Centerflix Jewish Film Festival 2024
The Center is excited to announce our Centerflix Jewish Film Festival line-up. Films will be shown Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the month of March.
“★” Denotes special programming, which may include speakers, discussions, or live music
Light refreshments, popcorn, and fruit at all showings
Ticket Sales Now Open
$20 per screening
$26 per screening with special programming
$101 Festival Pass for unlimited screenings. This pass is non-transferable, only one per person
TICKET SALES ARE NOW OPEN!
Purchase ticketsAll films will be shown At The Center, 1901 Ocean Pkwy, on the 4th Floor
All About the Levkoviches
Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Showing: Thursday, March 28 at 11:30 AM
After his wife’s death, a stubborn boxing coach agrees to allow his estranged Orthodox Jewish son from Israel to sit shiva, as long as he brings the grandson he has never met, in this heartwarming dramedy set in contemporary Budapest.
Blessed
Short Film Runtime: 16 Minutes
Showing: Tuesday, March 19 at 11:30 AM
(This short is will be shown right before the main feature, Matchmaking.)
In her big Moroccan family Zohara is the daughter everyone takes for granted while Oshrit is the beauty who is about to get married. On the day of the traditional henna ceremony preceding the wedding, Zohara steals Oshrit’s blessing. The mystical power of this blessing transforms Zohara, bringing her love and changing the dynamics of her relationship with her sister.
Exodus 91
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Showing: Thursday, March 7 at 7:00 PM
This extraordinary film follows Israeli diplomat, Asher Naim, on a seemingly insurmountable mission to bring 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. As he learns more about these African Jews, he finds himself between worlds and faces a crisis of faith in himself and his country. Set in 1991 amidst the international politics behind Operation Solomon, Asher Naim learns he is being sent to Ethiopia to negotiate the release of thousands of Ethiopian Jews from a country collapsing under famine and civil war. Working with his Ethiopian-Israeli colleagues who themselves immigrated to Israel only a decade earlier, Asher’s faith in his mission is tested as he navigates the treacherous world of bureaucracy and politics.
Farewell, Mr. Haffmann
Runtime: 1 hour, 56 minutes
★ Showing: Tuesday, March 26, 11:30 AM
In 1942 Paris, a jeweller’s assistant is looking to start a family with the woman he loves. When faced with German occupation, he comes to an agreement with his employer that will bring consequences for all involved.
Special programming: Join us after the film for a falafel dinner and discussion moderated by Michelle Maleh, Life Coach.
Michelle Maleh will be discussing how insecurity and greed can lead a person to compromise their values and take desperate actions.
Four Hours a Day
Runtime: 56 minutes
★ Showing: Tuesday, March 5 at 11:30 AM
Four Hours a Day is the extraordinary and yet untold story of young mothers in the kibbutz movement in Israel. Based on Orian Chaplin’s bestselling book, it follows a phenomenon that affects thousands of mothers and their children to this day. Babies who, following kibbutz ideology, were taken from their mothers and lived and raised in children home. The mother was allowed to spend time with her child for only Four Hours a Day.
Special programming: Lunch and discussion to follow, with moderator Gem Suslovich of Gem’s Film Salon.
Gem will be discussing motherhood and the necessity for empathetic consideration of the experiences and journeys our mothers have undertaken.
Golda
Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes
★ Showing: Thursday, March 14 at 11:30 AM
(No Charge)
Focuses on the intensely dramatic and high-stakes responsibilities and decisions that Golda Meir, also known as the “Iron Lady of Israel,” faced during the Yom Kippur War.
Special programming: Join us after the film for lunch and a discussion with the one and only, Esther Jaffe!
Matchmaking
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Showing: Tuesday, March 19 at 11:30 AM
When Moti Bernstein, an Ashkenazi from a “good family”, handsome and smart, reaches the right age, he begins to hear that he is the ultimate match. However, Moti wants the one he can never have.
