The 12th annual Victoria International Jewish Film Festival runs Oct. 10 to 15 at the Vic Theatre, with some content available online. This year\u2019s festival offers eight feature-length films, a curated international shorts program, live music and a competition for emerging filmmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The festival kicks off with Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls<\/em>, a documentary looking at the Jewish side of Woody Guthrie\u2019s music, and closes with Matchmaking 2<\/em>, a sequel to Erez Tadmor\u2019s 2022 Israeli comedy. Other films include the drama Dead Language,<\/em> an Israel\/Czechia\/Poland co-production; the French comedy-drama The Safe House<\/em>; and The Sea<\/em>, an Israeli film about a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who tries to reach the Mediterranean Sea by himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVIJFF exists to build connections across cultures and communities through cinema,\u201d said Janis Silver, vice-president of the Jewish Community Centre of Victoria (JCCV). \u201cEvery film we program is chosen because it speaks to something universal \u2013 hope, belonging, resilience, home \u2013 seen through a Jewish lens that isn\u2019t always visible on Victoria screens. In a year when so much public conversation about Jewish life gets filtered through conflict, there\u2019s real value in a week where the community can just gather, watch great films together and talk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The festival is a project of the JCCV. Opening and closing nights will feature live music, with the Avram McCagherty Trio confirmed for the closing event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VIJFF has once again invited emerging filmmakers to submit an original 60-second short exploring the themes of hope, belonging and heritage, drawing on the Jewish value of tikkun olam<\/em>, repair of the world. Selected shorts will screen as part of the festival, and the winner will receive a cash prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThree years in, the shorts competition keeps proving the same thing: you don\u2019t need a big budget or a long runtime to say something meaningful. It\u2019s become one of our favourite parts of the festival, and we\u2019re always glad to see who shows up,\u201d said festival co-director Yaara Nouri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Oct. 12, the VIJFF will screen the animated film An American Tail<\/em> at a community event geared to families. Afterwards, there will be a discussion on immigration, newcomer experiences and stories of belonging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Oct. 14, the VIJFF high school program will include a screening of The Commandant\u2019s Shadow<\/em> (2024), directed by Daniela V\u00f6lker, for approximately 150 local high school students, with curriculum-aligned discussion materials and a structured post-screening activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The documentary tells the story of Hans J\u00fcrgen H\u00f6ss, the son of Rudolf H\u00f6ss, the commandant of Auschwitz. The younger H\u00f6ss confronts his father\u2019s legacy and ultimately meets a camp survivor, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvents like our Thanksgiving Monday matinee are a warm, easy way in for people who might never otherwise walk into a Jewish film festival, and our education programming puts real, human stories in front of high school students who are getting a direct introduction to the diversity of Jewish experience,\u201d said VIJFF co-director Rachel Levee. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of our community for working together to create these kinds of thoughtful, open and welcoming spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The festival will also offer an online screening program about Oct. 7, 2023, and its aftermath, featuring Always Together<\/em>, Falling Up<\/em> and There is Another Way<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizers emphasize that VIJFF\u2019s mandate is explicitly non-political, that the festival is meant to broaden awareness of cultural diversity and its intersections with Jewish life and to celebrate film artistry across a diversity of genres and viewpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis year\u2019s film festival promises to be, as always, a remarkable collection of hard-to-access films that are engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking,\u201d Levee said. \u201cThe VIJFF prides itself on curating a festival that has something for everyone while also working to bring films that our audiences wouldn\u2019t have access to otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d also say that our Jewish community is small but vibrant, so getting a chance to connect with us in our beautiful diversity, watch some great films, shmooze a little \u2013 maybe nosh a little, too \u2013 and have a mini-vacation on the Island seems like an opportunity that is not to be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Visitors can take advantage of a special weeknight rate at Magnolia Hotel and Spa, VIJFF\u2019s official hotel partner for 2026. The film events are free, though donations are appreciated: $18 per ticket will help cover costs, and $36 donors will receive a tax receipt from the JCCV. For festival details, visit vijff.ca<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sam Margolis<\/strong> has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 12th annual Victoria International Jewish Film Festival runs Oct. 10 to 15 at the Vic Theatre, with some content available online. This year\u2019s festival offers eight feature-length films, a curated international shorts program, live music and a competition for emerging filmmakers. The festival kicks off with Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls, a documentary looking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":49917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[25054,9013,22762,25056,6224,24383,7496,25055],"class_list":["post-49916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-janis-silver","tag-jccv","tag-jewish-community-centre-of-victoria","tag-rachel-levee","tag-victoria","tag-victoria-international-jewish-film-festival","tag-vijff","tag-yaara-nouri"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49918,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49916\/revisions\/49918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}