The mission of the Columbia Jewish Film Festival is to offer outstanding world cinema that promotes awareness, appreciation and pride in the diversity of the Jewish experience. Reaching out to the entire greater Columbia area, the Festival’s aim is to educate, illuminate and entertain through film; including history, language, people, the State of Israel and the history of the Jewish people from pre-biblical to modern times.
This year, join us virtually for our 22nd annual Film Festival!
March 20-April 26, 2022
Tickets $5 each
Click here to access the “watch” page. You will need to enter your ticket number or your Festival Pass and password to access the films.
2022 PLAYBILL
Interested in being a Film Festival Sponsor?
Download the form return to the JCC.
Can’t wait for the Festival to start? Order FREE tickets below for two short films, sponsored by the Kligman Fund. Space Torah and No Limits are available to stream for FREE March 15-17.
Space Torah | March 15-17 | FREE TICKETS
Sponsored by the Kligman Fund
In 1996, NASA astronaut Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman brought a small Torah scroll on board Space Shuttle Colombia. On Shabbat, he read from the book of Genesis, while soaring through the firmament “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman was the first male Jewish American astronaut to go into space. During his five missions on the Shuttle, he chose to bring various sacred Jewish objects including mezuzot, dreidels, and atarot from his sons’ tallitot …and years later, as chuppah covers from their weddings. The highlight was the Torah he took with him on his fifth and final mission (STS 75 – February 1996). This fulfilled the vision of Jeff’s Rabbi in Houston, Shaul Osadchey, who, after years of searching, was able to locate a small Torah scroll that, while being complete and Kosher, would also be small enough to fit into the limited space that astronauts were given for personal items. When the Torah was returned to their Synagogue, Dr. Hoffman and Rabbi Osadchey held presentations for young children to help them appreciate the majesty of Torah and its ongoing significance in our lives. It is still used today for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, making it very special for those students. But as Dr. Hoffman likes to say, “It wasn’t so much that going into Space made the Torah special as it was that the Torah made Space special by bringing the holiness of human life into space.”
No Limits | March 15-17 | FREE TICKETS
Sponsored by the Kligman Fund
Yael is driving back home when she is suddenly hit by a Palestinian car. The Palestinians trick her and steal her car! Much to their surprise, the thieves discover a baby in the back seat! Yael is desperate and anxious to save her baby. She stops Roy’s car and convinces him to help her search for her baby in the hostile Arab village nearby. They both take drastic measures and risk their own lives to save her baby.
This short, heart-wrenching movie presents the complex relationship between the Jewish and Palestinian residents of the Samaria region, and how human connections help to overcome the obstacles between them.
Based on a true story.
A Tree of Life | March 20-22 | TICKETS
Sponsored by Herb & Eleanor Niestat
Streaming in South Carolina only
A TREE OF LIFE creates a deeply personal portrait of the survivors, victims, and the victims’ family members of the Pittsburgh Synagogue attack as well as the community at large. The film captures the unimaginable horror and loss but also hope for the future and a remembrance of those we lost. Viewers will experience first-hand how the lives of those directly affected have fundamentally changed and how the Pittsburgh community and the congregations set out on a path towards healing.
Code Name: Ayalon | March 22-24 | TICKETS
Sponsored by Dr. Jeff & Kay Gross
Code Name: Ayalon is a film that follows the untold story of 45 young Jewish men and women who worked in an underground munitions factory in Ayalon and aided the birth of the Jewish nation. Watch trailer
Tiger Within | March 27-29 | TICKETS
Sponsored by Lewis Babcock L.L.P.
