Jewish Film Festival 2025

The films in the 23rd edition of the JBFC’s Jewish Film Festival offer close encounters with remarkable individuals in a wide range of fiction films and documentaries. In all of these films, personal stories lead to broader perspectives on history, culture, and society. 

The festival opens with Oren Rudavsky’s vivid new documentary Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, which will inspire you to revisit Wiesel’s great writing, but more importantly to follow the example of his profound humanism and compassion. Documentary portraits of performers form a popular genre; we offer two outstanding examples of the form, Janis Ian: Breaking Silence and Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause, which reveal in both subjects an incredible resilience and ability to transform and grow. Israeli architect Ada Karmi-Melamede may not be a household name, but she should be. Ada: My Mother the Architect, the candid and artful portrait from director Yael Melamede, may help bring well-deserved attention to a true pioneer. The engaging biopic Midas Man may be about the rise of The Beatles, but its focus is on the amazing and tragic story of Brian Epstein, who discovered and managed them.

A mix of exciting films, both new and old, rounds out the lineup. Dani Rosenberg’s Of Dogs and Men is a quietly powerful drama made in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks, while the acclaimed Come Closer is a coming-of-age story and stunning debut by its young director. Along with these new films are some archival treasures: a restoration of the silent film Breaking Home Ties, about New York immigrant life in the 1920s, and the 1980 Hungarian film The Heiresses, a pre-war drama starring Isabelle Huppert. Also from 1980, but made closer to home, is the charming documentary Brighton Beach. Family day programs include the Marx Brothers’ comic masterpiece Duck Soup, and Barry Levinson’s deeply touching, semi-autobiographical Avalon. Finally, a Sunday morning panel will kibbitz about the surprising wealth of outstanding Jewish-themed films in 2024.

–David Schwartz, Festival Curator

Download our Festival Brochure to learn more about this year’s lineup