Inaugural Boca International Jewish Film Festival Unveils 2024 Line-Up
February 17 – March 17, 2024
Festival Opens Sunday, February 25 with Bombers & Masterpieces & Remembering Gene Wilder!
Festival Closes With The Catsksills, Sunday, March 17
For Tickets, sponsorship opportunities and more information, visit www.JFilmBoca.org.
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The Boca International Jewish Film Festival will present the Southeast premiere of The Trials of Alan Dershowitz on Saturday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at The Studio at Mizner Park. Alan Dershowitz and director, John Curtin, will be in attendance and will be part of a Q&A session following the film.
Festival Presents 70 Feature Films & Shorts, 10 Florida Premieres, 23 Palm Beach County Premieres & 24 Films from Israel including the film ‘Seven Blessings’ Israel’s submission to the Academy Awards.
BOCA RATON, FL – The Inaugural Boca International Jewish Film Festival (BIJFF) announced its highly anticipated film line-up for its first edition, February 25 – March 17, 2024. BIJFF will present features, documentaries and short films from the U.S. and around the world, including Israel, Canada, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, France, Germany, and Australia, and will play host to filmmakers, producers and actors to represent and discuss their films at Cinemark Palace 2o, Movies of Delray and Lake Worth and the Wick Theater.
“Cinema, as a universal language, transcends cultural divides and speaks to the common threads of the human experience,” said Wendy Honig, co-founder. “While this festival celebrates Israeli and Jewish culture, the art of film becomes a powerful force, reminding us that, irrespective of our backgrounds, we are all storytellers sharing the same narrative of humanity.”
Opening Day kicks off with two Palm Beach County Premieres, Bombers & Masterpieces: Recovering the Life, Art and Diary of Rene Gimpel with a talk by a curator from the Boca Museum of Art; and the evening opening film event Remembering Gene Wilder – Honoring the Festival Grand Benefactors – Billi & Bernie Marcus and Marilyn & Jay Weinberg. There will be a patron get together at 5pm at the theater followed by the film at 7pm. The film will have an introduction by Mel Brooks.
Bombers & Masterpieces is a documentary mosaic recounting the life, times, and diary of Rene Gimpel, an important Jewish art dealer, friend of almost all major French artists of the first half of the 20th century, and resistance fighter who died in the Neuengamme concentration camp.
Remembering Gene Wilder tells the story of the beloved comedic genius. Gene Wilder was born Jerome Silberman to an assimilated Milwaukee Jewish family, and his childhood buddies called him Jerry. The world would come to know him as Gene Wilder (1933 – 2016), an endearing comic genius through an extraordinary string of film roles that seem to grow deeper, funnier and more humane with time: from the timid Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks’ The Producers to the strange and magical title role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, from his inspired on-screen partnership with Richard Pryor in movies like Silver Streak to the comedy classics of Blazing Saddles, The Frisco Kid and Young Frankenstein. Opening Night festivities will take place on Sunday, February 25 at Cinemark Palace 20.
Other special premiere films include:
- Seven Blessings – Winner of Best Picture – 10 Israeli Academy Awards and Israel’s Submission to the Oscars – Marie was just two years old when her mother gifted her to her infertile sister, a common Moroccan custom at the time. 40 years later, Marie travels from France to Israel, where her family now lives, to marry her one true love.
- Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara – In 1858, the Pope’s soldiers burst into the Jewish home of the Mortara family to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son who had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education.
- Less Than Kosher – In-person appearance with film star and singer Shaina Silver-Baird – When self-proclaimed bad Jew Viv lands ass-backwards into a job as a Cantor at her family’s synagogue, she’s thrown into a wild ride of illicit affairs, drug trips, tense family drama, self discovery and some serious Jewish bops.
- Rabbi on the Block – In person appearance with Tamar Manasseh, the charismatic rabbi and community activist from the south side of Chicago, wants African Americans and Jews to become closer allies. Tamar Manasseh is a big star and has a show in development with Oprah Winfrey. Oprah Winfrey sees Tamar as the successor to what Oprah has been able to achieve.
The fest will close with the South Palm Beach County Premiere of the 2024 documentary, The Catskills, directed by Lex Gillespie. The Catskills is a humorous and nostalgic tribute to what became affectionately known as the Borscht Belt. Stand-up comedians share their best shtick while former waiters, entertainers, and dance instructors recount tales of the family-run resorts and bungalows that inspired films like Dirty Dancing. Director Lex Gillespie (The Mamboniks) maps the development of the vacation destination, from a refuge for working-class Jews seeking a respite from poverty in overcrowded New York City tenements to a lavish summer playground for the affluent. Closing Day Catskill festivities will take place at the Movies of Delray on Sunday, March 17 at 1:30 p.m.
Additional Boca International Jewish Film Festival highlights include:
- Support Israel and Israeli film on Tuesday, December 12 at 2 p.m. at the Movies of Delray with a free screening of the film On the Map, presented in-person by the acclaimed filmmaker, Dani Menkin who will also present his “work in progress” antisemitism film, “Colleyville.” Donations will be accepted for Israel.
- A screening of Into the Arms of Strangers on Thursday, January 18 at 2 p.m. at the Movies of Delray. The film won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Filmmaker, Deborah Oppenheimer will be interviewed after the film by Dr. Robert Watson as a part of the Marilyn and Jay Weinberg Holocaust Film Series.
- The Festival Cinebash Patron event will feature the Florida Premiere of Last Man Standing: The Chronicles of Myron Sugerman, a film about a Jewish gangster, on Tuesday, January 30 at 7 p.m. at the Wick Theater. Myron Sugarman, the subject of the film, and the film’s Director Jonny Caplan will be in attendance. Patron dinner will be at 5 p.m, film at 7 p.m.
- The Billi and Bernie Marcus Year-Round Film Program will offer films throughout the year to our community and is included as a benefit to our Patrons and Passholders.
- The Marilyn and Jay Weinberg Holocaust Film Series will present 8 films during the Festival and films throughout the year, and is included as a benefit to our Patrons and Passholders.
Screenings of this year’s films will be held at Cinemark Palace 20 in Boca Raton from February 25 – March 2 and the Movies of Delray from March 3 – 17.
Passes for both in-theater and virtual films before, during and after the festival are on sale now for all films excluding the Cinebash opening and the Closing films. 20-Film Passes are available for $199, and it includes a free one year membership to ChaiFlicks to watch films at home; 10-Film Passes are $108 ; 5-Film Passes are $59); and All Virtual Film Passes are $199 and includes all films offered virtually during the Festival, as well as a free one year membership to ChaiFlicks to watch films at home. Individual tickets will be also available starting at $12.
For tickets, sponsorship opportunities and more information, visit www.JFilmBoca.org.
About the Boca International Jewish Film Festival:
The Boca International Jewish Film Festival is a non-profit all volunteer organization celebrating Jewish culture through the medium of film. Founded by Wendy Honig, Lesley Rich and Arleen Roberts, the festival aims to bring together diverse audiences to explore and appreciate the rich tapestry of Jewish spirit, culture, traditions and humor. With a thoughtfully curated selection of films, year ‘round programming, discussions and special events, the Boca International Jewish Film Festival promises to be a cultural highlight for the Boca Raton community and beyond.
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