The 11th annual Mandel Jewish Community Center FilmFest will run from Thursday, Sept. 7, to Sunday, Sept. 17. The international festival will feature 19 full-length features and five short films.
This year’s films will have an emphasis on the Holocaust and Holocaust-related projects, according to JCC arts and culture director Deborah Bobrow, who has been with the Mandel JCC for 18 years and in charge of the festival since its inception.
“This year, we have films in which second- and third-generation Jewish filmmakers reflect on the Holocaust and its impact on relationships between people in the modern world,” she said.
The festival will also have films that commemorate the 70thanniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
Films from the United States, Israel, Poland, Germany, Portugal, Hungary, Austria and Belgium will be featured. The films include documentaries, dramas and comedies.
One film Bobrow is excited about is “Mr. Gaga,” a documentary about Ohad Naharin, a choreographer and director of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company. The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, at the Cedar Lee Theatre, 2163 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Most of the screenings are at the Cedar Lee, but there are other venues as well, including the Beachwood JCC, 26001 S. Woodland Road.
“We show mostly contemporary films, but there are others that we think our audience might not have had a chance to see in the past, and we want to give them a second opportunity to experience them,” said Bobrow.
Tickets for the movies are $11 and $9 for matinees. An all-access festival pass is $175. Tickets for the opening-night reception are $18. The opening film is “Past Life,” 7 p.m. at Shaker Square Cinemas, 13116 Shaker Square, Cleveland.
Tickets can be purchased — and a complete schedule can be found — by going to mandeljcc.org/filmfest.