides a view into a way of life that is at once distinctly Roman and distinctly Jewish.
Followed by:Della Seta Home MoviesItaly, 10 min In these beautiful home movies, recently unearthed by the Centro Primo Levi, an Italian family gets acquainted with film. Heartwarming and mesmerizing, these home movies are sure to captivate.
Followed by:CounterlightMaya Zack, Israel, 2016, 24 minGerman with English subtitles Inspired by the writings of the poet Paul Celan, Israeli visual artist Maya Zack crafts a hypnotic story of an archivist who becomes part of her own work. Weaving together images of death and rebirth with the map of Czernowitz, Celan’s hometown, the archivist creates a “memory golem,” blurring the boundaries between past and present, reality and document.
NY PremiereSUN, JAN 21, 4:30 PM
The Last GoldfishSu Goldfish, Australia, 2017, 81 min As director Su Goldfish notes early in her autobiographical documentary
The Last Goldfish, “my father told me stories, not always the truth.” When she discovers as an adult that she has siblings she’s never met, Goldfish burrows through her parents’ pasts to uncover the truth in her father’s tales. Spanning the globe from Australia, to Trinidad, and to Germany,
The Last Goldfish is an astounding revelation not only of one woman’s discovery of her family history before and after Nazism, but also of her reconnection to her Jewish heritage. Introspective and self-aware, Goldfish confronts such universal questions as whether it is possible to separate oneself from one’s past—and what it means to try.
NY PremiereWED, JAN 10, 12:30 PMMON, JAN 15, 6:15 PM
Let Yourself GoFrancesco Amato, Italy, 2017, 98 minItalian with English subtitles In this delirious Italian spin on Jewish comedy, a detached psychoanalyst, Elia (Toni Servillo, wearing his misanthropy with glee), is warned by his doctor that his health is at risk, so he enlists the young, attractive, and undisciplined Claudia (Veronice Echegui) as his new personal trainer. But—despite Elia’s resistance—their relationship deepens and they come to depend on each other, as Claudia’s lack of inhibition helps Elia reignite the passion in his marriage, and Elia’s unwavering sense of propriety inspires Claudia to bring focus to her frenetic lifestyle. As the comedy veers from the intellectual to the delightfully slapstick, director Francesco Amato deftly maintains the odd couple’s emotional grounding to hilarious effect.
NY PremierePreceded by:The BackseatJoe Stankus & Ashley ConnorUSA, 2016, 8 min In this charming documentary-fiction hybrid, two elderly parents rush to save the day when their adult daughter’s car breaks down.
SAT, JAN 13, 7 PMSUN, JAN 14, 4 PM
Mr. and Mrs. AdelmanNicolas Bedos, France, 2017, 120 minFrench with English subtitlesMr. and Mrs. Adelman follows Sarah Adelman (Doria Tiller) as she tries to convince Victor (Nicolas Bedos) she’s the right woman for him. Tracking their courtship from his early years as a non-committal aspiring writer through his later years as an egotistical, fame-obsessed one, this film toes the line between biting cynicism and aching romanticism. First-time director and co-writer (with Doria Tiller) Nicolas Bedos uses the changing face of Paris over the years to evoke the changing nature of the relationship.
Mr. and Mrs. Adelman is a hilarious and absurd take on the romantic comedy that slyly toys with the cliché of writer and muse.
TUE, JAN 23, 3 & 8:30 PM
Praise the LardChen Shelach, Israel, 2016, 60 minHebrew with English subtitles The documentary
Praise the Lard explores one of the biggest taboos in Judaism—pork—and how the existence of Israel’s pork industry came to exemplify much of the tension inherent in Zionism: the struggle to create a new, secular Jewish identity that exists apart from religious tradition, and whether it will be possible for this secular identity to survive in the face of mounting pressure from observant Jews.
Praise the Lard presents an incisive, engaging take on how the unsuspecting pig took on such an outsized role in the land of Israel.
U.S. PremierePreceded by:The Red HouseTamar Tal, Israel, 2016, 20 minHebrew with English subtitles In this beautifully animated short documentary, the history of one unique building in Tel Aviv becomes a reflection for the ever-changing face of Israeli society.
