Founded in 2000, the festival runs from Saturday November 11 to Sunday November 19, 2023 – Most screenings will take place at Golden Scene Cinema in Kennedy Town.A Eli Bitan, president of the festival, and Jean-Philippe Gry, member of the organizing committee, answer our questions in this special year for the festival.A We listen.
More than 20 feature films, comedies, documentaries and short films from different countries, including Israel, France, USA, Ukraine and Italy
The themes range from friendship to politics and offer insight into worlds and people not usually accessible to viewers.
The film festival offers an exciting opportunity to immerse yourself in the many facets of Jewish culture and discover connections across similarities.
Emotion and tribute
The 24th edition of the festival with theA multi-award-winning filmA SHTTL , screening followed by a presentation and discussion with its director, Frenchman Ady Walter, present for the occasion at the MCL Cinema Cyberport.
But before and added to the initial program a broadcast of a short film a The Boya , in tribute to its director Yahav Winner, assassinated during the Hamas terrorist attack in the kibbutz of Kfar Aza.
SHTTL
England, Ukraine, France |A 2022 |A Drama Yiddish with English and Cantonese subtitles |A 114 mins Director: Ady Walter
French director Ady Walter’s remarkable cinematic achievement was recorded in a single take on a set built in a forest outside Kiev.
This evocative and visually fascinating film is set in a Jewish village the night before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.A Ady places the story of an assimilated Jew who returns to his village to save his beloved from an arranged marriage, against the story of several characters in the life of a shtetl which is on the verge of being destroy.
With a distinguished international cast including Moshe Lobel and Saul Rubinek, the actors trained to speak Yiddish and Ukrainian.
Many members of the team are currently fighting in the war in Ukraine.
Ady will travel to Hong Kong to share his personal perspective on this vital story.
The festival could also not ignore the tragic news with the filmA The FutureA by Israeli director Noam Kaplan, which deals with terrorism, security and individuality while asking the question of whether humanity really defines algorithms and programs or if the opposite happens.
While the film’s premise would seem to catapult it into the realm of science fiction, the humanity and philosophical dialogue place it firmly in the “drama” category.A The film received several awards from the Israeli Film Academy.
The documentaryA Without PrecedentA tells the extremely remarkable and perhaps underappreciated story of Rosalie Silberman Abella, the first Jewish woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada.
The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Abella was committed to defending the rights of people facing injustice from a young age.
This inspiring film traces her illustrious career as a champion of an inclusive, diverse and equitable Canada, and still resonates today.
The Shadow of DayA , from Italian director Giuseppe Piccioni, is a romantic historical drama full of twists and turns.A In 1938 Italy, after the promulgation of racial laws, Luciano, a restaurateur respectful of fascism, believes that he can still live according to his own rules inside his business.
Everything changes when he hires Anna, a young girl with a dangerous secret.A The parallels with Europe’s flirtation with modern fascism can be seen in every scene of this spellbinding period thriller.
2 French films
The Accusation a Human Things,
By Yvan Attal a Thursday November 16 at 8:40 p.m. at K11 Art House
The Man in the Basement
by Philippe Le Guay with FranAois Cluzet a Saturday November 12 at 5:20 p.m.
Tickets and the full program are available on the festival websiteA www.hkjff.org
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