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Filtered By: Germany Clear All

Adventures of a Mathematician

Based on the autobiography by Polish-Jewish mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, ADVENTURES OF A MATHEMATICIAN follows Ulam’s dramatic journey to the United States in the 1930s where he plays a vital role in The Manhattan Project in the creation of the hydrogen bomb while desperately trying to help his sister flee Nazi occupied Poland.

Aida's Secrets

Family secrets and lies are revealed in this documentary detective story which begins with World War II and ends with a 21st-century reunion of long lost brothers. With the help of a genealogical search organization, Izak, an Israeli kibbutznik, finally meets the Canadian blind younger brother he did not know he had, when both are in their mid-60s. Embracing one another, they work hard to try to pry secrets loose from their tight-lipped mother Aida. - Sara L. Rubin

Bee Season

In the Naumann household, 11-year-old Eliza (Flora Cross) feels she has little to offer in a family of overachievers. All that changes when she wins the spelling bee, much to the surprise of everyone.

Born in Auschwitz

This is the story of a Jewish baby who was born in the death camp before the liberation and survived. An extraordinary journey of the second and third generation, breaking the cycle of trauma to free themselves from Auschwitz - forever.

Bye Bye Germany

“After World War II approximately 4,000 Jews stayed in Germany. Later, none of them could explain to their children why,” we learn in Sam Gabarski’s Bye Bye Germany. This stylized, humor-laced drama devotes itself to answering this question by portraying the lives of a sundry group of survivors who remain in Germany immediately after liberation and are led by a charismatic, top hat–wearing jokester (Run Lola Run’s masterfully expressive Moritz Bleibtreu).

Charlatan | 2021 Freedom of Expression Award Agnieszka Holland

Legendary Polish filmmaker and recipient of SFJFF's Freedom of Expresson Award, Agnieszka Holland's newest film is a richly drawn biopic of Czech healer Jan Mikolášek who rose to fame through his uncanny ability to diagnose disease with a mere glance at the patient's urine.

Closed Season

In this quiet but intense psychological drama, director Franziska Schlotterer crafts an erotically charged story set in the remote mountains of the Black Forest during WWII. A young Jew fleeing the Nazis is saved by a German peasant couple, but soon discovers that there is an unexpected price to pay for his salvation. The spare but sumptuous cinematography captures the passion, desire and jealousy waiting to explode.

The End of Meat

This provocative documentary asks, “What would the world look like if we didn’t eat meat?”

Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs - The Iraqi Connection

FORGET BAGHDAD: Jews and Arabs - The Iraqi ConnectionThe son of a Shi'ite emigrant family that fled Iraq for political reasons, Swiss film director Samir has created a brilliant tour-de-force in his new documentary FORGET BAGHDAD. This entertaining, ironic and visually stunning film essay is an exploration of the lives of Iraqi Jewish writers in Israel, former members of the Communist Party, in which Samir’s father was also a member.

Go for Zucker! - An Unorthodox Comedy

Jaeckie Zucker, a hard-drinking, pool-playing, lovable scoundrel in Berlin, is up to his ears in debt. When he learns that his long-estranged mother has willed him a sizeable inheritance, he thinks his ship has come in. But there’s a catch: Jaeckie--who gave up all things Jewish long ago--must first reconcile with his Orthodox Jewish brother, who is coming, family in tow, for the funeral. The madcap adventure that follows finds Jaeckie desperately trying to "pass" as observant, while trying to ditch the funeral so he can play in a high-stakes pool tournament.Politically incorrect, ironic and utterly contemporary, what makes Go for Zucker! such a standout is that, while in the irreverent mode of Mel Brooks and Larry David, this is a comedy from Germany--daring to present Jews in a guilt-free context beyond the Holocaust. Berlin-based writer/director Dani Levy has created a screwball comedy that breaks every taboo.

The Golem

About This Film

The Green Prince

The Green Prince is such an extraordinary story that one is tempted to think it is fiction. Based on Mosab Hassan Yousef’s memoir, Son of Hamas, it is a story of two men, spy and handler, whom history insists must be adversaries. That they could reach a point of trust or friendship seems absurd. Embroidering a tangled web of intrigue, terror, and betrayal, director Nadav Schirman builds superb tension throughout a surprisingly emotional journey.

