From our friends at JxJ...
JxJ, a New Multidisciplinary Jewish Arts Festival, Unveils 2019 Slate
The largest Jewish cultural event of its kind, JxJ presents the best in international film, music and art over its three-week run, May 8-26
Today JxJ, a new multidisciplinary arts festival that encompasses the Washington Jewish Film Festival and the Washington Jewish Music Festival, alongside original cutting-edge hybrid arts programming, announced the slate for its inaugural event. The Festival, a program of the Edlavitch DCJCC, runs from May 8-26, in venues throughout the Washington, DC area, includes 53 feature-length and 21 short films from 22 countries, as well as musical performances, art, food, and more. The Opening Night film, REDEMPTION is the deeply moving and exuberant tale of a single father - having left behind his rocker past for a religious life - returning to his musical roots to help fund his daughter’s medical treatment. Closing out the Festival is THE TOBACCONIST, the last film shot with legendary actor Bruno Ganz before he passed away in February. The film is a tender, heart-breaking work about a young man’s friendship with Sigmund Freud during the Nazi occupation of Vienna.
Today JxJ, a new multidisciplinary arts festival that encompasses the Washington Jewish Film Festival and the Washington Jewish Music Festival, alongside original cutting-edge hybrid arts programming, announced the slate for its inaugural event. The Festival, a program of the Edlavitch DCJCC, runs from May 8-26, in venues throughout the Washington, DC area, includes 53 feature-length and 21 short films from 22 countries, as well as musical performances, art, food, and more. The Opening Night film, REDEMPTION is the deeply moving and exuberant tale of a single father - having left behind his rocker past for a religious life - returning to his musical roots to help fund his daughter’s medical treatment. Closing out the Festival is THE TOBACCONIST, the last film shot with legendary actor Bruno Ganz before he passed away in February. The film is a tender, heart-breaking work about a young man’s friendship with Sigmund Freud during the Nazi occupation of Vienna.
“We’re thrilled to present JxJ as the first Jewish arts project of its kind in the Washington, DC area,” said Ilya Tovbis, Director of JxJ. “As our home institution, the Edlavitch DCJCC, finishes a massive capital renovation that opens doors to an exciting new future, we also wanted to re-imagine the Washington Jewish Film and Music Festivals to see what more we could accomplish. Our programming this year features an abundance of languages, artistic genres, and stories that celebrate, explore, and deepen our understanding of the global Jewish experience.”
Brought back from prior film festival editions are the queer cinema series Rated LGBTQ and WJFF Classics; and a new programming strand, BEATSxJ, focuses on cinema that showcases the sounds, culture, and societal influence of music and musicians.
The Festival will also feature presentations of an international array of extraordinary performing artists who preserve and invigorate Jewish music in contemporary culture. These artists include the acclaimed world music band Yemen Blues; the American roots-influenced Book of J; Ethiopian-Israeli R&B artist Gili Yalo; Brazilian choro performers Tio Chorinho; and world-renowned composer and fiddler Alicia Svigals among others.
Programs will take place at AFI Silver Theatre, Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema, City Winery, Landmark E Street Cinema, George Washington University Black Box Theatre, Goethe-Institut, Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, Pearl Street Warehouse, Penn Social, and Union Stage.
A full festival schedule can be found at www.jxjdc.org. A list of film titles, performances, and studio events is included below.
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION:
REDEMPTION
Director: Joseph Madmony and Boaz Yehonatan Yacov
2018, 104 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
One of the leading lights of contemporary Israeli cinema, Joseph Madmony (Restoration), returns for this spiritually rousing, emotionally intelligent story of exhilaration and faith. (DC Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION:
THE TOBACCONIST
Director: Nikolaus Leytner
2018, 108 min, Narrative
Country: Germany
A tender tale of a young man’s friendship with Sigmund Freud (Bruno Ganz) during the Nazi occupation of Vienna. (DC Premiere)
SPOTLIGHT FILM SELECTIONS:
AUTONOMIES
Director: Yehonatan Indursky
2018, 210 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
In this dystopian drama from Shtisel creator Yehonatan Indurksy, Israel is divided by a wall separating the secular “State of Israel,” with Tel Aviv as its capital, and the “Haredi Autonomy” in Jerusalem, run by the ultra-Orthodox. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM
Director: Arkady Kogan
2019, 84 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
The story of Soviet ‘Refuseniks’ told through the prism of Natan Sharansky’s heroic life. The premiere screening features a post-show conversation with Natan Sharansky and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer. (U.S. Premiere)
KING BIBI
Director: Dan Shadur
2018, 87 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
The arc of Benjamin Netanyahu’s career is tracked using archival footage of his media performances, which contextualizes his evolution from Israel’s great political hope to a controversial and divisive figure. (DC Premiere)
MOE BERG: THE SPY BEHIND HOME PLATE
Director: Aviva Kempner
2019, 98 min, Documentary
Country: USA
Dynamic DC-based filmmaker Aviva Kempner delivers the first feature-length documentary about Moe Berg, the enigmatic and brilliant baseball player who turned spy for the OSS during WII. (World Premiere)
SKIN
Director: Guy Nattiv
2018, 110 min, Narrative
Country: USA
The full-length version of the short film that just garnered Guy Nattiv the first Israeli Oscar win since 1978 centers on the true story of Bryon Widner, a young man raised by skinheads, now desperately trying to turn his back on hatred. (East Coast Premiere)
THE UNORTHODOX
Director: Eliran Malka
2018, 99 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
The underdog story of the founding of the Sephardi Haredi political party, Shas, is a crowd-pleasing comedy-drama with a powerful message. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
MAIN FILM SLATE:
ABE
Director: Fernando Grostein Andrade
2018, 85 min, Narrative
Country: Brazil
In this delectable charmer fresh from Sundance, twelve-year-old Brooklynite Abe navigates the complicated identity issues that arise from having a Jewish-Israeli mother and a Muslim-Palestinian father. (East Coast Premiere)
THE ACCOUNTANT OF AUSCHWITZ
Director: Matthew Shoychet
2018, 78 min, Documentary
Countries: Canada, Germany, Israel, Poland, USA
In 2015, 94-year old Oskar Gröning - the Accountant of Auschwitz - was finally prosecuted for the murder of 300,000 Jews. This gripping documentary presents the race against time to prosecute the last living Nazi war criminals, while raising questions about the very nature of justice. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
ANNA’S WAR
Director: Aleksey Fedorchenko
2018, 75 min, Narrative
Country: Russia
A harrowing and indelible portrayal of war, filtered through the eyes of six-year-old Anna, whose childhood dreams of becoming a musician are replaced by a simple and more immediate desire: survival. (U.S. Premiere)
BACK TO MARCANÃ
Director: Jorge Gurvich
2018, 90 min, Narrative
Countries: Israel, Brazil, Germany
When soccer fanatic Roberto’s ex-wife heads to Rio on a business trip - unexpectedly saddling him with childcare duties during the World Cup - he packs up his son and septuagenarian father for a voyage of their own. (East Coast Premiere)
BARBARA RUBIN & THE EXPLODING NY UNDERGROUND
Director: Chuck Smith
2018, 78 min, Documentary
Country: United States
Filmmaker Barbara Rubin defied sexist conventions, connected Andy Warhol to the Velvet Underground, and Bob Dylan to the Kabbalah. Then, she left behind the 1960’s NYC art scene to lead life as a Hasidic Jew. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
BLACK HONEY: THE LIFE AND POETRY OF AVRAHAM SUTZKEVER
Director: Uri Barbash
2018, 76 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
Often regarded as the greatest Yiddish writer of modern times, Avraham Sutzkever saved Jewish manuscripts from the Nazis, survived WWII after Stalin sent him a private rescue plane, and testified in the Nuremberg Trials. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
BRUSSELS TRANSIT
Director: Samy Szlingerbaum
1980, 80 min, Narrative
Country: Belgium
In 1980, visionary director Samy Szlingerbaum mined the childhood memories of his parents’ immigration to the “promised land” of Belgium to produce the first feature-length Yiddish film in 30 years.
