10 things to see at the UK Jew­ish Film Fes­ti­val 2017

Fol­low­ing the mile­stone anniver­sary of its 1997 incep­tion, the UK Inter­na­tion­al Jew­ish Film Fes­ti­val returns for its 21^st edi­tion from 9 – 26 Novem­ber. At its core, the fes­ti­val aims to find a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive and pro­mote under­stand­ing about Jew­ish cul­tures world­wide. Offer­ing 115 screen­ings of over 70 new films from around the world, the fes­ti­val pri­mar­i­ly takes place in venues across Lon­don, with events also tak­ing place in Man­ches­ter, Glas­gow, Liv­er­pool and Leeds.

From home­bred dra­mas to inter­na­tion­al come­dies, this year’s pro­gramme boasts a fresh, excit­ing line­up, as well as an eclec­tic range of post-screen­ing activ­i­ties, includ­ing a Bol­ly­wood danc­ing class and a debate on the sex­u­al­i­ty of Sig­mund Freud. Here are the 10 things we rec­om­mend catching.

11 Novem­ber at Ciné Lumière

With a decade-span­ning love sto­ry and a nos­tal­gia fil­ter of yel­low hues and sharp humour, Mr & Mrs Adel­man is the lovechild of Amélie and Richard Linklater’s Before tril­o­gy you nev­er knew you need­ed. The fas­ci­nat­ing and tumul­tuous rela­tion­ship of a life­time is re lived as nar­rat­ed by Sarah, who falls in love with Vic­tor, a young writer whose tra­di­tion­al Jew­ish fam­i­ly cuts him off as they clash over his career and roman­tic choic­es. Book tick­ets

12 Novem­ber at Phoenix Cinema

Cin­e­ma has often por­trayed love sto­ries plagued with dis­ap­prov­ing fam­i­lies regard­ing racial, cul­tur­al and ide­o­log­i­cal dif­fer­ences. But what makes Love is Thick­er Than Water so appeal­ing is its abil­i­ty to bring the idea of a young woman’s pro­tec­tive Jew­ish upbring­ing into the frame­work of the relat­able, charm­ing roman­tic com­e­dy that we know so well. Musi­cian and ris­ing star John­ny Fly­nn stars oppo­site Lydia Wil­son in a new rom-com about the free­dom, and lack there­of, of falling in love in the 21^st cen­tu­ry. Book tick­ets

14 Novem­ber at JW3

From an extrav­a­gant art cura­tor to a has-been TV pre­sen­ter, the selec­tion of Jew­ish-themed short films show­cas­es some of the bright­est humour from around the world. Six films chron­i­cle sur­re­al fam­i­ly squab­bles, sear­ing char­ac­ter pro­files and cel­e­brate the inim­itable Jew­ish sense of humour that the whole word has come to love. And if that wasn’t enough to tempt you, tick­ets are just £5. Book tick­ets

15 Novem­ber at JW3

There are a few foun­da­tions in our cul­tur­al land­scape that don’t often ask to be explored, almost too icon­ic to even be ques­tioned. But Mon­key Busi­ness does just that, in telling the sto­ry of Hans and Mar­gret Rey, the cre­ators of the beloved car­toon mon­key, Curi­ous George. It trav­els through the colour­ful lives of the Ger­man-born Jews who cre­at­ed the char­ac­ter, now a house­hold name in France, the UK, and Amer­i­ca. Fus­ing unique ani­ma­tion and until now untold sto­ries, the doc­u­men­tary reveals the phe­nom­e­nal jour­ney of the cul­tur­al phe­nom­e­non around the world. Book tick­ets

15 Novem­ber at Phoenix Cinema

Hedy Lamarr was an Aus­tri­an-Jew­ish Hol­ly­wood star­let who inspired the beau­ty of both Snow White and Cat Woman. How­ev­er, her biggest lega­cy remains the inven­tion of spread spec­trum and fre­quen­cy hop­ping tech­nol­o­gy at the begin­ning of World War Two, an inven­tion that pro­vid­ed the basis for the wi-fi and Blue­tooth tech­nol­o­gy that we rely on today. Pro­duced by Susan Saran­don and nar­rat­ed by Diane Kruger, Bomb­shell: The Hedy Lamarr Sto­ry doc­u­ments the life and rise of the star, in a trib­ute to an icon­ic female inspi­ra­tion. Book tick­ets