Midnight Orchestra
Runtime: 1 hour, 54 minutes
★ Showing: Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00 PM
After leaving Morocco as a child amidst racial tensions spurred by the Yom Kippur War, the son of a once famous Jewish musician returns to his home country to bury his father. Aided by an eclectic cab driver, his search for the former members of his father’s band unexpectedly transforms his life forever.
Special programming: Evening includes live Moroccan music and discussion about the music in the film with Samuel Torjman Thomas, PhD, as well as wine, cheese + crackers, and hors d’oeuvres.
Night at the Garden
Short Film Runtime: 7 minutes
★ Showing: Tuesday, March 26 at 7:00 PM
(This short is will be shown right before the main feature, Wet Dog.)
In 1939, 20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism — an event largely forgotten from U.S. history. Made entirely from archival footage filmed that night, this film transports audiences to this chilling gathering and shines a light on the power of demagoguery and anti-Semitism in the United States.
Special programming: Join us afterwards for a discussion with Enough is Enough.
The Shadow of the Day
Runtime: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Showing: Thursday, March 28, 7:00 PM
In 1938 Italy, fascist-abiding restaurateur Luciano believes he can live by his own rules inside his business. However, everything changes when a girl with a dangerous secret starts to work at his restaurant.
Silhouette of the Braids
Short Film Runtime: 16 Minutes
★ Showing: Tuesday, March 5 at 11:30 AM
(This short is will be shown right before the main feature, Four Hours a Day.)
In this poignant look at how mother-daughter relationships evolve from one generation to the next, a woman and her mother unearth the family archive of 8mm home movies of her grandmother’s life in 1960s Tel Aviv.
Special programming: Lunch and discussion with Gem Suslovich of Gem’s Film Salon.
Gem will be discussing motherhood and the necessity for empathetic consideration of the experiences and journeys our mothers have undertaken.
Simone
Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes
★ Showing: Tuesday, March 19 at 7:00 PM
Explores the life of Simone Veil, the famous French figure who survived the Holocaust and went on to become a leading politician, human rights campaigner, and feminist. An intimate and epic portrait of an extraordinary woman who eminently challenged and transformed her era: her humanist message is still keenly relevant today.
Special programming: Join us afterwards for dairy mazza and a discussion moderated by Michelle Maleh, Life Coach.
Michelle Maleh will delve into the empowering narrative of a woman who finds strength in what they believe in and their past experiences.
Wet Dog
Runtime: 1 hour, 43 minutes
★ Showing: Tuesday, March 26 at 7:00 PM
Soheil (Doguhan Kabadayi), the 16-year-old son of Iranian-Jewish emigres, moves from a peaceful town in central Germany to the Berlin neighborhood of Wedding, where he experiences anti-Semitism for the first time from his mostly Muslim peers. As a means of self-preservation, he hides his Jewish identity and joins a gang, rising in the ranks as petty crimes lead to drug sales and altercations with police, but always with the constant threat of being found out. Croatian-born German filmmaker Lukacevic transposes Shalicar’s 1990s-set memoir to the present day, driving home the point that bigotry and the impulse to conform are dismayingly perennial.
Special programming: Enough is Enough’s Michael Chattah and Michael Harary will be discussing hiding your Jewish identity; being comfortable without being afraid. Refreshments and dairy mazza included.
With Slight Steps
Short Film Runtime: 29 minutes
Two Showings
★ Thursday, March 7 at 11:30 AM
★ Tuesday, March 12 at 7:00 PM
With Slight Steps is a short focusing on a 97-year-old high priestess of Israeli folk dancing who has been flying back between Israel and her home in Germany, where she continues to teach. She and her grandson embark on a journey following the loss of her ‘Israeli Dream.’
Special programming: Stay afterwards for Israeli dancing!
Thursday, March 7: Led by Miriam Barry
Tuesday, March 12: Led by Ora Delbery. Falafel dinner included.