The Jewish Community Center of North Shore will host its 13th annual International Jewish Film Festival from April 23 to May 14.
The festival features 10 films and five shorts inspired by Jewish history, culture and values.
Marblehead’s very own Warwick Cinema will host three of the festival’s matinees and will open their café at 10 a.m. with a discounted menu to accommodate attendees. The remaining films and shorts will be shown at Cinema Salem.
“I hope audiences leave the Film Festival feeling a sense of connection and community and are entertained, inspired and enriched by new perspectives and thought-provoking stories,” JCC Director of Adult Program Sara Ewing said.
She added that this is an opportunity for the North Shore to see high-quality, independent films that would likely not go into theaters elsewhere.
Highlights of the festival include critically acclaimed coming-of-age film “Tell Me Everything,” which premiered at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and opening night film “Charles Grodin: A Rebel With a Cause,” a documentary about the life and activism of comedian and actor Charles Grodin.
About half of the featured films are in foreign languages, including Spanish, Hebrew, French and German.
The JCC has also organized a range of speakers for select films.
Nancy Horrowitz, who is the director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies at Boston University, will speak at the Warwick Cinema on May 11 for the showing of “The Frontier,” a film about Jews fleeing Nazi persecution during the Holocaust.
“Match Making 2” will bring in speaker Raysh Weiss, who is a rabbi at Temple Israel in Natick, and a matchmaker. For the night of shorts, where all five short films will be shown, tattoo artist Sayge Hesse will speak about the rise in tattoo art trends in the aftermath of October 7.
Writer Elieen Pollack, who grew up in the Jewish Catskills, will speak at closing night film “We Met at Grossinger’s,” a film about the iconic Catskills Grossinger’s Resort and Hotel which became a haven for many Jewish Americans.
Ewing said the J’s festival is important for many reasons, including that it “creates space to express the diversity, complexity and humanity of Jewish life and allow important voices and perspectives to be seen and heard.
She added that many in the North Shore community are looking for opportunities for “Jewish connection and comfort,” and JCC believes that Jewish film festivals can provide that.
To learn more about the JCC Film Festival, visit jccns.org.
