The 2019 18th Annual Omaha Jewish Film Festival begins November 4 and offers films in various categories. While everyone has his or her preferred category, all films have been selected by the committee to be appreciated on their own merits.
NEW! Four films, four locations! This year, films will be shown at theaters across the community - Aksarben Cinema, Film Streams Ruth Sokolof Theater, Village Pointe Cinema and the Majestic Cinema. Next year, we will bring the film festival back to our campus to celebrate our brand new theater!
ALSO NEW! We have a special bonus for patrons who attend all four films. Bring your ticket stubs from the first three showings to the November 25 showing and purchase your ticket for only $5. If you purchase online, we will have a stack of $1 bills and will gladly give you three of them. We’ll have a record of online purchases for the November 25 film, but bring your proof of purchase just to make sure
Monday, November 25
7 p.m. | Majestic cinema
The Samuel Project
(drama/comedy, 92 minutes, English)
Eli (Ryan Ochoa) gets to know his grandfather Samuel (Hal Linden) for the first time when he makes him the subject of an animated art project for school. With dreams of becoming a professional artist, the high school senior discovers that his grandpa, a Jewish dry cleaner, was heroically saved from Nazi capture in Germany by a young woman when he was a boy.
Watch trailer
Tickets $8 each. Advance ticket sales for this film end at 4:00 pm day of show. TICKETS AVAILABLE in the lobby of the Majestic Cinema the evening of the show.
Previous films
Shoelaces
(drama, 90 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles)
"Shoelaces" tells the story of a complicated relationship between
an aging father and his special-needs son, whom he abandoned while he
was still a young boy. Reuben's (60) kidney's are failing and his son
Gadi (35), wants to donate one of his own kidney's to help save his
father's life. However, the transplant committee objects to the
procedure claiming that Rueben, acting as Gadi's sole legal guardian,
does not have the right to authorize such an invasive procedure. Gadi,
who recently lost his mother, is afraid of losing his father as well. He
feels he finally has the chance to do something meaningful; to become a
man and stand on his own.
Watch trailer
Tel Aviv on Fire
(comedy/drama, 97 minutes, Arabic & Hebrew with English subtitles)
Salam, an inexperienced young Palestinian man, becomes a writer on a popular soap opera after a chance meeting with an Israeli soldier. His creative career is on the rise - until the soldier and the show's financial backers disagree about how the show should end, and Salam is caught in the middle. Watch trailer
Presented in collaboration with Film Streams as part of their Community Development Program.
Leona
(drama, 95 minutes, Spanish with English subtitles)
"Leona" is an intimate, insightful, and moving film that tells the story of a young Jewish woman from Mexico City who finds herself torn between her family and her forbidden love. Ripe with all the drama and interpersonal conflicts of a Jane Austen novel, watching her negotiate the labyrinth of familial pressure, religious precedent, and her own burgeoning sentiment is both painful and beautiful – there are no easy choices to be made and the viewer travels back and forth with her as she struggles with her heart to take the best path.
Watch trailer
We extend our thanks to the generous sponsors of this year’s film
festival. They are The Henry Monsky Lodge of B'nai B'rith, and the
following Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation funds:
Klutznick/Creighton Custodial Fund, Kenneth Ray Tretiak Memorial Fund,
Ruth Frisch & Oscar S. Belzer Endowment Fund, Avy L. & Roberta
L. Miller Film Fund, Samuel & Bess Rothenberg Memorial Endowment
Fund, and Special Donor-Advised Fund.
