Changes for Bart Cultural Series at NOLA JCC

Thanks to Covid, things are different for this year’s Cathy and Morris Bart Cultural Arts Series at the Uptown Jewish Community Center in New Orleans. The series will include four socially-distant movie screenings, each of which will have three showings. There will also be three author events done virtually with the Nashville and Memphis JCCs.

“This series has brought the best Jewish authors, films, and music to the JCC year after year thanks to the support of Cathy and Morris Bart,” said JCC Executive Director Leslie Fischman. “We will adapt how audiences enjoy the series this year to ensure our community can still access this quality programming in a safe and comfortable environment.”

Reservations will be required for the film screenings, and individually-packaged snacks will be available. Books for the virtual author events will be available through Octavia Books, which donates a portion of sales to the JCC.

The first film, “Love in Suspenders,” will be Oct. 12 and 13 at 7 p.m., and Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. The Israeli film portrays Tami, a widow in her 60s, and Beno, a widower in his 70s, who are both grieving the loss of their loved ones. They meet when she accidentally hits him with her car, and despite clashes in personalities and lifestyles, as well as interfering children and neighbors, they fall in love.

“Mossad!” will be on Nov. 9 and 10 at 7 p.m., and Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. The Israeli box-office smash features the creative support of legendary filmmakers David Zucker and Avi Nesher. The film is a riotous sendup of the Mossad, Israel’s revered national intelligence agency. When an American billionaire is kidnapped in Israel, operative Guy Moran teams up with the CIA’s best agent to try and save the day. Tsahi Halevi from “Fauda” stars.

“Douze Points” will be on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at 7 p.m., and Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. A proud, gay, Muslim singer is fulfilling his dream of representing France in Europe’s biggest song contest, this year taking place in Tel Aviv. This action-comedy mixes bumbling ISIS operatives, tough Mossad agents and a unique relationship between two young Muslim men in the most rainbow-colored song contest imaginable.

The film series concludes with “Aulcie,” Jan. 4 and 5 at 7 p.m., and Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. In the summer of 1976, Aulcie Perry was playing basketball in Harlem when he was signed by a scout for Maccabi Tel Aviv. A year later, while taking the team to new heights, Perry converted to Judaism and became one of Israel’s biggest stars. Behind the scenes, though, all was not well.

The author series kicks off on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. with Myla Goldberg’s “Feast Your Eyes,” a novel about Lillian Preston, “America’s Worst Mother, America’s Bravest Mother, America’s Worst Photographer, or America’s Greatest Photographer, depending on who was talking.”

Original “Saturday Night Live” writer Alan Zweibel will talk about “Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier,” discussing his decades of working with many well-known comics, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m.

Emmy-nominated comedy writer Bess Kalb will present “Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story,” April 13 at 7 p.m.