Featured in the WJFF Classic Strand
CARL LAEMMLE
Director: James L. Freedman
2019, 91 min, Documentary
Country: United States
Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle produced hundreds of blockbuster comedies, westerns, and monster movies, earning him respect as a founding father of modern cinema. Remarkably, this professional success pales in comparison with his humanitarian deeds. (DC Premiere)
CHEWDAISM: A TASTE OF JEWISH MONTREAL
Directors: Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman
2018, 62 min, Documentary
Country: Canada
The sharply intellectual and marvelously zany comedic duo behind the viral Yiddish-language web series YidLife Crisis eat their way through Montreal, along the way engaging with the city’s storied Jewish history. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
CITY OF JOEL
Director: Jesse Sweet
2018, 83 min, Documentary
Country: United States
An ultra-orthodox Hasidic group living 50 miles north of NYC wage a turf war to expand their community boundaries. When the Satmars attempt to double the size of their village, their secular neighbors fight back. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
THE CONDUCTOR
Director: Alon Zingman
2018, 84 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
Leaving behind a loving girlfriend and a successful career as a world-renowned musician, Noah Gamliel (Lior Ashkenazi) finds himself conducting his ailing father’s community choir instead. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE DANCING DOGS OF DOMBROVA
Director: Zack Bernbaum
2018, 102 min, Narrative
Country: Canada
In this twisted, witty, and charming story, an estranged sister and brother travel to Poland at the request of their dying grandmother to retrieve an object from her past. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS
Director: Richard Oswald
1919, 50 min, Narrative
Country: Weimar Republic (Germany)
In 1910s Berlin, blackmail and scandal plague a young musician when his relationship with another man is discovered. When he pushes back against his extortion, the consequences prove tragic.
Featured in the Rated LGBTQ and WJFF Classic Strands
THE DIVE
Director: Yona Rozenkier
2018, 91 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
When a family patriarch dies, three brothers must put aside their differences to carry out their father’s last wishes, in Yona Rozenkier’s tender debut examining the nature of masculinity, family, and loyalty. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
DOLCE FINE GIORNATA
Director: Jacek Borcuch
2018, 96 min, Narrative
Country: Poland
In the wake of a terrorist attack in Rome, a Nobel-prize winning woman’s stable life begins to unravel as she develops a relationship with a young immigrant. (East Coast Premiere)
DUDU TASSA & THE KUWAITIS: DON’T BE SO MODEST, YOU AREN’T THAT GREAT!
Director: Tal Hake
2018, 64 min, Documentary
Country: Israel, USA
When Radiohead invited Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis to join their 2017 US Tour, the Jewish-Arab Israeli ensemble with Yemeni and Iraqi roots grabbed their instruments, and a camera. (North American Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE EINSTEIN OF SEX
Director: Rosa von Praunheim
1999, 100 min, Narrative
Country: Germany
Throughout the decade leading up to the Third Reich, German-Jewish sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld and his peers fight to challenge and abolish anti-homosexuality laws in the Weimar Republic.
Featured in the Rated LGBTQ and WJFF Classic strands
FAMILY IN TRANSITION
Director: Ofir Trainin
2018, 70 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
The story of a family in a small traditional town in Israel, whose lives change completely after Amit, father of four children, confides to his wife Galit that he’s a transgender woman. (DC Premiere)
Featured in the Rated LGBTQ strand
FIDDLER: A MIRACLE OF MIRACLES
Director: Max Lewkowicz
2019, 90 min, Documentary
Country: USA
The first comprehensive documentary to chronicle the birth and life Fiddler on the Roof, one of the most iconic offerings of American culture. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ strand
FORGOTTEN SOLDIER
Director: Lucile Smith
2018, 69 min, Documentary
Country: UK
In May 1940, a young Dutchman named Sally Noach escaped from Belgium days before the Nazis occupied the Low Countries. Now, nearly forty years after his death, his daughter Lady Irene Hatter has decided to retrace his steps and uncover the truth behind her father’s wartime exploits. (U.S. Premiere)
A FORTUNATE MAN
Director: Bille August
2018, 168 min, Narrative
Country: Denmark
Per leaves behind Jutland and a strict religious upbringing, setting sail for the metropolitan Copenhagen of the 1880s, in this sweeping epic from Academy Award-winner Bille August. (DC Premiere)
FROM CAIRO TO THE CLOUD: THE WORLD OF THE CAIRO GENIZA
Director: Michelle Paymar
2018, 92 min, Documentary
Countries: Canada, Egypt, France, Israel, USA, UK
In 1896, Solomon Schechter discovered a trove of manuscripts in an ancient synagogue in Cairo, revolutionizing our understanding of a thousand years of Jewish life in the heart of the Islamic world. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
HASIDISTOCK
Director: Asaf Galay and Avida Livny
2019, 90 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
A fascinating peek at the creative process of three of the top Orthodox artists working in the music industry today: Gad Elbaz, Motty Steinmetz and Zusha. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
HIDDEN FACE
Director: Eyal Datz
2018, 54 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
A unique journey into the meeting point of Jewish faith and the Holocaust. Through the Admor of Sanz-Klausenburg’s story of heroism, the film exposes the complex relations between the ultra-orthodox Jews and the memory of the Shoah. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
LEONA
Director: Isaac Cherem
2018, 95 min, Narrative
Country: Mexico
A young Jewish woman from Mexico City finds herself torn between her family and her forbidden love for a non-Jewish man. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
THE LIGHT OF HOPE
Director: Silvia Quer
2018, 96 min, Narrative
Country: Spain
The harrowing true story of Elisabeth Eidenbenz, founder of the Mothers of Elne, which saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish mothers and children along with other refugees during WWII. (DC Premiere)
MACK THE KNIFE - BRECHT’S THREEPENNY FILM
Director: Joachim Lang
2018, 130 min, Narrative
Country: Germany, Belgium
Against all odds, Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera becomes a phenomenal success, and the film industry picks up the scent, seeking to make the master direct a film version of his “play with music.” (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE MAMBONIKS
Director: Alexis Gillespie
