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U.K. Jewish Film Festival — Not Just for Jews

by Zoe Strimpel
Fri, 9 Nov 2007 at 1:01 AM
updated Fri, 9 Nov 2007 at 1:28 AM

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It's all go for cinema in London at the moment. Clawing its way to mainstream eminence — not without effort — is the U.K. Jewish Film Festival, which began on a small scale in the seaside town of Brighton 11 years ago. Only in 2003 did it arrive in London, and it now has screenings all around the U.K., in response to demand.

According to the festival's artistic director, Gali Gold, the major challenge facing the organizers is convincing the non-Jewish world that this is not just for Jews, and vice versa. "We are trying to reach out — this is about the idea of cultures coming together, mingling, learning ... about a program that is inclusive rather than exclusive."

To this end, there is a range of films to delight, challenge, and for some, inevitably, outrage. The festival kicked off in Jewish North London (where it spends the first week) with a screening of "Gorgeous!," a sweet, unchallenging "Sex and the City"-type movie set in Paris. Edgier offerings, which Ms. Gold, an Israeli, hopes will demonstrate the range and explorative spirit of the festival, include "Bridge Over the Wadi," which follows the first year of a group of students in a bilingual Arab-Jewish school in the Galilee. Another film, "Between Two Notes," is about the history of Arab music, which spans Tel Aviv to Baghdad. Both of these are showing at the famously, and furiously, anti-Israel university SOAS (School of Oriental and Asian Studies).

Another provocative stand-out is "Encounter Point" — a sold-out documentary playing Friday night. This is a screening destined to be "interesting," Ms. Gold said. Indeed, it is a documentary about a bereaved, wounded Palestinian, a bereaved Israeli, an American, and a Canandian who take on initiatives to create peace in the vacuum created by politics, fear, and war. The bereaved will actually be in the cinema afterward to lead a panel discussion, and its hard to imagine people will stay calm. "Challenging" is certainly one way of putting it. Then there is another documentary, "Jerusalem is Proud to Present," showing at the ICA on Sunday, about the run-up to the 2007 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade.

Ms. Gold is at pains to point out that not all the films are Israeli, or about Israel — only 30 per cent are (roughly 16 titles). Non-Israeli movies include "The Counterfeiters," a World War II true story about Jewish expert forgers who are prisoners in a concentration camp and set to work making dollars to flood the Allied countries. There's also "The End of the Neubacher Project," a film by a young Austrian about the Nazi past of his family. The U.K. Jewish Film Festival is without a doubt one of the highlights in London's cultural calendar.

U.K. Jewish Film Festival: http://www.ukjewishfilmfestival.org.uk/
Through November 15

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