14th Annual Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival offers 9 features, 2 shorts

Whether you like drama or comedy, historical documentaries or stories of today’s cultural phenomena, the 14th Annual Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival is sure to have a movie you’ll like.

Presented by the Tampa Jewish Community Center, in cooperation with the JCC Suncoast (formerly the Golda Meir/Kent Jewish Center and the JCC of Pinellas County), the Film Festival will feature nine feature length films and two short films from March 4 through March 15 at venues in Tampa and St. Petersburg. The movies, which are intended to showcase a variety of Jewish experiences, represent creative talents from Israel, the U.S. and Spain.

Special guests will be appearing throughout the festival and include Khen Shalem, the director of the Israeli film On the Road of Tel Aviv. Local actress Francine Wolf will answer questions during the Sunday matinee double feature in St. Petersburg and a representative to the St. Petersburg Baseball Commission will be on hand following a movie chronicling the inaugural year of a pro baseball league in Israel.

The film festival begins with an Opening Night Celebration on March 4 at 8 p.m. at the Tampa Theatre in downtown Tampa, featuring the Florida premiere of the Israeli box-office hit, The Debt, In addition, local winners of the Short Film Contest, sponsored by the Louis Orloff Family, will be shown as part of the opening night festivities. (Related story, Page 15)

Ticket prices are: advance purchase online $6 per person (adults, seniors or students); day of show, $8 adults; $7 seniors/students. Festival passes are available to all film festival supporters who donate $150 or more.

Film Festival lineup • THE DEBT

Thursday, March 4, Tampa Theatre, 8 p.m.

An espionage thriller filmed on location in Ukraine and Israel. Rachel Brenner is one of three Mossad agents whose mission is to capture the ‘Surgeon of Birkenau’, a monstrous Nazi war criminal who suddenly resurfaces in 1964. He is working under a false identity, as a gynecologist. Rachel becomes one of his patients, enabling the agents to kidnap the doctor. As the agents wait to deliver the war criminal to Israel, a psychological duel commences. Violence, Hebrew, German & Russian with English subtitles, 93 minutes

• FOR MY FATHER Saturday, March 6, Baywalk Muvico, downtown St. Petersburg, 7 p.m.

Tarek, a Palestinian forced on a suicide mission in Tel Aviv to redeem his father’s honor, is given a second chance when the fuse on his explosive vest fails to detonate. Forced to spend the weekend in Tel Aviv awaiting its repair, he is surprised to find he connects with several Israelis on the outskirts of society, including the beautiful Keren, who has cut off contact with her Orthodox family and upbringing. When the weekend ends, Tarek must make the decision of his life. Mature Content, Hebrew with English Subtitles, 100 minutes

• JERUSALEM SYNDROME Saturday, March 6, Baywalk Muvico, 9 p.m.

A young Israeli who is so in love with a Russian prostitute that he decides to kidnap her from her Georgian pimp. In order to do so, he borrows a gun and hails a jitney taxi. But problems arise when he realizes that the cab is not empty and he finds himself involving the other passengers in his scheme. This small, improbable group joins forces to free Ivana and then starts running for their lives towards the desert, offering a unique experience of tolerance, freedom and bonding. Mature Content, Hebrew, French, and English with English subtitles, 87 minutes

• LETTERS FOR JENNY Sunday, March 7 , Baywalk Muvico, 1 p.m.

Jenny faces the hurdles of adolescence without her mother, who died young, though she has the support of her brother and their loving father. But some situations call for a mother’s touch. Jenny’s mother, anticipating her own death, prepared four letters for Jenny – letters that will help her through an unplanned pregnancy and a trip from her home in Argentina to Israel, where she uncovers a long-held family secret. Spanish with English Subtitles, 96 minutes

• HEY, HEY IT’S ESTHER BLUEBERGER Sunday, March 7, Baywalk Muvico, 3 p.m.

Thirteen-year-old Esther has thick glasses, parents who don’t understand her, a pet duck and no friends at her hoity-toity private school where everyone seems to be blonde and beautiful. As she and her twin brother approach their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, she is befriended by a girl named Sunni from the local public school. By pretending to be a Swedish exchange student, Esther is able to hang out with Sunni and her posse of “bad girl” friends. The movie features performances by Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) as Sunni and Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine) as Sunni’s eccentric mom. Language and mature content. 13+, English, 103 minutes

• ON THE ROAD TO TEL Aviv Thursday, March 11, Baywalk Muvico, 7:30 p.m.

A drama with comic elements, the movie shows how, under the tense reality of war and terror, enemies can sometimes find themselves in the same boat (or the same bus). It is a story of a young Israeli who finds himself in a frightening situation when a suspicious looking Arab woman enters the same bus as his fiancée. Language, Hebrew with English Subtitles, 15 minutes

• KILLING KASZTNER Thursday, March 11, Baywalk Muvico, 8 p.m.

A documentary about Israel’s inflammatory political trial and assassination in the 1950s of Rezso Kasztner, the film includes the first chilling interview with his murderer. Kasztner, a Hungarian Jew, tried to rescue the last million Jews of Europe by negotiating face to face with Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann. Considered at the time an act of heroism, later this extraordinary act was cast as an act of betrayal. English & Hebrew w/English Subtitles, 120 minutes.

• A MATTER Of SIZE Saturday, March 13, Tampa Theatre, 7 p.m.

An overweight, unmotivated chef lives at home with his mother in the Israeli city of Ramla. He eventually finds work as a dishwasher at a Japanese restaurant where he is introduced to sumo wrestling by his co-workers. With the help of the restaurant owner, former sumo coach and self-proclaimed “Japanese Zionist,” he and three robust friends find their size is no longer a hindrance but their greatest asset. The movie received 13 Israeli Academy Award nominations and has been picked up by the Weinstein brothers for a Hollywood remake. Language, Hebrew w/English subtitles, 92 minutes

• JERUSALEM SYNDROME Saturday, March 13,, Tampa Theatre, 9 p.m.

See description under March 6 showing.

• GOT NEXT Sunday, March 14, Tampa Theatre, 1 p.m.

A group of 16-year-old, African-American teens play street-basketball at a Harlem court when a lone 16-year-old white Jewish kid appears, saying, “I got next.” The local kids don’t want the outsider on their turf. But, when the white kid sinks a half-court shot, the small crowd on the sidelines shouts, “Let him play.” There is friction at first, however, eventually the “enemies” come together and win. Inspired by a true story. English, 10 minutes

When Boston bagel maker Larry Baras• HOLY LAND HARDBALL Sunday, March 14, Tampa Theatre, 1 p.m. When Boston bagel maker Larry Baras wanted to create a professional baseball league in Israel, his idea was met with incredulity, dismissal and even hostility. The movie is an engaging account of how Baras and an unlikely group of ballplayers realize their dream — albeit briefly — to bring the American pastime to the Middle East. English, 84 minutes

• FOR MY FAThER Sunday, March 14, Tampa Theatre, 3:30 p.m.

See description under March 6 showing

• THE BAND’S VISIT Monday, March 15-Marshall Center USF, 7 p.m.

When the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra flies from Egypt to Israel to perform at the opening of an Arab culture center; they are left stranded at the airport. The band tries to make its way on its own, only to find themselves in a desolate, small Israeli town, somewhere in the heart of the desert. Mature Content 13+, Arabic/English/Hebrew with English subtitles, 89 minutes

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For more information including directions to the theaters and to purchase advance tickets online at the Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival website at www.tbjff.org or contact Brandy Gold at (813) 769-4725.