What the Westchester Jewish Film Festival Has in Store for Kids

The other night, it was Sunday, I ventured to the Westchester Jewish Film Festival at Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville to catch a showing of Everything is Copy, a documentary about one of my favorite writers and filmmakers, Nora Ephron. I could have easily just stayed at home and watched it on HBO, but the thought of watching it with other Ephron fans and getting to hear from her son, Jacob Bernstein, who made the film, was too enticing. And it was truly a great decision. The film was engaging – he was engaging – and I went home with an open heart for the place in which I live. Why? Because I love living in close proximity to a theater that shows and promotes these important films. I love that once a year, I feel as though I could spend every single day of the week at the film center watching films I care so much about – ones that speak to my history and heritage but also to my children’s futures.

Speaking of kids, the festival also has an abundance of offerings for children, which means I can bring my own to the festival, and I’m certainly planning to this year. Here’s what’s on the docket for me, and for them:

Experimenter: Apr. 6th: Q&A filmmaker Michael Almereyda with prof. Jay Van Bavel

The edgy and singular writer/director Michael Almereyda (Hamlet, starring Ethan Hawke) paints a superb dramatic portrait of Stanley Milgram, the Yale University-based social scientist who in 1961 set out to determine how and why people could be pushed to extremes. The son of Holocaust survivors, Milgram created the “obedience experiments,” in which ordinary people were commanded to inflict pain on others by an authority figure. He asked, “Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?” A fascinating look at an unnerving subject with an all-star cast that includes Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder

Junun: April 8th, 15th and 16th

Academy Award nominee Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice, There Will Be Blood) takes us on a mind-blowing musical journey to Jodhpur, India. Last spring, the Maharaja of Jodhpur hosted acclaimed Israeli composer/poet Shye Ben Tzur, who has lived in India for over 15 years, along with Anderson’s friend and collaborator, ‎Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead’s lead guitarist), and his producer, Nigel Godrich. They joined a group of India’s finest musicians, including Aamir Bhiyani, Soheb Bhiyani, Ajaj Damami, Sabir Damami, Hazmat, and Bhanwaru Khan on brass; Shazib Ali on vocals; and Dara Khan and Asin Khan on strings. Together they built a makeshift studio at the Maharaja’s Fort, and over the following three weeks joyously made music together. With long, unbroken takes, Junun (“Madness of Love”) is a cross-cultural meeting point between the mystical Islam of Sufi, Qawwali, and devotional poetries in Urdu, Hebrew, and Hindi—and an extraordinary visual and sensory experience that will capture your imagination.

JeruZalem: April 9th & 15th

This crowd-pleaser—the Audience Award winner at the 2015 Jerusalem Film Festival—is a Spring Break/Dawn of the Dead mash-up set in the Holy Land! Sarah, who is mourning the death of her older brother, reluctantly agrees to travel to Tel Aviv for a beach vacation with fun-loving Rachel (Yael Grobglas from Jane the Virgin). On their flight to Israel, the two best friends meet a cute archeologist who convinces them to head to Jerusalem for the Yom Kippur break—and their Middle East holiday soon descends into a nightmare on Judgment Day. Will they escape before all hell breaks loose and the Dark Angels turn off the lights? The Paz brothers (perhaps Israel’s answer to the Coen brothers), keep you at the edge of your seat until the very end.

Westchester Jewish Film Festival

Youth – April 8th & 10th

Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, The Revenant) says: “As soon as you see the eyes and features of both main young actors in Youth, you recognize the deep sight and nobility of Tom Shoval.” Teen brothers Yaki and Shaul live with their parents in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv. Their father has lost his job and has descended into a deep depression, and the family is on the brink of losing their home. The boys feel they must do something—and the gun Yaki carries (he is doing his military service) empowers them to decide to kidnap one of Shaul’s wealthy classmates. They hide the girl in an abandoned cellar and then place a call demanding a huge ransom for her release. But they’ve forgotten that today is Shabbat and their victim’s orthodox family will not answer the phone. Soon, time starts to run out…

The Westchester Jewish Film Festival is a tremendous source of inspiration for me, and I guarantee it will be for you. Click on the link to the schedule, study it, pick a few films and come back here to let me know about your experience.

See you at the movies.

Disclosure: I teamed up with Jacob Burns on this post and was compensated accordingly, but as always, all opinions are my own.