Deborah Muller
For a quarter of a century, the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival (GPJFF) has celebrated Jewish culture through film, bringing an exciting lineup of films to Arizona, honoring Jewish traditions and heritage. Our 25th anniversary will not be any different, except this year it will include three extra days of screenings, and take place in the comfort of one’s own home! From Feb. 14 through March 3, 2021, the 25th Annual Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival will screen films showcasing the best of Jewish life, history, and heritage. This year, due to ongoing healthy and safety concerns, the film festival, normally held in three cities across the Valley, will be held entirely online.
Currently the longest-running film festival in the Valley, the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival celebrates its 25th year by presenting more great films that make our festival even bigger and better—hours upon hours of Jewish cinema from dozens of different countries! Rejoice in this annual crowd-pleasing event, with over 30 feature-length and short films ranging from defiance and struggle, to fun and adventure, to laughter and love, with something for everyone and stories that engage both mind and heart. Via just about any device, computer, or smart TV, the audience can travel from the beaches and shuks of Israel to the sound stages of Hollywood, from the snowy forests of Norway to the announcers’ booth at Yankee Stadium, from an operating room in modern-day Italy to the cobblestone back alleys of wartime France.
Using innovative technologies, the virtual festival will allow participants to easily build a flexible, customized schedule to see every film on the schedule. Post-film interviews with filmmakers and experts on the films’ subjects will be held seamlessly after many screenings.
As a show of gratitude towards the Valley community’s support of the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival, a free screening of the documentary Shared Legacies will be shown on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m., to coincide with Black History Month. The documentary explores crucial historical lessons of African-American and Jewish cooperation while fighting blatant bias and racism.
For more information on the festival or to purchase tickets after Jan. 15, please go to www.gpjff.org.
What: The 25th Annual Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival
When: Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, through Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Where: For more information or to purchase tickets, go to www.gpjff.org
Ticket Prices:
$12 for individual film
$180 Festival Pass (see all films once)
Viewers will have 72 hours from the posted time to begin to watch, and 48 hours from when they start the film to complete viewing, with the ability to pause, rewind, and even switch devices within the house over the 48 hours.
Some of the movies include:
Six Minutes to Midnight
Drama/Thriller (Great Britain) 99 minutes, English
Murder, mystery, and espionage occur in a pre-World War II English finishing school attended by German daughters of influential Nazi families in Six Minutes to Midnight, starring Eddie Izzard and Academy Award winners Dame Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent.
Hunting Elephants
Drama (Israel) 107 minutes, English and Hebrew with English subtitles
Hunting Elephants is a heartwarming caper comedy, starring Sir Patrick Stewart, about a precocious teen conspiring with three senior citizens to rob a bank to save his mother’s house.
Herb Alpert Is…
Documentary (USA) 113 minutes, English
Herb Alpert Is… is an enthralling portrait of the legendary Jewish trumpeter, artist, producer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
A Call to Spy
Drama (USA) 124 minutes, English
When winning World War II seemed hopeless, one group of extraordinary women changed the course of history forever in A Call to Spy.