Tucson International Jewish Film Festival 2019

Sunday, Jan. 6, 3 pm (SaddleBrooke)
Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul General in Bordeaux, during World War II defies orders and issues more than 30,000 visas to people fleeing the Holocaust.

Thursday, Jan. 10, 7 pm (The Loft)
Budapest Noir
A murder mystery set in Budapest, 1936. A young beautiful girl, is found dead and no one wants to investigate – except Gordon, a crime reporter who has a gut feeling that things are not what they seem. An engaging, action based thriller not to be missed!

The rest of the scheduled films are shown at The J

Friday, Jan. 11, 1 pm
Humor Me
A crowd pleasing father/son comedy starring Elliot Gould and Bebe Neuwirth (Cheers). Nate, a struggling playwright, is forced to move in with his joke-telling dad in a New Jersey retirement community.

Saturday, Jan. 12, 7:30 pm
A Quiet Heart
An intense Le Carre-style thriller set on the fault line between secularism and religious orthodoxy in modern Israel. Ania Bukstein (Game of Thrones) plays Naomi, a secular young woman seeks refuge from the pressures of her life as a concert pianist. Refuge is not what she finds.

Sunday, Jan. 13, 1 pm (ice cream social to follow)
Shoelaces
A special needs man, abandoned as a boy by his father, now learns his father needs a kidney transplant. The son must fight for the right to be a donor.

4 pm
Heading Home: Tale of Team Israel
After years of defeat, Team Israel is finally ranked among the world’s best in 2017, eligible to compete in the fiercely competitive World Baseball Classic. Wear your favorite sports jersey to this showing.

Monday, Jan. 14, 5 pm
Moon in the 12th House
A modern Israeli drama focuses on estranged sisters who are reunited and must face the circumstances that tore them apart. They also need to come to terms with the personal demons that might separate them again.

7:30 pm
Simon and Theodore
An immature man dealing with mental health issues is about to become a father. He meets an angry, rebellious teenager and they go on a journey of self-discovery through the cold streets of Paris.

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 5 pm
In Her Footsteps
For 10 years, the mother of a Bedouin family has dealt with breast cancer; her last wish is be buried in Omer, a wealthy Jewish village, where the family has successfully resided for years. The town has never dealt with the burial of one of its Muslim residents in a Jewish cemetery.

7:30 pm
Bye Bye Germany
David Berman and his friends, all Holocaust survivors, have only one purpose: to go to America as soon as possible. For this, they need money. Close to reaching his goal, David is not only deprived of his savings but also overtaken by his shady past.

Wednesday, Jan. 16, 5 pm
93 Queen
Set in Borough Park, Brooklyn, this documentary follows a group of tenacious Hasidic women who are smashing the patriarchy in their community by creating the first all-female, volunteer ambulance corps. Witness a unique portrayal of empowered women who are taking matters into their own hands.

7:30 pm
The Cakemaker
Thomas, a young German baker, travels to Jerusalem in search of the wife and son of his dead male lover. Using a false name, he gets a job in the cafe of the newly widowed, Anat. His German cakes and cookies bring life back to the cafe and to Anat.

Thursday, Jan. 17, 5 pm
The Light of Hope
In this emotional drama set in 1942, the French authorities order a maternity home, dedicated to helping mothers and their babies escape the dangers of giving birth in internment camps, to close. Its director and collaborators do everything they can to prevent this from happening.

7:30pm
Commandments | Episodes 1-4
A wildly humorous Israeli TV series, about the young Orthodox men who feel personally compelled to join the Israeli Defense Force, despite the communal taboos associated with it.

Friday, Jan. 18, 1 pm
Stitchers: Tapestry of Spirit | Short Film
The journey of one woman’s ambitious project to write a complete Torah, in cross stitch. Over 1,500 stitchers in 27 countries, are each crafting a portion, in the hope the final work will become an inspiring, traveling museum exhibit.

The Caborca Jew: A Mexican Story
Inspired by the narrator’s grandfather, this documentary tells the story of a Polish immigrant trying to get to the US, who finds himself in Caborca, a small town in Sonora, Mexico. As the only Jew and unable to speak the language, he maintains his faith, his Jewish identity, and becomes a treasured resident. Don’t miss the Tucson connection to this film.

Saturday, Jan. 19, 7:30 pm
Ask for Jane
Prior to the passage of Roe vs. Wade, a courageous group of young Chicago college women developed an underground network to provide safe, but still illegal, abortions. Cait Cortelyou who portrays Rose and is the co-producer, will lead a discussion following the film.

Sunday, Jan. 20, 3 pm
Spring Chicken | Short Film
Three-time champion of her Israeli retirement home’s annual Purim costume contest, 95-year-old, Anny Junek, hatches a plan for a fourth win.

Wendy’s Shabbat | Short Film
Friends in a retirement community usher in Shabbat with candles, challah, and grape juice at a local fast-food restaurant. The friends are happy to celebrate together and the Wendy’s staff is proud to be part of such a lovely ritual.

Egg Cream | Short Film
This is a sweet look at the memory, history, and enduring meaning of a beloved, chocolate soda drink, born in Jewish immigrant neighborhoods at the turn of 20th Century. Neither egg nor cream, it was a product of necessity and hardship, but a source of bubbling joy. Enjoy an Egg Cream and a talk from the author of Seltzertopia, Barry Joseph.