Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival

Schedule of Events:

3:00 PM: Bad Shabbos

Hilarious contemporary comedy about a Shabbos terribly gone wrong. David and Meg - an engaged interfaith couple - plan to introduce the bride’s Catholic parents from Wisconsin to the groom’s Jewish neurotic family at a Shabbat family dinner in New York. That is, until an accidental dead body gets in the way of introductions! The cast includes favorites Kyra Sedgwick and David Paymer, as well as a tour de force comic performance by rapper Method Man. The perfect recipe for a delightful evening!

No Harm Done 2023 16 minutes  French w/subtitles Sarah Stern 
A week after giving birth, Mila faces her son’s circumcision, a tradition she never questioned but now finds herself uncertain about.

Location: Harkins Chandler Fashion - 3159 W Chandler Blvd, Chandler, AZ 85226

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3:00 PM: Running On Sand

In this comic drama of mistaken identities, an illegal Eritrean refugee in Israel fleeing deportation at the airport is mistaken for a famous Nigerian soccer player. A struggling Israeli soccer team has been waiting for the player to arrive at the airport to help them to victory – and fans mistake the refugee for the soccer star. The Eritrean, Aumari, goes along with the charade to avoid arrest. Although he doesn’t excel at soccer, the positive force of his personality aids the team in unexpected ways. This delightful film will steal your heart. Nominated for the Israeli Academy Award for Best Film.

Scottsdale
Sauna Dreams 2024 18 minutes English Bryan Seversky
A comedy about the World Sauna Championships.

Location: Scottsdale Harkins Shea - 7354 East Shea Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85260

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Peoria
Kibitzer 2023 9 minutes German w/subtitles Yaar Harell                
“Kibitzer” is set in early 1900s Germany. It tells the story of Mona, a young Jewish girl, her pregnant mother and her father, a struggling fisherman.

Location: Peoria Harkins Arrowhead - 16046 N Arrowhead Fountains Center Dr, Peoria, AZ 85382

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7:00 PM: Blond Boy from the Casbah

Travel back in time and become immersed in the close-knit Sephardic Jewish community of 1960s Algeria in this engaging drama. Using a fictional protagonist who is a filmmaker, director Alexandre Arcady tells his own story of growing up within a loving family in Algiers before civil war dispersed the Jewish community. This story is told as a “film within a film”, framed by the main character’s return to Algiers years later with his son, to present his newest film (about his life) in his old hometown.

A Reuben by Any Other Name 2010 4 minutes English Jeremy Dylan Lanni
Takes a hilarious look at the differences between Orthodox and Reform Judaism in terms of the Reuben sandwich.

Location: Peoria Harkins Arrowhead - 16046 N Arrowhead Fountains Center Dr, Peoria, AZ 85382

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7:00 PM: Come Closer

Winner of 5 Israeli Academy Awards, including Israel’s “Best Film of the Year”. In this provocative contemporary drama, twenty-year-old Eden has lost her closest person in the world, her younger brother Nati, who met with an unexpected accident. She becomes obsessed with finding Nati’s secret girlfriend, and the girls bond – both emotionally and physically, over their shared grief, until the relationship becomes dangerous. The mood is raw and edgy. COME CLOSER is loosely based on the director’s personal loss of her own brother, the son of renowned filmmaker Avi Nesher.

Location: Scottsdale Harkins Shea - 7354 East Shea Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85260

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7:00 PM: Midas Man

Location: Harkins Chandler Fashion - 3159 W Chandler Blvd, Chandler, AZ 85226

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