2018, 90 min, Documentary
Country: USA
During the 1950s, free-spirited, mostly Jewish dancers from New York City fell head over heels for the mambo, a hot dance from Havana, Cuba. Their love for Latin rhythms earned them a nickname: the Mamboniks. (DC Premiere)
MARIANNE & LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE
Director: Nick Broomfield
2019, 97 min, Documentary
Country: USA
Renowned filmmaker Nick Broomfield’s most personal and romantic film to date captures the beautiful, yet tragic, love story between Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse, Marianne Ihlen. (East Coast Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE MOVER
Director: Davis Simanis
2018, 87 min, Narrative
Country: Latvia
Zanis and Johanna Lipke’s heroic and clandestine efforts to save Jews during WWII directly led to the rescue of one fifth of the approximately 200 Jews who survived the war in Latvia. (U.S. Premiere)
MY POLISH HONEYMOON
Director: Elise Otzenberger
2019, 88 min, Narrative
Country: France
Fresh off their wedding ceremony, a Jewish couple from Paris travel to Poland for a memorial service. The eye-opening trip awkwardly doubles as their honeymoon in this delightful romantic comedy. (U.S. Premiere)
PARIS SONG
Director: Jeff Vespa
2018, 90 min, Narrative
Country: Kazakhstan, Latvia, USA
Kazakh folk hero Amre Kashaubayev’s journeys to 1925 Paris Expo to compete in an international singing competition, where he develops an unlikely friendship with Jewish-American songwriter George Gershwin.
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE PASSENGERS
Director: Ryan Porush
2019, 72 min, Documentary
Country: USA, Israel, Ethiopia
For centuries, there was a thriving Jewish community in Ethiopia. After the establishment of Israel, thousands relocated there, and now thousands more are fighting to join their families and friends. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
SACRED SPACES-FROM TEMPLE TO SYNAGOGUES: ABSENCE AND PRESENCE
Director: Celia Lowenstein
2019, 90 min, Documentary
Country: France
A visually audacious tour of the 3,000-year history of the Jewish Diaspora, told through Jewish spaces of worship. If synagogues could speak, they would tell the story embodied in Sacred Spaces. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
SEDER-MASOCHISM
Director: Nina Paley
2018, 78 min, Narrative
Country: USA
An animated musical that channels Passover Seder story, with events from the Book of Exodus retold by Moses, Aharon, the Angel of Death, Jesus and the director’s father. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
SEFARAD
Director: Luis Ismael
2019, 90 min, Narrative
Country: Portugal
A sweeping epic that covers Jewish history in Portugal from the times of Crypto Jews in 1496 - when King Manuel I prohibited the open practice of Judaism - through to the Nazi regime and modern times. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
SHOOTING LIFE
Director: David Kreiner
2018, 84 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
While helping his war-weary students find their voices, a high school teacher attempts to start a new life in Sderot, an Israeli town constantly under threat. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the Rated LGBTQ strand
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE PIANO
Director: Philipp Jedicke
2018, 85 min, Documentary
Country: Germany
Grammy-winning composer and entertainer Chilly Gonzales zags between rap, electro and solo piano music, along the way inspiring and collaborating with Feist, Jarvis Cocker, Peaches, Daft Punk and Drake. (East Coast Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE STATE AGAINST MANDELA AND OTHERS
Directors: Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte
2018, 105 min, Documentary
Country: France
Nelson Mandela’s story seized center stage during the Rivonia trial in 1963-1964. He, alongside eight others, faced the death penalty. To a man, they stood firm and turned the tables on the state: just as they were on trail, so too was Africa’s apartheid regime. (DC Premiere)
SUSTAINABLE NATION
Director: Micah Smith
2018, 60 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
Sustainable Nation follows three extraordinary individuals doing their part to bring sustainable water access to an increasingly thirsty planet, using solutions developed in water-poor Israel. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
TOMAN
Director: Ondřej Trojan
2018, 144 min, Narrative
Country: Czech Republic
Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Ondřej Trojan (Zelary) presents a fascinating historical drama revolving around Zdeněk Toman, a controversial and singular figure in Czech politics. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
UNSETTLING
Director: Iris Zaki
2018, 70 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
Despite their initial hesitation, settlers from various backgrounds open up and engage in honest, surprising, and sometimes funny conversations, providing a fresh take on Israeli reality from both sides of the Green Line. (DC Premiere)
WILD KIDS
Director: Tal Pesses
2018, 54 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
Behind the heavy metal doors of an old Jerusalem bomb shelter, there lies a tiny animation studio, where the children of Russian immigrants meet weekly to create a colorful carnival of monsters and earthquakes. (East Coast Premiere)
WORKING WOMAN
Director: Michal Aviad
2018, 93 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
With her husband’s restaurant business in jeopardy, a mother of three gets a job as assistant to a powerful realtor, and must fight back against his sexual advances and workplace harassment. (DC Premiere)
SHORT FILMS PROGRAM:
DIVERSE OR DI-TRYIN’
73 min
Countries: Israel, Spain, UK, USA
The adage, “our differences makes us stronger” is borne out in unexpected, funny, and powerful ways in this collection of shorts.
Featured films: 100 Faces; Death Metal Grandma; Edek; Girl With a Fork in a World of Soup; Granny Knows Best; and Krisis.
BACK TO THE JEWTURE
71 min
Countries: Australia, France, Germany, Israel, USA
The six shorts in this compendium tackle war, spirituality, and identity as past becomes future, and the future acts a rear-view mirror.
Featured Films: 5 Years After the War; Alef B’Tamuz; Men of Clay; Nazi VR; The Rolling Ground; and The Warsaw Robin.
SET APART
73 min
Countries: Israel, Russia, Switzerland, UK, USA
A series of shorts that examine what sets us apart from our families, communities, and peers.
Featured Films: Black Hat; Elina; Liliths; Race; Starboy; Travelogue Tel Aviv; and Trypitch.
MUSIC PROGRAM:
THE ANCIENT LAW with Live Accompaniment by Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin
The gem of German- Jewish cinema will be shown with an original live score by the extraordinary violinist Alicia Svigals (The Klezmatics, The Yellow Ticket) and pianist Donald Sosin.
