Page 4 - Boca Exposure - January '24

Page 4, Boca Exposure
Inaugural International Jewish Film Festival

Announces Lineup: Gene Wilder To Catskills

The Inaugural Boca International Jewish City tenements to a lavish summer playground for the affluent.
Film Festival has announced the film lineup Closing Day Catskill festivities will take place at the Movies of
for its first edition, Feb. 25 to March 17. The Delray on Sunday, March 17 at 1:30 p.m.
program will present features, documentaries Additional Boca International Jewish Film Festival highlights
and short films from the United States and include:
around the world, including Israel, Canada, • Support Israel and Israeli film on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m.
Switzerland, Poland, Italy, France, Germany, at the Movies of Delray with a free screening of the film, On the
and Australia, and will play host to filmmakers, Map, presented in-person by acclaimed filmmaker Dani Menkin,
producers and actors to represent and discuss who will also present his “work in progress” antisemitism film,
their films at Cinemark Palace 20, Movies of Colleyville. Donations will be accepted for Israel.
Delray and Lake Worth and the Wick Theater. • A screening of Into the Arms of Strangers on Thursday, Jan.
“Cinema, as a universal language, transcends 18 at 2 p.m. at the Movies of Delray. The film won the Oscar for
cultural divides and speaks to the common Best Documentary. Filmmaker, Deborah Oppenheimer will be
threads of the human experience,” said Wendy Honig, co- role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, from his inspired interviewed after the film by Dr. Robert Watson as a part of the
founder. “While this festival celebrates Israeli and Jewish culture, on-screen partnership with Richard Pryor in movies like Silver Marilyn and Jay Weinberg Holocaust Film Series.
the art of film becomes a powerful force, reminding us that, Streak to the comedy classics of Blazing Saddles, The Frisco • The Festival Cinebash Patron event will feature the Florida
irrespective of our backgrounds, we are all storytellers sharing Kid and Young Frankenstein. Opening Night festivities will take Premiere of Last Man Standing: The Chronicles of Myron
the same narrative of humanity.” place on Sunday, Feb. 25 at Cinemark Palace 20. Sugerman, a film about a Jewish gangster, on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at
Opening Day kicks off with two Palm Beach County Other special premiere films include: 7 p.m. at the Wick Theater. Myron Sugarman, the subject of the
Premieres, Bombers & Masterpieces: Recovering the Life, • Seven Blessings – Winner of Best Picture – 10 Israeli film, and the film’s Director, Jonny Caplan, will be in attendance.
Art and Diary of Rene Gimpel with a talk by a curator from Academy Awards and Israel’s submission to the Oscars. Marie Patron dinner will be at 5 p.m., film at 7 p.m.
the Boca Museum of Art; and the evening opening film event was just two years old when her mother gifted her to her infertile • The Billi and Bernie Marcus Year-Round Film Program
Remembering Gene Wilder – Honoring the Festival Grand sister, a common Moroccan custom at the time. Forty years later, will offer films throughout the year to our community, and is
Benefactors – Billi and Bernie Marcus, and Marilyn and Jay Marie travels from France to Israel, where her family now lives, included as a benefit to our patrons and passholders.
Weinberg. There will be a patron get-together at 5 p.m. at the to marry her one true love. • The Marilyn and Jay Weinberg Holocaust Film Series will
theater followed by the film at 7 p.m. The film will have an • Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara – In present eight films during the festival and films throughout the
introduction by Mel Brooks. 1858, the Pope’s soldiers burst into the Jewish home of the year, and is included as a benefit to our patrons and passholders.
Bombers & Masterpieces is a documentary mosaic Mortara family to take Edgardo, their 7-year-old son who had Screenings of this year’s films will be held at Cinemark
recounting the life, times, and diary of Rene Gimpel, an important been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby. The papal law is Palace 20 in Boca Raton from Feb. 25 to March 2, and the Movies
Jewish art dealer, friend of almost all major French artists of the unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education. of Delray from March 3 to 17.
first half of the 20th Century, and resistance fighter who died in • Less Than Kosher – In-person appearance with film star Passes for both in-theater and virtual films before, during
the Neuengamme concentration camp. and singer Shaina Silver-Baird. When self-proclaimed bad and after the festival are on sale now for all films excluding the
Remembering Gene Wilder tells the story of the beloved Jew Viv lands ass-backwards into a job as a cantor at her Cinebash opening and the closing films. 20-Film Passes are
comedic genius. Gene Wilder was born Jerome Silberman to family’s synagogue, she’s thrown into a wild ride of illicit available for $199, and includes a free one-year membership to
an assimilated Milwaukee Jewish family, and his childhood affairs, drug trips, tense family drama, self-discovery and ChaiFlicks to watch films at home (10-Film Passes are $108;
buddies called him Jerry. The world would come to know him as some serious Jewish boy. 5-Film Passes are $59). All Virtual Film Passes are $199 and
Gene Wilder (1933 to 2016), an endearing comic genius through • Rabbi on the Block – In-person appearance with Tamar include all films offered virtually during the festival, as well as a
an extraordinary string of film roles that seem to grow deeper, Manasseh, the charismatic rabbi and community activist from free one-year membership to ChaiFlicks to watch films at home.
funnier and more humane with time: from the timid Leo Bloom the south side of Chicago, wants African Americans and Jews to Individual tickets are also available starting at $12.
in Mel Brooks’ The Producers to the strange and magical title become closer allies. Tamar Manasseh is a big star and has a show For tickets, sponsorship opportunities and more information,
in development with Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey sees Manasseh as visit www.JFilmBoca.org.
the successor to what she has been able to achieve. About The Boca International Jewish Film Festival
The festival will close with the South Palm Beach County The Boca International Jewish Film Festival is a nonprofit
premiere of the 2024 documentary, The Catskills, directed by all volunteer organization celebrating Jewish culture through
Lex Gillespie. The Catskills is a humorous and nostalgic tribute the medium of film. Founded by Wendy Honig, Lesley Rich
to what became affectionately known as the Borscht Belt. and Arleen Roberts, the festival aims to bring together diverse
Stand-up comedians share their best shtick while former waiters, audiences to explore and appreciate the rich tapestry of Jewish
entertainers, and dance instructors recount tales of the family-run spirit, culture, traditions and humor. With a thoughtfully curated
resorts and bungalows that inspired such films as Dirty Dancing. selection of films, year-round programming, discussions and
Director Lex Gillespie (The Mamboniks) maps the development special events, the Boca International Jewish Film Festival
of the vacation destination, from a refuge for working-class promises to be a cultural highlight for the Boca Raton community
Jews seeking a respite from poverty in overcrowded New York and beyond.

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