U.S. Premiere
THU, JAN 11, 1 PMSUN, JAN 14, 6:30 PM
The Prince and the DybbukPiotr Rosolowski & Elwira Niewiera, Poland/Germany, 2017, 82 minEnglish, Italian, Spanish, Polish, German with English subtitles He is remembered as a Polish aristocrat, Hollywood producer, a reprobate and liar, an open homosexual and husband to an Italian countess, and director of
The Dybbuk, one of the most important Jewish films of all time. But who, really, was Michał Waszyński? Piotr Rosolowski and Elwira Niewiera portray Waszyński, né Moshe Waks, as a fabulist, a man of constantly shifting identity, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. A perpetually restless filmmaker, Waszyński became obsessed with his adaptation of
The Dybbuk and its mythical imagery of the shtetl. A modern take on the archetype of the Wandering Jew,
The Prince and the Dybbuk asks whether it is ever possible to cut oneself off from one’s roots, and at what cost.
Presented in conjunction with The Dybbuk
(1937) – see special programs.U.S. PremierePreceded by:A Hunger ArtistDaria Martin, UK, 2017, 17 min Based on the 1924 short story by Franz Kafka,
A Hunger Artist is the kaleidoscopic tale of an entertainer acclaimed for his ability to fast. But his act soon falls out of fashion and, left to himself with neither sta ge nor audience, he dies of hunger. Daria Martin’s lush adaptation understands the delicate tone of Kafka’s work: fiercely anti-authoritarian, constantly self-effacing, and toeing the line between hilarious and heartbreaking.
WED, JAN 10, 2:45 PMTHU, JAN 11, 9 PM
Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be MeSam Pollard, USA, 2017, 100 min What didn’t Sammy Davis, Jr. do? In this exhilarating documentary, long-time Spike Lee collaborator Sam Pollard pays tribute to the multi-talented, multi-racial entertainer by scrutinizing the political complexities and contradictions that defined his career. Amidst the violence and tensions of the Civil Rights era and after, as the political winds shifted, Sammy Davis, Jr. struggled to maintain his identity, while embracing his Judaism. An electric portrait spanning the Depression to the 1980s, and featuring new interviews with Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jerry Lewis, Norman Lear, and more,
I’ve Gotta Be Me embraces the unique complexity of an iconic American entertainer.
SUN, JAN 14, 8:45 PM
Tracking EdithPeter Stephan Jungk, Austria/Germany/Russia/UK 2016, 91 minEnglish/German/Russian/French with English subtitles A documentary about the Austro-British photographer Edith Tutor-Hart,
Tracking Edith follows filmmaker Peter Stephan Jungk’s journey to understand the motivations of his great aunt who, while living a double life as a spy for the KGB, recruited Kim Philby and created the Cambridge Five, the Soviet Union’s most successful spy ring in the United Kingdom, which infiltrated the very top of British intelligence (and inspired John le Carre’s
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). As Jungk learns more about his aunt and her work, his film demands the question: why is she not recognized alongside Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five as one of the spies that change the world?
U.S. PremiereMON, JAN 22, 3:30 & 8:30 PM
SHORTS PROGRAM107 minVarious languages
The Story of Jon BurgermanBas Berkhout, USA/UK, 2017, 6 min Whimsical artist Jon Burgerman explores how his family history affects his creative inspiration.
El Becerro PintadoDavid Pantaléon, Spain, 2017, 10 min In this experimental short, the biblical story of the golden calf is transported to rural Spain.
U.S. Premiere
El HaraMargaux Fitoussi, Tunisia/France, 2017, 16 minEl Hara is a vivid, mesmerizing portrait of the old Jewish ghetto in Tunis.
NY Premiere
SummerPearl Gluck, USA, 2017, 18 min Young, Orthodox Jewish girls explore their burgeoning sexuality amidst the strict rules of their sleep-away camp.
World Premiere
Shlomi & MazyLeonhard Hofmann, Germany, 2016, 17 min In this tender documentary portrait, an Israeli opera singer living in Berlin struggles to balance his career with his true passion: performing in drag as his alter ego, Mazy Mazeltov.
U.S. Premiere
Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405Frank Stiefel, USA, 2016, 40 min This warm portrait explores sculptor and visual artist Mindy Alper’s journey through extreme depression to a place of love and openness via her creative process and transformative relationship with her art teachers and therapist.