BEREGOVSKI SUITE FEATURING ALICIA SVIGALS AND ULI GEISSENDOERFER
The Beregovski Suite features klezmer fiddler Alicia Svigals and Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer who reimagine the long-lost melodies of Moshe Beregovski.
BEYOND THE PALE
One of Canada’s most innovative and exciting acoustic roots ensembles uses klezmer and Balkan styles as the point of departure for the band’s genre-defying sound, which is also shaped by everything from jazz and classical music to bluegrass and reggae.
BOOK OF J
Jewlia Eisenberg (Charming Hostess) and Jeremiah Lockwood (Sway Machinery) draw from the rich biblical commentary of Black and White American traditional music, Yiddish ghost songs, and piyutim (paraliturgical songs) for a mix the BCC describes as, “A wonder of haunted American roots music.”
DANIEL KAHN AND THE PAINTED BIRD
With their new record The Butcher’s Share, The Painted Bird returns to the road as the original radical Yiddish borderland bandits with the Berlin-based, Detroit-born, poet/translator/singer/multi-instrumentalist Daniel Kahn fronting a reformed the band with new and old comrades.
GILI YALO
From his base in Tel Aviv, Gili Yalo is launching a solo career with a new project that combines Ethiopian roots with soul, funk, psychedelic, and jazz music. Sung in Amharic, English and Hebrew and set to old-school cool synths, R&B rhythms and golden-age Ethiopian horns.
THE GUY MENDILOW ENSEMBLE
Folding radio drama-style stories into a top-flight world music concert, the ensemble combines musicianship with cinematic storytelling, whisking audiences to distant times and picturesque places while conjuring voices lost to upheaval.
ISLE OF KLEZBOS
Isle of Klezbos are a soulful, fun-loving powerhouse all-gal klezmer sextet with a repertoire that ranges from Neo-traditional folk dance, mystical melodies, Yiddish swing, and retro tango.
MUSIC IN YIDDISH CINEMA with Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer
Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer plumb the fascinating range of music found in vintage Yiddish film soundtracks, from tango and tragic lullaby to a tenement wedding dance. Original arrangements are inspired by scenes from The Dybbuk and Uncle Moses, to newsreels from Moscow’s State Yiddish Theater, and a host of Molly Picon favorites.
NANI
Nani’s hypnotizing vocals breathe new life into jazz, flamenco, North African, and Sephardic and Ladino traditional song while imbued with the traditions and emotional journey of migrant Jewish expulsion from Spain in the 15th century.
TIO CHORINHO
Tio Chorinho is dedicated to performing Brazilian choro music in the tradition of the great Jewish mandolin master Jacob do Bandolim. This uniquely Brazilian form of high-energy improvisational music blends European, African, and South American traditions.
YEMEN BLUES
Ravid Kahalani’s eclectic lineup of musicians - hailing from NYC, Uruguay, and Tel Aviv - have created a powerful sound that mixes Yemenite, West African, mambo, funk and jazz influences.
STUDIO PROGRAM:
JxJ Studio spotlights hybrid cultural events including comedy, theater, workshops and much more!
THE 21%: THE LIVES OF ARAB CITIZENS OF ISRAEL
The 9th annual exploration of the daily lives and challenges of Arab Citizens of Israel features screenings of two mid-length films - Freedom Train and Be/Longing - followed by a conversation with the main subject of Be/Longing, Amal Rihan and JDC Israel Tevet’s Director of Employment Programs for Arabs and for Career Advancement, Suzan Hasan.
AMERICAN PSALMODY
Combining their passion for Jewish liturgical traditions and American folk religious music, Jewlia Eisenberg and Jeremiah Lockwood lead a workshop on spirituals, protest music, and related texts.
ARTIST TALK: ZALMEN MLOTEK
Direct from Stage 42 on 42nd Street in New York City, Zalmen Mlotek, Artistic Director of national Yiddish Theatre, and Music Director of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, joins us to discuss the creation of this new Yiddish-language production. Mlotek will share the stage with company members from the hit off-Broadway music, which is directed by Joel Grey.
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2019
Can’t make it to Tel Aviv for the Eurovision Song Contest Finals? No problem! Join JxJ, the Embassy of Israel, and Eurovision USA for the official DC-area Watch Party, complete with a pop-up bar, Eurovision prizes, trivia, and live musical host Ricky Paul.
GLOBAL SHTETL LIVE
The perfect Mother’s Day experience: bring your Yiddishe Mama to laugh, cry, and kvell at the Yiddish comedy duo of Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion. Their live variety show looks at the global Jewish communities they visited to show the documentaries Narishkayt - about an eye-opening visit to Krakow - and Chewdaism - a kaleidoscopic culinary tear through Montreal.
MYTHS, LIES, AND TRUTHS: ROMANTICIZING TRADITIONAL CULTURES
The Guy Mendilow Ensemble present a multimedia lecture - incorporating video from sand artist Kseniya Simonova - which traces modern day interpretations of Sephardic music from the former Ottoman Empire.
SHABBAT IN SONG
JxJ joins with local congregations throughout the DC area for musical Shabbat celebrations.
TWO JEWS WALK INTO A BAR
Joining together our three loves - good people, good movies, and good drinks—we present a cinematic pub crawl featuring films from the JxJ short series Diverse or Di-Tryin’.
YANKL THE BLACKSMITH
When Yankl, the town drunk and a notorious philanderer, gets married, everyone predicts that it won’t last. Everyone, that is, except Yankl’s young wife. This evening features a play reading as part of Theater J’s Yiddish Theater Lab, dedicated to preserving and reviving the forgotten literature of the Yiddish Theater.
YIDLIVE!
Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion, the creators and stars of the award-winning Yiddish comedy web series YidLife Crisis, mix skits, discussion, and screenings and use the “trojan horse” of comedy to bring Yiddish and yiddishkayt to the fore and engage the topic of Jewish identity for all - from a young 20s and 30s crowd through to those 65 and over.
TICKET AND PASS INFORMATION:
Festival passes are currently on sale online. Individual ticket sales open online on Sunday, March 31, and continue through the festival. Patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance as many shows sell out. Individual tickets for Tier A events are $13.50 online, $16 at the door. Individual tickets for Tier B events are $20 online, $25 at the door. Individual tickets for Tier C events are $30 online, $36 at the door. In addition to individual tickets, JxJ offers Festival passes for $195 and All-Access Passes for $325. Festival passes for patrons 30 years of age or younger are available for $40. More information is available at www.jxjdc.org.