16 Novem­ber at JW3

While few may remem­ber the name Joseph Lev­itch, his life affect­ed a gen­er­a­tion as Jer­ry Lewis became one of the world’s best-loved come­di­ans. Putting slap­stick on the map with his dou­ble act along­side Dean Mar­tin, Russ­ian Jew­ish-born Lewis changed the face of com­e­dy and is remem­bered as an icon to this day. Film­mak­ers includ­ing Jean-Luc Godard and Mar­tin Scors­ese cel­e­brate the enter­tain­er in a doc­u­men­tary that shines a new light on the clown’s quin­tes­sen­tial lega­cy. Book tick­ets

18 Novem­ber at Pic­ture­house Central

In a year where pas­sion­ate LGBT love sto­ries have been cel­e­brat­ed on screen through tri­umphs includ­ing Call Me by Your Name and God’s Own Coun­try, the trend con­tin­ues with The Cake­mak­er, a roman­tic dra­ma from first-time direc­tor Ofir Raul Graiz­er. Israeli busi­ness­man Oren devel­ops a secret affair with Berlin cake­mak­er Thomas. But when tragedy strikes, Thomas must risk every­thing to find peace and redis­cov­er what he tru­ly loves. Fea­tur­ing esteemed French-Israeli actress Sarah Adler (Jel­ly­fish, Fox­trot), the film draws a vis­cer­al por­trait of what love means, and just how com­pli­cat­ed that one word can be. Book tick­ets

19 Novem­ber at JW3 Hall

Psy­cho­an­a­lyt­i­cal the­o­ries remain to be dis­put­ed in class­rooms and cab­i­nets around the world – none more so than the the­o­ry around the founder him­self, Sig­mund Freud. In a new doc­u­men­tary on the Aus­tri­an neu­rol­o­gist and his life­time of work, More Alive Than Dead reignites the debate on Freud’s impact and worth in our every­day lives. Fol­low­ing the screen­ing of the film, direc­tor Lisa Appig­nane­si OBE will be joined by Car­ol Seigel, Direc­tor of the Freud Muse­um Lon­don, and psy­chol­o­gy pro­fes­sor Stephen Frosh in a pan­el dis­cus­sion to fur­ther the aris­ing con­ver­sa­tion. Book tick­ets

21 Novem­ber at JW3

Telling the true sto­ry of British neu­rol­o­gist Oliv­er Sacks, Awak­en­ings fea­tures Robin Williams and Robert De Niro in the three-time Acad­e­my Award nom­i­nat­ed dra­ma. The film explores the 1917 – 28 epi­dem­ic of encephali­tis lethar­gi­ca, and cap­tures the piv­otal dis­cov­ery of a new drug which changed the lives of patients in a local hos­pi­tal in the Bronx, New York City. The cel­e­brat­ed per­for­mances from Williams and De Niro hon­our the fas­ci­nat­ing sto­ry of Sacks’ mon­u­men­tal role in con­tem­po­rary neu­rol­o­gy. Book tick­ets

25 Novem­ber at JW3 Hall

The cel­e­bra­tion of Jew­ish immi­grants in Bol­ly­wood is some­what more lim­it­ed than the community’s air time in Hol­ly­wood. And yet, the vast empire of Indi­an Cin­e­ma is home to many Jew­ish stars who played a key part in build­ing the indus­try. The doc­u­men­tary Shalom Bol­ly­wood explores and explains the par­al­lels on screen before giv­ing way to a Bol­ly­wood danc­ing class that’s open to every­one. Book tick­ets

The 21^st UKJFF runs 9 – 26 Novem­ber. Check out the full pro­gramme at ukjew​ish​film​.org