Saturday, May

MID-ATLANTIC PREMIERE Narrative

CHESS STORY

Dir. Philipp Stölzl | 112 min Germany, Austria | 2021 German w/English subtitles

The inspired film adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s timeless literary classic The Royal Game. It’s 1938, and Nazis are marching through the streets of Vienna. Attorney Josef Bartok and his wife plan to escape to America, but the Gestapo get to him first. Bartok refuses to cooperate with his captors, and quickly lands in solitary confinement. The intense isolation almost breaks his spirit, until he steals an old chess book—an act that changes the course of his life, but also gradually turns into a dangerous obsession.

Presented with the support of the Goethe-Institut Washington.

Saturday, May 14, 8:15 PM – Bethesda Row Cinema

Sunday, May 22, 2:15 PM – EDCJCC MID-ATLANTIC PREMIERE Documentary

THE CITY AND THE CITY

Dir. Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas with Vassilis Kanakis, Alexandros Vardaxoglou, Angeliki Papoulia, Argyris Xafis, Niki Papandreou | 87 min | Greece | 2022 Greek, Ladino, German, Turkish and French w/English subtitles

The untold story of the life and perils of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community, presented in 6 poetic and stylistically innovative chapters. The Greek city, nicknamed “the mother of Israel,” was home to a large population of Sephardic Jews for centuries.

Then in 1943, Eichmann’s deputies carried out a program of ghettoization, deportation, and eventually the extermination of over 90 percent of the city’s Jewish population.

The City and the City records this dramatic history through six intertwined and visually evocative chapters that deftly combine documentary, fiction, and essay.

Saturday, May 14, 6:30 PM – Bethesda Row Cinema