ABOUT JxJ:
Presented by the Edlavitch DCJCC, JxJ is a new multidisciplinary arts project that will encompass the Washington Jewish Film Festival and the Washington Jewish Film Festival alongside original cutting-edge hybrid arts programming - all presented as one massive three-week experience, taking over the greater Washington region.
One of the largest and most respected Jewish film festivals in North America, the Washington Jewish Film Festival (WJFF) is an international exhibition of cinema that celebrates the diversity of Jewish history, culture and experience through the moving image. The WJFF is going into its 29th year.
Between the Festival and year-round programming, JxJ attracts over 25,000 patrons annually across 150+ events.
ABOUT THE EDLAVITCH DCJCC:
The Edlavitch DCJCC - the vibrant home and cultural heart of Jewish Washington – works to preserve and strengthen Jewish identity, tradition and values through a wide variety of social, cultural, recreational and educational programs and services. The Edlavitch DCJCC is currently undergoing a major renovation to its historic 16th Street building. The EDCJCC continues to offer programs around town at cultural destinations and venues throughout Washington, DC.
The EDCJCC embraces inclusion in all its programs and activities. We welcome and encourage the participation of all people, regardless of their background, sexual orientation, abilities, or religion, including interfaith couples and families.
The Edlavitch DCJCC is located at 1529 16th Street, NW in Washington, DC, four blocks east of Dupont Circle.
The Festival will also feature presentations of an international array of extraordinary performing artists who preserve and invigorate Jewish music in contemporary culture. These artists include the acclaimed world music band Yemen Blues; the American roots-influenced Book of J; Ethiopian-Israeli R&B artist Gili Yalo; Brazilian choro performers Tio Chorinho; and world-renowned composer and fiddler Alicia Svigals among others.
Programs will take place at AFI Silver Theatre, Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema, City Winery, Landmark E Street Cinema, George Washington University Black Box Theatre, Goethe-Institut, Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, Pearl Street Warehouse, Penn Social, and Union Stage.
A full festival schedule can be found at www.jxjdc.org. A list of film titles, performances, and studio events is included below.
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION:
REDEMPTION
Director: Joseph Madmony and Boaz Yehonatan Yacov
2018, 104 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
One of the leading lights of contemporary Israeli cinema, Joseph Madmony (Restoration), returns for this spiritually rousing, emotionally intelligent story of exhilaration and faith. (DC Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION:
THE TOBACCONIST
Director: Nikolaus Leytner
2018, 108 min, Narrative
Country: Germany
A tender tale of a young man’s friendship with Sigmund Freud (Bruno Ganz) during the Nazi occupation of Vienna. (DC Premiere)
SPOTLIGHT FILM SELECTIONS:
AUTONOMIES
Director: Yehonatan Indursky
2018, 210 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
In this dystopian drama from Shtisel creator Yehonatan Indurksy, Israel is divided by a wall separating the secular “State of Israel,” with Tel Aviv as its capital, and the “Haredi Autonomy” in Jerusalem, run by the ultra-Orthodox. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM
Director: Arkady Kogan
2019, 84 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
The story of Soviet ‘Refuseniks’ told through the prism of Natan Sharansky’s heroic life. The premiere screening features a post-show conversation with Natan Sharansky and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer. (U.S. Premiere)
KING BIBI
Director: Dan Shadur
2018, 87 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
The arc of Benjamin Netanyahu’s career is tracked using archival footage of his media performances, which contextualizes his evolution from Israel’s great political hope to a controversial and divisive figure. (DC Premiere)
MOE BERG: THE SPY BEHIND HOME PLATE
Director: Aviva Kempner
2019, 98 min, Documentary
Country: USA
Dynamic DC-based filmmaker Aviva Kempner delivers the first feature-length documentary about Moe Berg, the enigmatic and brilliant baseball player who turned spy for the OSS during WII. (World Premiere)
SKIN
Director: Guy Nattiv
2018, 110 min, Narrative
Country: USA
The full-length version of the short film that just garnered Guy Nattiv the first Israeli Oscar win since 1978 centers on the true story of Bryon Widner, a young man raised by skinheads, now desperately trying to turn his back on hatred. (East Coast Premiere)
THE UNORTHODOX
Director: Eliran Malka
2018, 99 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
The underdog story of the founding of the Sephardi Haredi political party, Shas, is a crowd-pleasing comedy-drama with a powerful message. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
MAIN FILM SLATE:
ABE
Director: Fernando Grostein Andrade
2018, 85 min, Narrative
Country: Brazil
In this delectable charmer fresh from Sundance, twelve-year-old Brooklynite Abe navigates the complicated identity issues that arise from having a Jewish-Israeli mother and a Muslim-Palestinian father. (East Coast Premiere)
THE ACCOUNTANT OF AUSCHWITZ
Director: Matthew Shoychet
2018, 78 min, Documentary
Countries: Canada, Germany, Israel, Poland, USA
In 2015, 94-year old Oskar Gröning - the Accountant of Auschwitz - was finally prosecuted for the murder of 300,000 Jews. This gripping documentary presents the race against time to prosecute the last living Nazi war criminals, while raising questions about the very nature of justice. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
ANNA’S WAR
Director: Aleksey Fedorchenko
2018, 75 min, Narrative
Country: Russia
A harrowing and indelible portrayal of war, filtered through the eyes of six-year-old Anna, whose childhood dreams of becoming a musician are replaced by a simple and more immediate desire: survival. (U.S. Premiere)
BACK TO MARCANÃ
Director: Jorge Gurvich
2018, 90 min, Narrative
Countries: Israel, Brazil, Germany
When soccer fanatic Roberto’s ex-wife heads to Rio on a business trip - unexpectedly saddling him with childcare duties during the World Cup - he packs up his son and septuagenarian father for a voyage of their own. (East Coast Premiere)
BARBARA RUBIN & THE EXPLODING NY UNDERGROUND
Director: Chuck Smith
2018, 78 min, Documentary
Country: United States
Filmmaker Barbara Rubin defied sexist conventions, connected Andy Warhol to the Velvet Underground, and Bob Dylan to the Kabbalah. Then, she left behind the 1960’s NYC art scene to lead life as a Hasidic Jew. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
BLACK HONEY: THE LIFE AND POETRY OF AVRAHAM SUTZKEVER
Director: Uri Barbash
2018, 76 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
Often regarded as the greatest Yiddish writer of modern times, Avraham Sutzkever saved Jewish manuscripts from the Nazis, survived WWII after Stalin sent him a private rescue plane, and testified in the Nuremberg Trials. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
BRUSSELS TRANSIT
Director: Samy Szlingerbaum
1980, 80 min, Narrative
Country: Belgium
In 1980, visionary director Samy Szlingerbaum mined the childhood memories of his parents’ immigration to the “promised land” of Belgium to produce the first feature-length Yiddish film in 30 years.
