Over the next two weeks, the 28th annual Tucson International Jewish Film Festival will screen 15 full-length films, a TV show and three short films from filmmakers around the globe.
The festival, which opens Sunday, Jan. 6, with the Holocaust drama “Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story,” will feature films that explore Jewish life, from the father-son comedy of “Humor Me” to the female-empowering “93 Queen,” and social issues from abortion (the 2018 American film “Ask for Jane,” that recounts a group of college women who created an underground network pre-legalized abortion to help women find safe abortion alternatives) to health care (the 2018 Israeli documentary “In Her Footsteps” about a Muslim family’s journey to bury their mother in a Jewish cemetery in their hometown of Omer).
In addition to full-length films, the event, which will take place in a various Tucson venues including the Jewish Community Center and SaddleBrooke’s DesertView Performing Arts Center, will show a trio of short films and will feature guest speakers including:
- A family member of Aristides de Sousa Mendes will take questions following “Disobedience” on Sunday, Jan. 6.
- A Hungarian Holocaust survivor will speak after the Loft screening of “Budapest Noir” on Jan. 10.
- The family from the film “The Caborca Jew: A Mexican Story” will be on hand for the screening Jan. 18.
- “Ask for Jane” actress and coproducer Cait Cortelyou will lead a discussion following the Jan. 19 screening.
- Just what’s an egg cream? See how one’s made following the festival-closing short films event Jan. 20.
And here’s a first for the Tucson Jewish Film Festival: a TV show.
The festival will screen the first four episodes of the popular television drama “Commandments” (“Kipat Barzel”) about young Orthodox men who join the Israeli Defense Force.
The series made its American premiere at the 2018 Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival last April.
