The Jewish International Film Festival 2022 returns to the cinemas this and next month. It’s an exciting program with films for varying tastes. Read on to find out about the films from France in French, the films that aren’t from France but are in French and the films from France that aren’t in French! We also have passes to the Jewish International Film Festival 2022 to giveaway so read on!
FILMS FROM FRANCE AND IN FRENCH AT JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2022
Country: France
Language: French
Director: Sandrine Kiberlain
The history and plight of the Jewish diaspora is highlighted in films including French filmmaker Sandrine Kiberlain’s directorial debut A Radiant Girl, which premiered in the 2021 Cannes Critics’ Week that offers a moving look into the experiences of a young woman during the Occupation in Paris.
Country: France
Language: French
Director: Sylvie Ohayon
Stirring French film Haute Couture centers on Esther, who has reached the tail end of her career as Head Seamstress at the Dior Avenue Montaigne workshop and her young protégé Jade.
Country: France
Language: French
Director: Nathanaël Guedj
Max is a thirty-year-old, single ophthalmologist who is very attached to his mother. After her sudden death, she reappears… although it’s only Max who can see her. Her presence is comforting at first, but as Max begins falling for a psychiatrist, Ohiana, his dead mum becomes something of a third wheel.
Romantic, funny, and sweet, If You See My Mother is an honest look at family and relationships, punctuated by outstanding performances.
Sigmund Freud, a Jew without God
Country: France
Languages: French and Hebrew
Director: David Teboul
Documentaries that reflect JIFF’s 2022 theme of “heroes of change” include Sigmund Freud, a Jew Without God, a poetic documentary giving intimate access to the little known stories of Freud that move beyond his enigmatic ‘genius’ tag, starting with his Jewish roots in Freiberg to his experiences as a family man.
Simone Veil, a woman of the century
Opening night film
Country: France
Language: French
Director: Olivier Dahan
Olivier Dahan’s moving and monumental biopic Simone Veil: A Woman of the Century – shares the extraordinary life and legacy of the French feminist icon through pivotal events of the Twentieth Century. The film completes a trilogy of films Dahan began with Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose, starring Marion Cotillard, and Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman.
Country: France
Language: French
Director: Philippe Le Guay
Jewish Parisians Simon and Helen decide to sell a basement in their building. However, the man (François Cluzet, The Intouchables) who buys it has a troubled past, and as his motivations and antisemitism are revealed the couple’s life is turned upside down. The couple tries desperately to cancel the sale but to no avail. Worse still, the new owner becomes a threat to Simon and Helen’s family as he befriends their teenage daughter on whom he seems to exert a perverted influence. A captivating and unsettling domestic thriller.
FILMS THAT ARE IN FRENCH BUT NOT FROM FRANCE AT THE JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Countries: Belgium, Germany, Israel
Languages: German, French, English, Hebrew
Director: Carl-Ludwig Rettinger
This captivating film re-examines the story of the Red Orchestra, the most important resistance network in Nazi Germany. The leading figures of the group included Leopold Trepper, who was Jewish, and Harro Schulze-Boysen, who gathered military secrets to share with the Soviets. In 1942, Hitler’s henchmen were able to track down most of the group by picking up radio transmissions.
The legacy of this extraordinary tale has long been compromised by contrasting viewpoints and politically tinged filmic interpretations from East and West Germany. Director Carl-Ludwig Rettinger illustrates this by carefully excerpting feature films made in the early 1970s and interspersing them with interviews with the descendants of the group’s members, offering a fresh approach and a well-rounded historical account.
FILMS THAT ARE FROM FRANCE BUT NOT IN FRENCH
Countries: Switzerland and France
Languages: Kurdish, Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish
Director: Mano Khalil
In a Syrian border village in the early 1980s, little Sero starts school for the first time. A new teacher has arrived to spread Ba’ath Party Arab nationalism and suppress any feelings of Kurdish cultural identity in his students. He bans the Kurdish language with his baton, orders the worship of Assad and preaches hatred of the Jews, the Zionist arch-enemies. The lessons confuse Sero as his longtime and beloved neighbours are a Jewish family: Sero and his uncle help the old couple and their spinster daughter, Hannah, out on every Shabbat. With a fine sense of humour and satire, director Mano Khalil, inspired by his own experiences, paints a picture of a childhood that also finds light moments under the Assad dictatorship.
KEY INFO FOR JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2022
WHERE AND WHEN:
BRISBANE 10 March – 20 March New Farm Cinemas, New Farm
CANBERRA 10 March – 20 March Dendy Cinemas, Canberra
GOLD COAST 26 March – 3 April Dendy Cinemas, Southport (Queen Street Village)
MELBOURNE 2 March – 3 April Classic Cinemas, Elsternwick
3 March – 3 April Lido Cinemas, Hawthorn
PERTH 23 February – 16 March Luna Palace, Leederville
SYDNEY 3 March – 4 April Ritz Cinema, Randwick
3 March – 23 March Roseville Cinemas, Roseville
HOW: Buy your tickets via the festival website
HOW MUCH:
Single Tickets
Adult – $23
Concession – $18.50
30 years old or younger – $15. Please note that discounted tickets for under 30s are only available for purchase at the cinema box office upon presentation of a valid ID.
Opening Night Event – ticket includes food, drink and COVID-safe event
Adult – $49 // Concession – $45
Closing Night Event – ticket includes drink on arrival
Adult – $33 // Concession – $29
Film passes
10 Film Pass $175
20 Film Pass $330
JIFF VIP – Unlimited $645
HOW TO WIN TICKETS TO THE JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2022
To have a chance to win tickets to the Jewish International Film Festival 2022, take a look at our posts about the festival on social media. You can find at the following accounts:
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If you’re interested in other film festivals screening French film, check out the following articles:
Sneak peek at the first 10 films of the Alliance Française French Film Festival 2022
8 films in French to see at the Mardi Gras Film Festival 2022 in Sydney and online
12 films from France to see at Europa! Europa next month
Alliance Française French Film Festival 2022 program released!
For other events with French and francophone links, take a look at our What’s on in February article.