Featured in the WJFF Classic Strand
CARL LAEMMLE
Director: James L. Freedman
2019, 91 min, Documentary
Country: United States
Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle produced hundreds of blockbuster comedies, westerns, and monster movies, earning him respect as a founding father of modern cinema. Remarkably, this professional success pales in comparison with his humanitarian deeds. (DC Premiere)
CHEWDAISM: A TASTE OF JEWISH MONTREAL
Directors: Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman
2018, 62 min, Documentary
Country: Canada
The sharply intellectual and marvelously zany comedic duo behind the viral Yiddish-language web series YidLife Crisis eat their way through Montreal, along the way engaging with the city’s storied Jewish history. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
CITY OF JOEL
Director: Jesse Sweet
2018, 83 min, Documentary
Country: United States
An ultra-orthodox Hasidic group living 50 miles north of NYC wage a turf war to expand their community boundaries. When the Satmars attempt to double the size of their village, their secular neighbors fight back. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
THE CONDUCTOR
Director: Alon Zingman
2018, 84 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
Leaving behind a loving girlfriend and a successful career as a world-renowned musician, Noah Gamliel (Lior Ashkenazi) finds himself conducting his ailing father’s community choir instead. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE DANCING DOGS OF DOMBROVA
Director: Zack Bernbaum
2018, 102 min, Narrative
Country: Canada
In this twisted, witty, and charming story, an estranged sister and brother travel to Poland at the request of their dying grandmother to retrieve an object from her past. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS
Director: Richard Oswald
1919, 50 min, Narrative
Country: Weimar Republic (Germany)
In 1910s Berlin, blackmail and scandal plague a young musician when his relationship with another man is discovered. When he pushes back against his extortion, the consequences prove tragic.
Featured in the Rated LGBTQ and WJFF Classic Strands
THE DIVE
Director: Yona Rozenkier
2018, 91 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
When a family patriarch dies, three brothers must put aside their differences to carry out their father’s last wishes, in Yona Rozenkier’s tender debut examining the nature of masculinity, family, and loyalty. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
DOLCE FINE GIORNATA
Director: Jacek Borcuch
2018, 96 min, Narrative
Country: Poland
In the wake of a terrorist attack in Rome, a Nobel-prize winning woman’s stable life begins to unravel as she develops a relationship with a young immigrant. (East Coast Premiere)
DUDU TASSA & THE KUWAITIS: DON’T BE SO MODEST, YOU AREN’T THAT GREAT!
Director: Tal Hake
2018, 64 min, Documentary
Country: Israel, USA
When Radiohead invited Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis to join their 2017 US Tour, the Jewish-Arab Israeli ensemble with Yemeni and Iraqi roots grabbed their instruments, and a camera. (North American Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE EINSTEIN OF SEX
Director: Rosa von Praunheim
1999, 100 min, Narrative
Country: Germany
Throughout the decade leading up to the Third Reich, German-Jewish sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld and his peers fight to challenge and abolish anti-homosexuality laws in the Weimar Republic.
Featured in the Rated LGBTQ and WJFF Classic strands
FAMILY IN TRANSITION
Director: Ofir Trainin
2018, 70 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
The story of a family in a small traditional town in Israel, whose lives change completely after Amit, father of four children, confides to his wife Galit that he’s a transgender woman. (DC Premiere)
Featured in the Rated LGBTQ strand
FIDDLER: A MIRACLE OF MIRACLES
Director: Max Lewkowicz
2019, 90 min, Documentary
Country: USA
The first comprehensive documentary to chronicle the birth and life Fiddler on the Roof, one of the most iconic offerings of American culture. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ strand
FORGOTTEN SOLDIER
Director: Lucile Smith
2018, 69 min, Documentary
Country: UK
In May 1940, a young Dutchman named Sally Noach escaped from Belgium days before the Nazis occupied the Low Countries. Now, nearly forty years after his death, his daughter Lady Irene Hatter has decided to retrace his steps and uncover the truth behind her father’s wartime exploits. (U.S. Premiere)
A FORTUNATE MAN
Director: Bille August
2018, 168 min, Narrative
Country: Denmark
Per leaves behind Jutland and a strict religious upbringing, setting sail for the metropolitan Copenhagen of the 1880s, in this sweeping epic from Academy Award-winner Bille August. (DC Premiere)
FROM CAIRO TO THE CLOUD: THE WORLD OF THE CAIRO GENIZA
Director: Michelle Paymar
2018, 92 min, Documentary
Countries: Canada, Egypt, France, Israel, USA, UK
In 1896, Solomon Schechter discovered a trove of manuscripts in an ancient synagogue in Cairo, revolutionizing our understanding of a thousand years of Jewish life in the heart of the Islamic world. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
HASIDISTOCK
Director: Asaf Galay and Avida Livny
2019, 90 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
A fascinating peek at the creative process of three of the top Orthodox artists working in the music industry today: Gad Elbaz, Motty Steinmetz and Zusha. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
HIDDEN FACE
Director: Eyal Datz
2018, 54 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
A unique journey into the meeting point of Jewish faith and the Holocaust. Through the Admor of Sanz-Klausenburg’s story of heroism, the film exposes the complex relations between the ultra-orthodox Jews and the memory of the Shoah. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
LEONA
Director: Isaac Cherem
2018, 95 min, Narrative
Country: Mexico
A young Jewish woman from Mexico City finds herself torn between her family and her forbidden love for a non-Jewish man. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
THE LIGHT OF HOPE
Director: Silvia Quer
2018, 96 min, Narrative
Country: Spain
The harrowing true story of Elisabeth Eidenbenz, founder of the Mothers of Elne, which saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish mothers and children along with other refugees during WWII. (DC Premiere)
MACK THE KNIFE - BRECHT’S THREEPENNY FILM
Director: Joachim Lang
2018, 130 min, Narrative
Country: Germany, Belgium
Against all odds, Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera becomes a phenomenal success, and the film industry picks up the scent, seeking to make the master direct a film version of his “play with music.” (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE MAMBONIKS
Director: Alexis Gillespie
2018, 90 min, Documentary
Country: USA
During the 1950s, free-spirited, mostly Jewish dancers from New York City fell head over heels for the mambo, a hot dance from Havana, Cuba. Their love for Latin rhythms earned them a nickname: the Mamboniks. (DC Premiere)
MARIANNE & LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE
Director: Nick Broomfield
2019, 97 min, Documentary
Country: USA
Renowned filmmaker Nick Broomfield’s most personal and romantic film to date captures the beautiful, yet tragic, love story between Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse, Marianne Ihlen. (East Coast Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE MOVER
Director: Davis Simanis
2018, 87 min, Narrative
Country: Latvia
Zanis and Johanna Lipke’s heroic and clandestine efforts to save Jews during WWII directly led to the rescue of one fifth of the approximately 200 Jews who survived the war in Latvia. (U.S. Premiere)
MY POLISH HONEYMOON
Director: Elise Otzenberger
2019, 88 min, Narrative
Country: France
Fresh off their wedding ceremony, a Jewish couple from Paris travel to Poland for a memorial service. The eye-opening trip awkwardly doubles as their honeymoon in this delightful romantic comedy. (U.S. Premiere)
PARIS SONG
Director: Jeff Vespa
2018, 90 min, Narrative
Country: Kazakhstan, Latvia, USA
Kazakh folk hero Amre Kashaubayev’s journeys to 1925 Paris Expo to compete in an international singing competition, where he develops an unlikely friendship with Jewish-American songwriter George Gershwin.
