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Special Pre-Festival Event | Director in Attendance

[...] an enduring warning amid today's global struggle with authoritarian forces
– Nicholas Rapold, New York Times

Four Winters

Wednesday, April 19, 6:30 PM
Academy of Music, Northampton

This essential documentary tells the stories of Jewish partisans who took up arms against Hitler’s war machine. Despite extraordinary odds, over 25,000 Jews bravely fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators from deep within the forests of Eastern Europe. These determined men and women, many barely in their teens, engaged in acts of sabotage, blowing up trains, burning electric stations, and attacking armed enemy headquarters. The last surviving partisans tell their stories to director Julia Mintz, who shines a spotlight on their bravery through inspiring interviews, personal photographs, and rare archival footage. Four Winters is a stunning, heartfelt narrative of heroism and resilience.

Post-screening Q&A with Northampton, MA-based director, writer, and producer Julia Mintz.

Documentary | 2022 | 90 minutes
USA | English
Directed by Julia Mintz

 

 

 

...first-rate drama with considerable cumulative intensity - and a quorum of irony.
– FILMINK

Farewell, Mister Haffmann

Sunday, April 30, 7:00 PM
Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield

Beloved French actor Daniel Auteuil stars as Joseph Haffmann, a Jewish jeweler who aids his family in their escape from 1941 Nazi-occupied Paris with the intent to immediately follow them. In his haste to flee, Joseph offers his employee, François, the deed to his store as well as the apartment above it, until the war ends and Joseph returns. Unfortunately, Joseph finds that he can’t escape and is forced to seek protection from François and his wife, Blanche. Tensions between the three rise as they live in fear of being discovered. This gripping, morally complex thriller explores themes of greed, survival, and courage.

Introduction by Dr. Simon Sibelman, Professor Emeritus of Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies at Appalachian State University and former Executive Director of the Virginia Holocaust Museum.

Winner, Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: San Francisco, Cleveland, San Diego, and Atlanta Jewish Film Festivals

Opening Night Reception, 6:30 PM.

Drama | 2022 | 116 minutes
France | French with Subtitles
Directed by Fred CAVAYÈ

 

 

 

March 1968

Wednesday, May 3, 7:00 PM
Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton

Hania and Janek, a pair of rebellious college students blinded by love, find themselves swept up in the raging socio-political crisis of 1960s communist Poland. Although initially apathetic, the young couple find that the growing government censorship and antisemitic purges cannot be ignored. They are forced to choose sides once Hania’s Jewish family is forced to emigrate to safety and student protestors violently clash with the authorities. This handsomely crafted historical drama depicts the inexorable convergence of a whirlwind romance, a battle for national identity, and political awakening.

Introduction by Tom Roberts, Assistant Professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Smith College.

 Winner, Audience Award for Best Feature, 2023 Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival

Drama | 2022 | 117 minutes
Poland | Polish with subtitles
Directed by Krzystof Lang

 

 

 

Massachusetts Premiere

[This film] shines a bright light on a critical chapter of the American Jewish story that deserves to be told.
– Atlanta Jewish Times

Jews of the Wild West

Wednesday, May 3, 1:30 PM
Goldstein Auditorium, Springfield JCC, Springfield

From cowboys and gunslingers to entrepreneurs and artists, the colorful and largely overlooked contributions of Jews on the American frontier are revealed in this lively portrait. Escaping oppression and poverty, Jewish families joined other settlers in search of a better life. By the early 1900s, over 100,000 Jews put down roots in the Wild West, from Guggenheim and Levi Strauss to everyday merchants and cattlemen. A young Golda Meir spent formative years in Denver, and notorious Wyatt Earp, Bronco Bill, and Pancho Villa had Jewish connections. Fascinating interviews and a trove of archival materials recall the legacy and pioneering spirit of those who definitively shaped westward expansion. (Source: Atlanta Jewish Film Festival)

Documentary | 2022 | 80 minutes
USA | English 
Directed by Amanda Kinsey

 

   

 

The Ancient Law

Monday, May 1, 6:30 PM
Greenfield Garden Cinemas, Greenfield

A recently restored German silent film about Jewish life in 19th-century Europe, The Ancient Law is a precursor to Warner Brothers’ The Jazz Singer. The film tells the story of a rabbi’s son who yearns to become an actor, against the wishes of his father. With its historically authentic set design and ensemble of prominent actors, the film is an important piece of German-Jewish cinematic history that contrasts the closed world of an Eastern European shtetl with the liberal mores of 1860s Vienna.

The film will be accompanied by a live original music composed and performed by renowned musicians Donald Sosin (Keyboards) and Alicia Svigals (Violin).

Drama | 1923 | 128 minutes
Germany | German and Silent with English Intertitles 
Directed by Ewald ANDRÉ DUPONT

 

 

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