The UK Jewish Film Festival 2023 returns with another jam-packed programme of stellar thrillers, moving family dramas, thought-provoking romances and unbelievable documentaries, which bring together filmmakers and actors from around the world.
Taking place at cinemas across London between November 9 to 19, and around the country November 9 to 30, this year’s line-up includes screenings of some of this year’s biggest films, including James Hawes’ One Life, which stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as Sir Nicholas Winton, the man behind the Kindertransport, and conversations with major directors and writers including David Baddiel, Michael Winterbottom and Jonathan Freedland.
Here we pick some of the films not to miss.
Opening Night Gala: One Life (UK, 2023)
Millions of people have now seen the 1988 clip of Sir Nicholas Winton sitting in an auditorium and being told that every single person in that room owes their life to him. Near-impossible to watch, or recount for that matter, without crying, the minute-long video captures the impact of Winton’s brave actions: he assisted in the rescue of 669 Jewish children, saving them from the hands of the Nazis. Now his incredible act of heroism has been turned into a film starring Anthony Hopkins as the older Winton (Johnny Flynn plays him as a young man) and Helena Bonham Carter as his mother. One Life's director James Hawes will introduce the film.
Animation Gala: My Father’s Secrets (France/ Belgium 2022)
Based on a graphic novel by Michel Kichka, one of Israel's best-known cartoonists, My Father’s Secret tells the story of Henri, a Holocaust survivor who won’t share his traumatic experiences with his family, but starts to open up to strangers. Featuring a star-studded British voice cast including Elliott Gould, Miriam Margolyes, Tracy-Ann Oberman and David Baddiel, this emotional but uplifting story explores generational trauma and memory with a deft touch. Baddiel and David Freedman (director of the English-language version of the film) will be giving a Q+A at the screening.
Centrepiece Gala: Kidnapped (Italy, 2023)
Marco Bellocchio, director of the excellent 2019 crime drama The Traitor, helms this 19th century period drama about a young Jewish boy who is baptised when he is ill and then later kidnapped and taken to Rome by Christians who are concerned for his soul. His devastated parents make it their life mission to get him back. With rich and lush colours of a Caravaggio painting, Fabio Massimo Capogrosso’s exceptional score and its compelling theological themes, it’s no wonder that it was nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes.
Closing Night Gala: My Daughter. My Love (Israel, 2023)
During a trip to Paris to see an old childhood friend, widower Shimon (Sasson Gabay) stays with his daughter. Although on the surface she is living the perfect life with her new husband, Shimon realises that all is not what it seems. He decides to help, bringing him and his daughter closer together.
Or (My Treasure) (Israel, 2004)
Dana Ivgy plays Or, a teenager who is trying to raise enough money to support her mother, Ruthie (the late and great Ronit Elkabetz), a career sex worker, whose lifestyle is taking a physical toll. Now regarded as an Israeli classic, Or won five awards at Cannes in 2004, including the Critics’ Week Grand Prize.
Shoshana (UK/Italy, 2023)
Michael Winterbottom tells the story of two British police officers (Douglas Booth and Harry Melling) in Mandatory Palestine in the late Thirties. They are chasing down Avraham Stern (Aury Alby), head of the extremist Zionist paramilitary organisation Lehi, which has been attacking British personnel and assassinating opponents. As the duo hunt Stern, Booth’s character, Thomas Wilkin, starts to fall for a young Jewish woman, Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum). There will be a Q+A with director Winterbottom at the screening.
Picturehouse Central, November 14
The Goldman Case (France, 2023)
This taut and intelligent courtroom drama from Cédric Kahn (Wild Life, The Prayer), which opened Critics’ Week at Cannes this year, reimagines the real-life 1974 trial of French left-wing activist and intellectual Pierre Goldman (Arieh Worthalter). Goldman was convicted for his involvement in a robbery in which two people were killed. After five years behind bars, he was acquitted, partly due to inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case, and partly due to the impact of his 1975 book, Obscure Memories of a Polish Jew Born in France. On his release he was almost immediately assassinated.
Revenge: Our Dad the Nazi Killer (Australia, 2023)
Enjoying its International Premiere at this year’s Jewish Film Festival, this documentary from Danny Ben-Moshe unravels the mystery of a series of deaths of Nazi criminals who had fled to Australia after the Second World War. The deaths were initially recorded as accidents, but 70 years later, three Australian Jewish brothers start investigating after their father and uncle – the only survivors of their entire Eastern European family after the Holocaust – are revealed to have possibly been involved. BBC Storyville’s commissioning editor, Lucie Kon, who is an executive producer of the the film, will be giving a Q+A as part of the screening.
Curzon Bloomsbury, November 19
The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes (UK Premiere, Israel, 2022)
Both director Yariv Mozer and journalist Jonathan Freedland will be giving a Q+A as part of the screening of this stomach-churning documentary, which collates transcripts of Adolf Eichmann’s conversations from the Fifties. In 1961 Eichmann, one of the architects of the holocaust, was put on trial and sentenced to death by Israel for crimes against humanity: the tapes were a key part of his successful prosecution, but disappeared for a number of years after the famous court case.
