THE ANNUAL independent Ann Arbor Jewish Film Festival runs April 12-16 at the Michigan Theater, hosted by the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor. Every film has been chosen by the Ann Arbor Jewish Film Festival committee in conjunction with the Michigan Theater. Genres include several documentaries and true stories, among other exciting films.

Tickets to all films are $10 each. A “six pack” of tickets for $50 is available by advance purchase only. Student tickets are $5 each with valid student I.D.  Tickets are not film specific. All screenings and events will take place at the Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty, unless otherwise noted.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

2:00 PM – Wonders

5:00 PM – Red Carpet Sponsor’s Gala Dinner

This Sephardic inspired feast is presented by Simply Scrumptious catering, and compliments this evening’s film.

6:30 PM – Flory’s Flame (documentary)

Flory Jagoda, 90, is a National Heritage Fellow and renowned Sephardic composer born in Sarajevo, whose roots reach back to pre-Inquisition Spain.

7:30 PM – Flory and Her Troubadours Concert

Flory and Her Troubadours will perform live, immediately following the film screening, as well as engage with the audience for a Q&A session.

Monday, April 13, 2015

2:00 PM – Green Prince (documentary)

The true story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas leader, who became a spy for Israel, and the Shin-Bet handler who risks his career to protect him.

5:00 PM – Above and Beyond (documentary)

In 1948, a group of Jewish American pilots, in secret and at great personal risk, smuggled planes out of the U.S., trained behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia and flew for Israel in its War of Independence.

8:00 PM – Hunting Elephants (Israeli comedy with Patrick Stewart)

After Jonathan, 12, suffers a double-blow by fate, he recruits three senior citizens to help him rob the bank he believes responsible.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

2:00 PM – The Jewish Cardinal (historical fiction)

The true story of Jean-Marie Lustiger, son of Polish-Jewish immigrants to Paris, who maintained his Jewish identity even after converting to Catholicism at age 13, joining the priesthood, and rising to the rank of Cardinal.

5:00 PM – Before the Revolution (documentary)

This documentary thriller chronicles the last days of the Israeli community in Tehran on the eve of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

8:00 PM – Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem (Israeli drama)

This Israeli-French drama chronicles Viviane’s five year legal battle to obtain the only kind of divorce that exists in Israel, a religious one, from entrenched Orthodox rabbis who must gain the consent of her intractable husband.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

2:00 PM – God’s Slave (drama)

Ahmed, an Islamic extremist, and David, an Israeli Mossad agent, cross paths in the years following the 1994 A.M.I.A. bombings in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

5:00 PM – Dancing in Jaffa (documentary)

Renowned ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulaine, returns to Jaffa, the city of his birth, to teach Jewish and Palestinian Israelis to dance and compete together.

Yom HaShoah Commemoration & Film Screening Schedule: (schedule will be updated closer to the festival)

6:45 PM – Yom HaShoah Yizkor Service at Beth Israel Congregation, 2000 Washtenaw Avenue

7:20 PM – Yom HaShoah Memorial Candle Lighting at the Michigan Theater

7:30 PM – Barbara Stark-Nemon Presentation at the Michigan Theater

8:30 PM – Victor “Young” Perez (historical fiction)

Victor “Young” Perez was a Tunisian Jewish immigrant to France and boxer who became the World Flyweight Champion in 1931 and 1932, only to have is career cut short due to the Holocaust.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

2:00 PM – Run Boy Run (historical fiction)

Srulik, 8, flees the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 and tries to survive by posing as a Christian orphan. The film is based on Uri Orlev’s bestselling novel about the real Srulik Fydman.

5:00 PM – The Shadows: A Family Tale (documentary)

This film is presented by long time Ann Arbor Jewish Film Festival supporter, Michael Levine.

8:00 PM – Deli Man (documentary)

Experience the story of the men behind the food behind the tradition. This is Jewish American history one delicious bite at a time.