The UK Jewish Film Festival returns to Manchester next month, following a two year break due to the pandemic. Taking place at the Cineworld cinema in Didsbury, Home in the city centre and also the Curzon cinema in Knutsford, it kicks off on November 10.
It will boast a host of internationally celebrated films by Jewish film directors, taking in dramas, comedies and documentary features. The first film, Farewell Mister Haffman directed by Fred Cavaye and released last year, will screen on November 10 at the Cineworld in Didsbury.
The film festival, a northern spin-off of the Jewish Film Festival that began in London over 25 years ago, has been staged in Manchester since 2012. Chair of the Manchester UK Jewish Film Committee Judith Gordon told the Manchester Evening News: “We want to see people in person, in the cinemas again, so they can be entertained and we can all enjoy and experience this festival together.
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“As always, it’s not just about going to the cinema and walking out and going home; you go to the bar, you sit and talk with friends, talk to other people about what you’ve just seen. The first festival in 2012, we showed just four films, and pre-pandemic, we’d got up to showing 12. We’ve downsized a little bit this year, and we’ll be showing eight.”
Judith began her journey as a film buff - her son is also a film director - by setting up a film club for those at her local synagogue in South Manchester, before bringing the UK Jewish Film Festival to Manchester. “You can’t believe how many films from so many different countries have also got this Jewish theme,” she said. “Films from literally all over the world; from Argentina, Shanghai, Australia, every European country, obscure places in South America. It’s quite remarkable.”
There will be two films which will feature Q&A sessions; the first being the documentary Back In Berlin, with its director Bobby Lax at Cineworld, Didsbury, on November 16, and the second being another documentary called Reckonings, which will be screened at Home on November 20, and will feature a post-movie discussion with Michael Newman, the CEO of the Association of Jewish Refugees.
Other movies showing will be Moshe Rosenthal’s Karaoke on November 12 at Home, the documentary The Tree of Life at Cineworld on November 13, Perfect Strangers on November 17 at the Curzon in Knutsford and The Man In The Basement on November 19.
The festival closes at Home on November 23 with the drama Where Life Begins, directed by Stephane Freiss, which follows an ultra-orthodox Jewish family on an annual pilgrimage to harvest lemons on a farm in Southern Italy.
To find out more about the festival, and to buy tickets for the screenings, you can head to the UK Jewish Film website.
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