Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival announces 2015 lineup
The ninth annual Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival announced its lineup for the 2015 season. Held at the Manship Theatre, the festival will be Jan. 14 to 18. Mobile will have its Jewish Film Festival from Jan. 11 to 22, with the lineup of eight films to be announced. Jewish Cinema Mississippi will be Jan. 21 to 25 in Jackson.
Four of the six films will also be screened at the Nashville Jewish Film Festival — “The Sturgeon Queens,” “The Lady in Number 6,” “Quality Balls” and “Under the Same Sun.”
“Number 6” is an Oscar-winning documentary about Alice Herz Sommer, a 109-year-old Holocaust survivor and the world’s oldest pianist, discussing her story on how to achieve a long and happy life.
“Sturgeon Queens” is about four generations of a Jewish immigrant family and how they maintain Russ and Daughters, a Lower East Side lox and herring emporium.
“Under the Same Sun” follows a Palestinian businessman and an Israeli businessman as they try to forge a business relationship, dealing with unique personal and political challenges in a society where there is a strong stigma about working with “the other.”
“Quality Balls: The David Steinberg Story” is about the director of some of the most successful situation comedies of the last 20 years, including “Seinfeld,” “Mad About You,” “Golden Girls” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Backstage stories are told by Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Larry Charles, David Bianculli, Bob Einstein and others.
“Sturgeon Queens” will be the opening night film on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. Guest speaker will be Louisiana native Susan Rosenbaum, who moved to New York in 1989 and conducts Enthusiastic Gourmet Food Tours.
The Jan. 15 double feature includes “The Lady in Number 6” and “Hitler’s Children.” The latter is a documentary of how family members descended from high-ranking Nazi officers of Hitler’s inner circle struggle with the last names they carry, such as Goering, Himmler and Hoess.
On Jan. 14 and 15 there will be student screenings of “50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus,” a Jewish couple from Philadelphia who traveled to Vienna in 1939 and rescued the single-largest group of children allowed into the U.S. during that time. The screenings will be at Independence Park Theater.
On Jan. 17, “The Wonders” is about a slacker, a private investigator and a femme fatale who join forces to rescue an abducted holy man. The film, which explores the idea of messianic cults that misuse funds finagled from followers, uses hand-drawn animation to show the protagonist’s overactive imagination with Jerusalem as a Wonderland.
The festival concludes on Jan. 18 with a double feature of “Quality Balls” and “Under the Same Sun.”
Tickets are $8.50, available online or at the Manship Theatre box office.