NY Premiere
SUN, JAN 21, 8:30 PM
FROM THE VAULTS
Avanti PopoloRafi Bukai, Israel, 1986, 84 minHebrew/Arabic/English with English subtitles In the aftermath of the Six-Day War, as the ceasefire is beginning, two Egyptian soldiers stranded in the Sinai Desert try to make their way back to safety across the Suez Canal. As they cautiously make their way west, the dangerously dehydrated Haled and Gassan stumble across a dead UN peacekeeper and help themselves to his cargo—two bottles of scotch. Instilled with liquid courage, they hitch a ride with a British journalist and a small platoon of Israeli soldiers who, they hope, can help them get home. In this absurd comedy—made all the more poignant by Salim Daw’s performance as Haled, a Shakespearean actor with aspirations to play Shylock—Rafi Bukai paints a humanistic, antiwar picture of both Israelis and Egyptians caught amidst the violent and ever-shifting winds of Middle Eastern politics.
New York Premiere of the RestorationTHU, JAN 18, 9:15 PM
The DybbukMichał Waszyński, Poland, 1937, 125 minYiddish with English subtitles Filmed just before the outbreak of World War II, The Dybbuk weaves a mystical story of the Hasidic shtetls of the late 19th century with the story of two close friends, Sender and Nisn, who vow to marry their first-born children. But when Sender reneges on the vow to marry his daughter to a wealthier son-in-law, the spirit of Nisn’s son arrives to haunt Lea’s wedding. A rich, ethnographic tapestry of Jewish legend, The Dybbuk, based on S. Ansky’s seminal Yiddish play, is one of the finest films ever produced in the Yiddish language, presented here in a brand-new restoration.
World Premiere of the RestorationPresented in conjunction with The Prince and the DybbukSUN, JAN 14, 1 PMWED, JAN 17, 8:45 PM
Late Summer BluesRenen Schorr, Israel, 1988, 103 minHebrew with English subtitles Set just after the Six-Day War, in the shadow of the War of Attrition with Egypt, Late Summer Blues follows a group of high school graduates during the summer before they’re conscripted into the army. Restored after thirty years, this Israeli classic portrays the paradox of Israeli adolescence in raw, deeply human terms: the uncertainty, confusion, and playful embrace of the present are constantly tainted by the shadow of military service and the razor’s edge of anxiety, only somewhat tempered by days at the beach and rock music. Drawing from his own experiences, director Renen Schorr and writer Doron Nesher create a powerful and bitterly funny anti-war message by drawing on the restlessness of the young men and women as they cope with their growing fatalism.
U.S. Premiere of the RestorationMON, JAN 15, 8:30 PM
The Mission of Raoul WallenbergAlexander Rodnyanskiy, Soviet Union, 1990, 72 minRussian/English/German/Swedish with English subtitles Twenty-five years after it premiered in the first NYJFF, Alexander Rodnyanskiy’s The Mission of Raoul Wallenberg returns to the festival in a brand new restoration. The film investigates the mysterious circumstances surrounding the disappearance and death of Raoul Wallenberg in the Soviet Union following the end of WWII. Wallenberg had saved tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust in his role as Sweden’s special envoy in Budapest. Tireless filmmaker Rodnyanskiy searched across the globe for traces of Wallenberg, from Moscow and St. Petersburg, to the Russian interior, to Hungary, Israel, and Sweden. Featuring interviews from subjects as far-ranging as Ronald Reagan, Simon Wiesenthal, and Yelena Bonner, the film passionately confronts the shadowy circumstances of Wallenberg’s fate.
World Premiere of the RestorationMON, JAN 15, 4 PMWED, JAN 17, 3:45 PM
Siege (Matzor)Gilbert Tofano, Israel, 1969, 89 minHebrew with English subtitles Israel’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970, Siege is the story of the widowed Tamar (legendary Gila Almagor) whose husband was killed in the Six-Day War who wants to begin to put her grief behind her. But her late husband’s friends and family have other ideas—they expect her to remain in mourning for the rest of her life. Through Almagor’s haunting performance, Siege presents a humanizing look at a country and people struggling with a visceral, existential anxiety hiding just below the surface of the ecstatic outpouring following the victory of the Six-Day War.
U.S. Premiere of the RestorationSAT, JAN 13, 9:30 PM
TRIBUTE SCREENING
In memory of Jeanne MoreauOne Day You’ll UnderstandAmos Gitai, France/Germany/Israel, 2008, 89 minFrench/German with English subtitles When Victor (Hippolyte Girardot), a middle-aged French businessman, discovers a trove of wartime letters from his late father, he discovers his mother’s (the late Jeanne Moreau) hidden past as a Jew. When he presses her about it, she demurs, leaving Victor to uncover the secrets behind his mother’s past. Moreau inhabits the role with a stunningly reflective grace, as Amos Gitai crafts a haunting and finally optimistic tale of memory, denial, and reconciliation. With the trial of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie taking place, One Day You’ll Understand presents a poignant meditation on what it means to be a witness, and the weight of such a burden.
