Miami Jewish Film Festival

For its 22nd year, The Miami Jewish Film Festival brings 80 plus films and hosts more than 25 filmmakers and special guests from Jan. 10-24.

The festival – one of the three largest of its kind in the world – will be showcased throughout theaters and temples around Miami. Here’s a few of the festival’s highlights:

The Festival will open with the premiere of the exhilarating, laugh-out-loud film The Unorthodox, one of Israel’s biggest box office hits of the year. Preceding the premiere will be a live performance of Mizrahi music from the film. Closing night will feature the premiere The Other Story, directed by one of Israel’s most renowned filmmakers, Avi Nesher. This juicy thriller about two rebellious young women fleeing their pasts recently won audience awards at film festivals and received great critical acclaim.

The Festival will host 12 world premieres this year, including The Barn, which was co-produced by Nancy Spielberg; Sustainable Nation, about the water crisis affecting the world; Avenging Evil, a true story of a revenge planned by survivors of the Holocaust; The Lost Crown, the stranger-than-fiction story about the theft of the oldest bible in the world; Hasidistock, a vivid chronicle of contemporary Jewish music; The Starfish, about a WWII refugee turned American dreamer; Outback Rabbis, about Rabbis in the Aussie bush looking for “lost Jews;” the historical drama Sefarad; and My Survivor, a film made in Miami about how the devastating realities of the Holocaust are being understood anew by the next generation.

For the first time in its 22-year history, MJFF will feature a Spotlight on Women Filmmakers and present a record-breaking 25 films directed by women. Notable films in this sidebar include the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex starring Felicity Jones and Armie Hammer; the Toronto Film Festival award-winner Fig Tree; the dramedy Holy Lands starring James Caan, Rosanna Arquette, and Jonathan Rhys Myers; the tale of forbidden first love Red Cow; the audience award-winning film Who Will Write Our History produced by Nancy Spielberg and directed by Roberta Grossman; the #MeToo inspired film Working Woman; and the international premiere of Cellfish, a heartfelt documentary about one of Israel’s most renowned creative artists.

Five official entries to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film will premiere at the Festival, including two from former Academy Award-winners, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away and László Nemes’ Sunset. Other entries include Slovakia’s The Interpreter, Austria’s The Waldheim Waltz, and Russia’s Sobibor. In addition to the Best Foreign Language Film entries, the Festival will premiere Howard, an entry for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards, which is a poignant film about legendary Disney songwriter Howard Ashman.

Click here for the full schedule

Tickets: $14 for single tickets or $295 for full festival passes. For more info, please visit the festival’s website or call 305-573-7304.