On behalf of Knesset Israel and the Berkshire Jewish Film Festival, we extend a warm Welcome Back to you as BJFF embarks upon its 38th season. We are so happy to be able to present six Mondays of excellent film programming in person at the Duffin Theater at the Lenox Memorial Middle and High School.
Our screening committee has chosen the best of the many films they watched this year. We are excited to bring you a wide range of documentaries and narrative films from the US, Israel, Germany, Italy and Canada. Please visit our website to read about the films and speakers, sign up for our e-newsletter, make a much-appreciated donation, and purchase your Season Pass. As in past years, individual tickets can only be purchased on the day of the show.(Cash or Check Only)
Schedule:
4pm - Shadow of the Day
Shadow of the Day is a dramatic story of love and redemption set in a turbulent Italy amid the anti-semitic racial laws promulgated by Mussolini’s fascist government. A provincial restaurant manager with fascist sympathies finds his reputation at risk after a mysterious woman shows up at his doorstep looking for work. A wounded war veteran, he finds himself challenged by the woman’s lively spirit and intellect. Ultimately, he has to decide between his growing feelings for her (and doing what he knows is right) and his need to protect his livelihood against thuggish local officials intent on exposing and punishing renegades. This is a beautifully acted and cinematic tour de force by director Giuseppe Piccioni.
Italy 2022, Italian (English subtitles) Narrative, 120 minutes
Director: Guiseppe Piccioni
8pm - How Saba Kept Singing
David Wisnia had never told his family the whole story of how he survived Auschwitz for two-and-a-half years – while his parents and younger brother were murdered - and this film by Sarah Taksler fills in the gaps. As he travels with his grandson Avi back to Poland to mark the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, Wisnia, a cantor, recounts how his operatic singing entertained the Nazi guards and saved his life; before he was deported to the camp at 16, he was a musical prodigy who had been a soloist in his Poland synagogue choir. But it turns out there was more. He had also found love with a fellow inmate, a Jewish woman who was kept alive because of her skills as a graphic artist and mandolin player. Wisnia reports that she played a role in keeping him off the lists that would have spelled his end. The two made plans to meet after the war but did not reunite until 2019. Some of her Holocaust testimony is featured in the film. Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, were the executive producers of this poignant testament to love and resilience.
USA 2023, English, Documentary, 80 minutes
Director: Sara Taksler
Date: July 8 - August 12