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE PASSENGERS
Director: Ryan Porush
2019, 72 min, Documentary
Country: USA, Israel, Ethiopia
For centuries, there was a thriving Jewish community in Ethiopia. After the establishment of Israel, thousands relocated there, and now thousands more are fighting to join their families and friends. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
SACRED SPACES-FROM TEMPLE TO SYNAGOGUES: ABSENCE AND PRESENCE
Director: Celia Lowenstein
2019, 90 min, Documentary
Country: France
A visually audacious tour of the 3,000-year history of the Jewish Diaspora, told through Jewish spaces of worship. If synagogues could speak, they would tell the story embodied in Sacred Spaces. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
SEDER-MASOCHISM
Director: Nina Paley
2018, 78 min, Narrative
Country: USA
An animated musical that channels Passover Seder story, with events from the Book of Exodus retold by Moses, Aharon, the Angel of Death, Jesus and the director’s father. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
SEFARAD
Director: Luis Ismael
2019, 90 min, Narrative
Country: Portugal
A sweeping epic that covers Jewish history in Portugal from the times of Crypto Jews in 1496 - when King Manuel I prohibited the open practice of Judaism - through to the Nazi regime and modern times. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
SHOOTING LIFE
Director: David Kreiner
2018, 84 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
While helping his war-weary students find their voices, a high school teacher attempts to start a new life in Sderot, an Israeli town constantly under threat. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
Featured in the Rated LGBTQ strand
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE PIANO
Director: Philipp Jedicke
2018, 85 min, Documentary
Country: Germany
Grammy-winning composer and entertainer Chilly Gonzales zags between rap, electro and solo piano music, along the way inspiring and collaborating with Feist, Jarvis Cocker, Peaches, Daft Punk and Drake. (East Coast Premiere)
Featured in the BEATSxJ Strand
THE STATE AGAINST MANDELA AND OTHERS
Directors: Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte
2018, 105 min, Documentary
Country: France
Nelson Mandela’s story seized center stage during the Rivonia trial in 1963-1964. He, alongside eight others, faced the death penalty. To a man, they stood firm and turned the tables on the state: just as they were on trail, so too was Africa’s apartheid regime. (DC Premiere)
SUSTAINABLE NATION
Director: Micah Smith
2018, 60 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
Sustainable Nation follows three extraordinary individuals doing their part to bring sustainable water access to an increasingly thirsty planet, using solutions developed in water-poor Israel. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
TOMAN
Director: Ondřej Trojan
2018, 144 min, Narrative
Country: Czech Republic
Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Ondřej Trojan (Zelary) presents a fascinating historical drama revolving around Zdeněk Toman, a controversial and singular figure in Czech politics. (Mid-Atlantic Premiere)
UNSETTLING
Director: Iris Zaki
2018, 70 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
Despite their initial hesitation, settlers from various backgrounds open up and engage in honest, surprising, and sometimes funny conversations, providing a fresh take on Israeli reality from both sides of the Green Line. (DC Premiere)
WILD KIDS
Director: Tal Pesses
2018, 54 min, Documentary
Country: Israel
Behind the heavy metal doors of an old Jerusalem bomb shelter, there lies a tiny animation studio, where the children of Russian immigrants meet weekly to create a colorful carnival of monsters and earthquakes. (East Coast Premiere)
WORKING WOMAN
Director: Michal Aviad
2018, 93 min, Narrative
Country: Israel
With her husband’s restaurant business in jeopardy, a mother of three gets a job as assistant to a powerful realtor, and must fight back against his sexual advances and workplace harassment. (DC Premiere)
SHORT FILMS PROGRAM:
DIVERSE OR DI-TRYIN’
73 min
Countries: Israel, Spain, UK, USA
The adage, “our differences makes us stronger” is borne out in unexpected, funny, and powerful ways in this collection of shorts.
Featured films: 100 Faces; Death Metal Grandma; Edek; Girl With a Fork in a World of Soup; Granny Knows Best; and Krisis.
BACK TO THE JEWTURE
71 min
Countries: Australia, France, Germany, Israel, USA
The six shorts in this compendium tackle war, spirituality, and identity as past becomes future, and the future acts a rear-view mirror.
Featured Films: 5 Years After the War; Alef B’Tamuz; Men of Clay; Nazi VR; The Rolling Ground; and The Warsaw Robin.
SET APART
73 min
Countries: Israel, Russia, Switzerland, UK, USA
A series of shorts that examine what sets us apart from our families, communities, and peers.
Featured Films: Black Hat; Elina; Liliths; Race; Starboy; Travelogue Tel Aviv; and Trypitch.
MUSIC PROGRAM:
THE ANCIENT LAW with Live Accompaniment by Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin
The gem of German- Jewish cinema will be shown with an original live score by the extraordinary violinist Alicia Svigals (The Klezmatics, The Yellow Ticket) and pianist Donald Sosin.
BEREGOVSKI SUITE FEATURING ALICIA SVIGALS AND ULI GEISSENDOERFER
The Beregovski Suite features klezmer fiddler Alicia Svigals and Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer who reimagine the long-lost melodies of Moshe Beregovski.
BEYOND THE PALE
One of Canada’s most innovative and exciting acoustic roots ensembles uses klezmer and Balkan styles as the point of departure for the band’s genre-defying sound, which is also shaped by everything from jazz and classical music to bluegrass and reggae.
BOOK OF J
Jewlia Eisenberg (Charming Hostess) and Jeremiah Lockwood (Sway Machinery) draw from the rich biblical commentary of Black and White American traditional music, Yiddish ghost songs, and piyutim (paraliturgical songs) for a mix the BCC describes as, “A wonder of haunted American roots music.”
DANIEL KAHN AND THE PAINTED BIRD
With their new record The Butcher’s Share, The Painted Bird returns to the road as the original radical Yiddish borderland bandits with the Berlin-based, Detroit-born, poet/translator/singer/multi-instrumentalist Daniel Kahn fronting a reformed the band with new and old comrades.