Hannah Arendt

This sophisticated drama about the life, career and loves of German Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) shines a light on one of the greatest independent thinkers of the 20th century. When New Yorker magazine sends her to Jerusalem in 1961 to witness the trial of the notorious Nazi, Adolph Eichmann, Arendt begins to formulate her now famous concept ”the banality of evil” that opens up a flood of controversy.

Harbour of Hope

In the spring of 1945 Irene, Ewa and Joe were among the nearly 30,000 survivors liberated from German concentration camps by the Red Cross and sent to the peaceful harbor town of Malmö, Sweden. Here they started life again. The survivors heartbreaking, yet life-affirming personal life journeys culminate in an emotionally powerful film about dealing with repressed wartime memories, the importance of a helping hand and finding a “harbor of hope.” [MINIGUIDE 72/70]

Invisible

Lily and Nira share a terrible bond: They were both victims of a serial rapist in the 1970s. A chance encounter brings them together 20 years after they identified their attacker in a police lineup. Based on real-life events, Invisible builds slowly, like a crackling bonfire. Veteran documentary filmmaker Michal Aviad makes innovative use of historical footage in her first narrative film and explores the aftershocks of sexual violence with surprising restraint. [MINIGUIDE 72/70]

Jaffa

This gut-wrenching drama has both mainstream appeal and a keen political and psychological edge. Reuven owns an auto shop where he employs his son and daughter, as well as two Arab mechanics, when an explosive argument at the dinner table sets off a tragic chain of events. Jaffa showcases a raw performance by Dana Ivgy as daughter Mali, a young woman who—against all odds—transcends the culture of fear and hatred consuming her family.

The Kingdom of Survival

M.A. Littler’s film is one part travelogue and one part paean to eight radical thinkers—including Noam Chomsky, Joe Bageant and Bob Meisenbach—who have tried to make the world a better place. If you are uncomfortable with questioning capitalism, then stay home and check your investments online. If you are interested in questioning authority as a form of tikkun olam, then this beautifully filmed exploration of ideas is for you. [MINIGUIDE 70/70]

Knowledge Is the Beginning

Conductor Daniel Barenboim believes that “a life without music is impoverished.” In the 1990s, Barenboim and the late Palestinian-born writer Edward Said created the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, comprising talented young musicians from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia. The film, an unusual hybrid of a concert movie and a documentary about artistic diplomacy, eloquently chronicles the life of the orchestra.

Labyrinth of Lies

A young prosecutor in postwar West Germany investigates a massive conspiracy to cover up the Nazi pasts of prominent public figures.

A Matter of Size

Herzl is a 340-pound chef who lives with his mother, and is immersed in a culture of rigid diet regimes and fitness classes. Just as he and his seriously overweight buddies in the working-class town of Ramle, Israel, seem beaten down by weight-loss failure, Herzl discovers the one place where fat guys can be rock stars: the world of sumo wrestling. An endearing and poignant comic tale, with echoes of The Full Monty, A Matter of Size traces these flawed men’s tender and funny path from body shame to body celebration, and from loneliness to love. A touching movie with a plus-size heart.

Mr. Kaplan

Jacob Kaplan has built a happy life in Uruguay after fleeing from Poland during World War II. But at 76 his health falters, and he fears that he is a failure. He rashly concocts a scheme to kidnap a man he’s convinced is a Nazi and ship him to Israel to stand trial. His bungled, Wiesenthal-esque quest not only makes for scenic viewing, it yields a genuinely surprising resolution.

The Nasty Girl

An insightful, merciless black comedy - one of the most viciously funny satires to come out of Germany. Schoolgirl Sonja (Lena Stolze, featured in THE WHITE ROSE) comes from a prominent family and has gained the respect of the people in her small Bavarian town by winning a prize for best essay in a European competition.

Nazi VR

What may be the last WWII Nazi trial, was also the first to use virtual reality in the courtroom.

Oriented

A striking new documentary from Israel, ORIENTED examines life for gay Israelis and Palestinians in Tel Aviv.

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