MON, JAN 22, 1 & 6 PM
SOVIET SHORTS
Drawing the Iron CurtainMaya Balakirsky Katz with J. Hoberman Maya Balakirsky Katz, professor and chair of the art history department at Touro College and author of Drawing the Iron Curtain: Jews and the Golden Age of Soviet Animation, will screen shorts from the Soviet Union’s animation studio Soyuzmultfilm, which was as pervasive and influential in the Soviet imagination as Disney was in America’s. Katz and film critic J. Hoberman will discuss how the studio brought together Jewish artists from all over the USSR and served as a haven for dissident artists, allowing them to explore distinctive elements of their identity as Jews and Russians.
THU, JAN 11, 6:30 PM
MASTER CLASSSam Pollard Join Sam Pollard, director of NYJFF Main Slate selection Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me, for a behind-the-scenes master class on documentary filmmaking. An Emmy- and Peabody-winning director, Sam Pollard has directed and produced numerous documentary films.
SUN, JAN 21, 2:30 PM**Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater
SCHEDULE
Wednesday, January 10
12:30pm The Last Goldfish
2:45pm A Hunger Artist followed by The Prince and the Dybbuk
7:30pm Opening Night: Razzia
Thursday, January 11
1:00pm The Red House followed by Praise the Lard
3:30pm Razzia
6:30pm Drawing the Iron Curtain
9:00pm A Hunger Artist followed by The Prince and the Dybbuk
Saturday, January 13
7:00pm The Backseat followed by Let Yourself Go
9:30pm Siege
Sunday, January 14
1:00pm The Dybbuk
4:00pm The Backseat followed by Let Yourself Go
6:30pm The Red House followed by Praise the Lard
8:45pm Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me
Monday, January 15
1:00pm An Act of Defiance
4:00pm The Mission of Raoul Wallenberg
6:15pm The Last Goldfish
8:30pm Late Summer Blues
Tuesday, January 16
1:15pm Compartments followed by The Impure
3:30pm An Act of Defiance
6:30pm Compartments followed by The Impure
8:45pm The Law of Averages followed by The Cousin
Wednesday, January 17
1:45pm The Dead Nation
3:45pm The Mission of Raoul Wallenberg
6:00pm The Law of Averages followed by The Cousin
8:45pm The Dybbuk
Thursday, January 18
1:00pm Across the Waters
3:30pm The Invisibles
6:30pm Centerpiece: The Cakemaker
9:15pm Avanti Popolo
Saturday, January 20
7:00pm Across the Waters
9:30pm The Cakemaker
Sunday, January 21
1:30pm The Invisibles
2:30pm Master Class with Sam Pollard (Amphitheater)
4:30pm Iom Romi followed by Della Seta home movies and Counterlight
6:30pm The Dead Nation
8:30pm Shorts program
Monday, January 22
1:00pm One Day You’ll Understand
3:30pm Tracking Edith
6:00pm One Day You’ll Understand
8:30pm Tracking Edith
Tuesday, January 23
12:30pm West of the Jordan River
3:00pm Mr. and Mrs. Adelman
6:00pm Closing Night: West of the Jordan River
8:30pm Mr. and Mrs. Adelman
THE JEWISH MUSEUM
Located on New York City's famed Museum Mile, the Jewish Museum is a distinctive hub for art and Jewish culture for people of all backgrounds. Founded in 1904, the Museum was the first institution of its kind in the United States and is one of the oldest Jewish museums in the world. Devoted to exploring art and Jewish culture from ancient to contemporary, the Museum offers diverse exhibitions and programs, and maintains a unique collection of nearly 30,000 works of art, ceremonial objects, and media reflecting the global Jewish experience over more than 4,000 years. For more information, visit
TheJewishMuseum.org.
FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
The Film Society of Lincoln Center is devoted to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema. The only branch of the world-renowned arts complex Lincoln Center to shine a light on the everlasting yet evolving importance of the moving image, this nonprofit organization was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international film. Via year-round programming and discussions; its annual New York Film Festival; and its publications, including
Film Comment, the U.S.’s premier magazine about films and film culture, the Film Society endeavors to make the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broader audience, as well as to ensure that it will remain an essential art form for years to come.
The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Shutterstock, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. American Airlines is the Official Airline of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.