GILI YALO
From his base in Tel Aviv, Gili Yalo is launching a solo career with a new project that combines Ethiopian roots with soul, funk, psychedelic, and jazz music. Sung in Amharic, English and Hebrew and set to old-school cool synths, R&B rhythms and golden-age Ethiopian horns.
THE GUY MENDILOW ENSEMBLE
Folding radio drama-style stories into a top-flight world music concert, the ensemble combines musicianship with cinematic storytelling, whisking audiences to distant times and picturesque places while conjuring voices lost to upheaval.
ISLE OF KLEZBOS
Isle of Klezbos are a soulful, fun-loving powerhouse all-gal klezmer sextet with a repertoire that ranges from Neo-traditional folk dance, mystical melodies, Yiddish swing, and retro tango.
MUSIC IN YIDDISH CINEMA with Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer
Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer plumb the fascinating range of music found in vintage Yiddish film soundtracks, from tango and tragic lullaby to a tenement wedding dance. Original arrangements are inspired by scenes from The Dybbuk and Uncle Moses, to newsreels from Moscow’s State Yiddish Theater, and a host of Molly Picon favorites.
NANI
Nani’s hypnotizing vocals breathe new life into jazz, flamenco, North African, and Sephardic and Ladino traditional song while imbued with the traditions and emotional journey of migrant Jewish expulsion from Spain in the 15th century.
TIO CHORINHO
Tio Chorinho is dedicated to performing Brazilian choro music in the tradition of the great Jewish mandolin master Jacob do Bandolim. This uniquely Brazilian form of high-energy improvisational music blends European, African, and South American traditions.
YEMEN BLUES
Ravid Kahalani’s eclectic lineup of musicians - hailing from NYC, Uruguay, and Tel Aviv - have created a powerful sound that mixes Yemenite, West African, mambo, funk and jazz influences.
STUDIO PROGRAM:
JxJ Studio spotlights hybrid cultural events including comedy, theater, workshops and much more!
THE 21%: THE LIVES OF ARAB CITIZENS OF ISRAEL
The 9th annual exploration of the daily lives and challenges of Arab Citizens of Israel features screenings of two mid-length films - Freedom Train and Be/Longing - followed by a conversation with the main subject of Be/Longing, Amal Rihan and JDC Israel Tevet’s Director of Employment Programs for Arabs and for Career Advancement, Suzan Hasan.
AMERICAN PSALMODY
Combining their passion for Jewish liturgical traditions and American folk religious music, Jewlia Eisenberg and Jeremiah Lockwood lead a workshop on spirituals, protest music, and related texts.
ARTIST TALK: ZALMEN MLOTEK
Direct from Stage 42 on 42nd Street in New York City, Zalmen Mlotek, Artistic Director of national Yiddish Theatre, and Music Director of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, joins us to discuss the creation of this new Yiddish-language production. Mlotek will share the stage with company members from the hit off-Broadway music, which is directed by Joel Grey.
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2019
Can’t make it to Tel Aviv for the Eurovision Song Contest Finals? No problem! Join JxJ, the Embassy of Israel, and Eurovision USA for the official DC-area Watch Party, complete with a pop-up bar, Eurovision prizes, trivia, and live musical host Ricky Paul.
GLOBAL SHTETL LIVE
The perfect Mother’s Day experience: bring your Yiddishe Mama to laugh, cry, and kvell at the Yiddish comedy duo of Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion. Their live variety show looks at the global Jewish communities they visited to show the documentaries Narishkayt - about an eye-opening visit to Krakow - and Chewdaism - a kaleidoscopic culinary tear through Montreal.
MYTHS, LIES, AND TRUTHS: ROMANTICIZING TRADITIONAL CULTURES
The Guy Mendilow Ensemble present a multimedia lecture - incorporating video from sand artist Kseniya Simonova - which traces modern day interpretations of Sephardic music from the former Ottoman Empire.
SHABBAT IN SONG
JxJ joins with local congregations throughout the DC area for musical Shabbat celebrations.
TWO JEWS WALK INTO A BAR
Joining together our three loves - good people, good movies, and good drinks—we present a cinematic pub crawl featuring films from the JxJ short series Diverse or Di-Tryin’.
YANKL THE BLACKSMITH
When Yankl, the town drunk and a notorious philanderer, gets married, everyone predicts that it won’t last. Everyone, that is, except Yankl’s young wife. This evening features a play reading as part of Theater J’s Yiddish Theater Lab, dedicated to preserving and reviving the forgotten literature of the Yiddish Theater.
YIDLIVE!
Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion, the creators and stars of the award-winning Yiddish comedy web series YidLife Crisis, mix skits, discussion, and screenings and use the “trojan horse” of comedy to bring Yiddish and yiddishkayt to the fore and engage the topic of Jewish identity for all - from a young 20s and 30s crowd through to those 65 and over.
TICKET AND PASS INFORMATION:
Festival passes are currently on sale online. Individual ticket sales open online on Sunday, March 31, and continue through the festival. Patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance as many shows sell out. Individual tickets for Tier A events are $13.50 online, $16 at the door. Individual tickets for Tier B events are $20 online, $25 at the door. Individual tickets for Tier C events are $30 online, $36 at the door. In addition to individual tickets, JxJ offers Festival passes for $195 and All-Access Passes for $325. Festival passes for patrons 30 years of age or younger are available for $40. More information is available at www.jxjdc.org.
ABOUT JxJ:
Presented by the Edlavitch DCJCC, JxJ is a new multidisciplinary arts project that will encompass the Washington Jewish Film Festival and the Washington Jewish Film Festival alongside original cutting-edge hybrid arts programming - all presented as one massive three-week experience, taking over the greater Washington region.
One of the largest and most respected Jewish film festivals in North America, the Washington Jewish Film Festival (WJFF) is an international exhibition of cinema that celebrates the diversity of Jewish history, culture and experience through the moving image. The WJFF is going into its 29th year.
Between the Festival and year-round programming, JxJ attracts over 25,000 patrons annually across 150+ events.
ABOUT THE EDLAVITCH DCJCC:
The Edlavitch DCJCC - the vibrant home and cultural heart of Jewish Washington – works to preserve and strengthen Jewish identity, tradition and values through a wide variety of social, cultural, recreational and educational programs and services. The Edlavitch DCJCC is currently undergoing a major renovation to its historic 16th Street building. The EDCJCC continues to offer programs around town at cultural destinations and venues throughout Washington, DC.
The EDCJCC embraces inclusion in all its programs and activities. We welcome and encourage the participation of all people, regardless of their background, sexual orientation, abilities, or religion, including interfaith couples and families.
The Edlavitch DCJCC is located at 1529 16th Street, NW in Washington, DC, four blocks east of Dupont Circle.