Streaming in South Carolina only
Tiger Within: An unlikely friendship between a troubled, homeless teen, and a Holocaust survivor, sparks larger questions of ignorance, fear, lies, family, love, forgiveness, and our divided world at large in this moving story. Taught that the Holocaust is fiction, the teen is surprised to learn that the survivor, played by Ed Asner in his final role, experienced the horrors firsthand and that his children were murdered in the camps. Following through on a promise made to his deceased wife to erase the lingering hate in his heart, Samuel makes it his mission to befriend the misguided teen. For if he can forgive her, he can master his anger, and if she can forgive herself, she can be free. Watch trailer
Love and Mazel Tov | March 29-31 | TICKETS
Sponsored by Heidi & David Lovit and Lyssa & Jonathan Harvey
Streaming in South Carolina only
Love and Mazel Tov: At a party, Daniel pretends to be Jewish to impress Anne. The pretty bookstore owner specializes in Jewish literature in her bookshop, volunteers at a Jewish home for the elderly, and is also a close friend of the Jewish author Schlomo Wisniewski. When Anne and Daniel become a couple, their friends Laura and Tobias have an inkling that Daniel’s hoax will soon have to be caught. His initially small con turns into an unmanageable web of white lies that Daniel can’t get out of. Will Anne also love him when she learns that he is not Jewish at all? Watch trailer
Wet Dog | April 10-12 | TICKETS
Sponsored by USC Jewish Studies Program
Streaming in South Carolina only
Wet Dog: When his family moves into a multicultural Berlin neighborhood, an Iranian-Jewish teenager struggles to earn his place in a Muslim gang. To the dismay of his émigré parents, 16-year-old Soheil finds acceptance on the streets, dominated by graffiti, fights and petty crimes. As a means of self-preservation, he hides his Jewish background to fit in with his Muslim peers, rising in the ranks but under constant threat of exposure. As he falls in love with a Turkish schoolmate, Soheil experiences the anguish of anti-Semitism and an ultimate reckoning over his true self. Transposing Arye Sharuz Shalicar’s 1990s-set memoir to present day, this coming-of-age drama explores the provocative intersection of conformity, bigotry and friendship. Watch trailer
Greener Pastures | April 12-14 | TICKETS
Sponsored by David & Peggy Jacobs
Streaming in South Carolina only
Greener Pastures: A cranky Israeli nursing home resident gets a new lease on life as a cannabis dealer, in this sparkly comedy caper nominated for 12 Israeli Academy Awards including Best Film. Newly retired and recently widowed, Dov (Shlomo Bar Aba) feels imprisoned in his luxurious gated community. Low on money and friends, he hatches a plot to buy back his old rustic cottage by selling marijuana to fellow seniors. As his business takes off, along with romance, it’s not long before his distribution ring runs hilariously afoul of the police and local mafia. Boasting endearing performances, snappy dialogue, and plenty of laughs, this surefire crowd-pleaser speaks to one man’s later life redemption, while playfully poking fun at the hypocrisy of cannabis laws. Watch trailer
Persian Lessons | April 24-26 | TICKETS
Sponsored by the Columbia Holocaust Education Commission
Streaming in South Carolina only
Persian Lessons: An adroit Jewish-Belgian prisoner fakes his identity to prolong his life. While fleeing to Switzerland, Gilles (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) is captured in Nazi-occupied France. Marked for death, he feigns Iranian heritage and offers to teach Farsi to a savage commandant (Lars Eidinger) who longs to open a restaurant in Tehran after the war. In truth, Gilles knows no Persian, and concocts an imaginary lexicon on the fly. As SS soldiers become wary of his rapport with the German officer, one false move could expose his cover. Loosely based on a true story, Oscar nominee Vadim Perelman’s handsome production is anchored by exceptional performances, drawing laughter and tears up to its devastating conclusion. Watch trailer
The Levys of Monticello | April 26-28 | TICKETS
Sponsored by Historic Columbia
Streaming in South Carolina only
The Levys of Monticello tells the astonishing, and little-known, story of a Jewish family that came to own Monticello beginning in the 1830s and lasting until the 1920s. Along with owning Monticello longer than Jefferson and his descendants, members of the Levy family also devoted themselves to the restoration and preservation of Jefferson’s iconic home. In the course of doing so, the family wound up saving the house from ruin on two separate occasions. Watch trailer
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Click here to view our 2022 sponsors. Thank you for your generosity!
Are you interested in being a Festival sponsor?
Contact Dani Glass, Director of Culture and Development
at danielleg@jcccolumbia.org to discuss giving opportunities.
2022 CJFF Sponsor Letter and Form