Mandel JCC’s Cleveland Jewish FilmFest ready to celebrate 10th anniversary
By Carlo Wolff
Tickets went on sale Aug. 8 for the 10th annual Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest, showcasing 29 films from nine countries at five venues from Sept. 8-18.
To celebrate this milestone, the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood will screen “In Search of Israeli Cuisine” at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Peter B. Lewis Theatre at the Cleveland Institute of Art, 11610 Euclid Ave.
Director Roger Sherman’s documentary spotlights a cuisine drawn from more than 100 cultures that make up today’s Israel. Israeli food and wine prepared by Ran Saggi of Kantina, a kosher restaurant inside the Albert and Norma Geller Hillel Student Center at Case Western Reserve University, will be available at the post-screening party. Tickets to this event are $65 to $80. The film also will show at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 at the Cedar Lee Theater, 2163 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.
Opening night of the festival will feature “Fever at Dawn,” a film about a love affair between Hungarian Holocaust survivors recuperating in Sweden in 1945. It shows at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Shaker Square Cinemas, 13116 Shaker Square in Cleveland. Tickets to the film and a dessert reception cost $18.
Closing night spotlights “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” the writing and directorial debut of actress Natalie Portman. It’s an adaptation of a memoir of the time Amos Oz spent with his mother Fania (Portman) at the end of the British Mandate for Israel and during the early years of the state of Israel. It shows at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Cedar Lee Theatre.
Other than the Aug. 24 and Sept. 8 dates, tickets to FilmFest screenings cost $11 for evening films and $9 for matinees. Tickets are available through mandeljcc.org/filmfest and, save for Saturdays, at the membership desk of the Mandel JCC, 26001 S. Woodland Road in Beachwood.
For FilmFest passes, contact Jan Rutsky at 216-831-0700, ext. 1348. CV
On screen
WHAT: 10th annual Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest
WHEN: Sept. 8-18
WHERE: Cedar Lee Theatre; Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Cleveland Institute of Art; Mandel Jewish Community Center; Parma Library Snow Branch; Shaker Square Cinemas
TICKETS & INFO: $65-$80 for special event Aug. 24; $18 for opening night/reception, $11 evening films, $9 matinees. Call 216-831-0700, ext. 0 or email filmfest@mandeljcc.org. To buy passes, email mandeljcc.org/filmfest.
TICKET GIVEAWAY: Enter to win one of five pairs of tickets to the Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest at cjn.org/contest by Aug. 17. The names of winners will be announced Aug. 19.
Originally published in the Cleveland Jewish News on Aug. 4, 2016.
Lead image: A scene from “In Search of Israeli Cuisine,” which will screen Aug. 24 at the Peter B. Lewis Theatre at the Cleveland Institute of Art to celebrate the Cleveland Jewish FilmFest’s 10th anniversary. PHOTO | Menemsha Films
