With a strong message of promoting “Jewish values and diversity through the medium of film,” the Barshop Jewish Community Center in San Antonio will “raise community awareness of Jewish identity, history and culture” with their annual Jewish Film Festival.
This year’s festival will take place over five days and screen 12 feature films and two shorts across a variety of genres and topics, including religious intolerance, children’s literature and confronting anger during the grieving process. Music plays an integral part in the festival via four films — Mr. Bernstein, The Maestro: In Search of the Last Music, A Quiet Heart and the 2017 Oscar-nominated short documentary Joe’s Violin (pictured). The latter tells the story of a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor who donates his violin to a 12-year-old girl from the Bronx. In the 2017 drama Alone in Berlin, a Nazi Germany working-class couple (Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson) retaliates against their government when their son dies in WWII.
Also, look out for the documentary Monkey Business on Hans and Margret Rey, the writers/illustrators of the Curious George book series. Maybe we’ll finally find out why he’s so curious.
$5-$15 per screening, $105 for a festival pack, times vary Sat Feb. 17-Wed Feb. 21, Santikos Palladium Theater, 17703 West I-10 Frontage Road, (210) 302-6820, jccsanantonio.org/filmfestival.