Center News March/April 2013

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March/April 2013 A Sivan 5773

Baltimore Jewish Film Festival Celebrates Milestone Anniversary

The JCC’s Baltimore Jewish Film Festival is set to celebrate

its 25th year with the local premieres of a must-see slate of new films. During the festival’s early years, a few films were shown around town at Center Stage and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Today, the William and Irene Weinberg Family Baltimore Jewish Film Festival features up to eight films each spring at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts on our Owings Mills campus. “The festival has sold out nearly each of the last 12 years at its current home at the 550-seat Gordon Center,” says Howard Davidov, M.D., former chair of the event. To be included on the schedule, each film must have a Jewish element and never have been shown in a Baltimore theater. Each season’s schedule includes at least two Israeli films and two documentaries. The rest are dramas. Of the 150 films that are submitted each year, 50 are reviewed by a 20-member committee which determines the eight that are shown in the festival. “We show the best of the films submitted to us,” says Davidov. Many producers and directors from around the world aspire to be part of the Baltimore Jewish Film Festival.

BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW! Films sell out quicklyTickets: $10/person/film; $12 at the door $5/Student Rush at the Door. Tickets are available in advance at both the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC and the Weinberg Park Heights JCC cashiers’ desks or online at www.baltmorejff.com For information, contact Sara Shvartzman at sshvartzman@jcc.org or visit www.baltimorejff.com.

Sometimes embassy representatives attend the screenings, and often directors fly in from other countries to take part. After the screening, a noted speaker, often an actor, director, producer, or film professor, discusses the film and fields audience questions. In 2003, the festival hosted the U.S. premiere of “The Aryan Couple,” starring Martin Landau. The film was hand-carried to Baltimore by the director, John Daly, the only person to win back to back Oscars for best picture. Film goers range from out of state visitors to JCC “STARS,” who support the festival by purchasing tickets for the entire series. STARS receive recognition in our brochure and at the event. (Read more about each film on page 8.)


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