After presenting mostly digital editions for the past two years the UK Jewish Film Festival is pleased to be returning to cinemas in London and across the nation, with screenings running from 10 - 20 November 2022, and with a selection of films available online from 21 - 27 November 2022.
This year’s UK Jewish Film Festival will begin on 10 November with the Opening Night Gala, director Moshe Rosenthal’s, Karaoke. The film follows Meir (Sasson Gabay) and Tova (Rita Shukrun), married for 40-years, and stuck in a rut until a chance encounter with a hedonistic new neighbour who leads them to a night of karaoke in his penthouse apartment.
The Closing Night Gala on 20 November is the UK Premiere of Where Life Begins, the feature debut of French actor and filmmaker Stéphane Freiss. Set on a bucolic farm in southern Italy owner Elio (Riccardo Scamarcio) hosts an ultra-Orthodox family as they perform their sacred, annual task of harvesting etrogim (ritual lemons). Striking up a friendship with the family’s daughter Esther, who is unhappily engaged and having serious doubts about her calling in life. Elio encourages Esther to follow her desires.
For the festival’s centre gala director Ady Walter and producer Jean-Charles Lévy will be present Shttl, A film of astonishing beauty and technical achievement, shot in a village constructed for the production and filmed in one extraordinary long shot, it captures the lives of the inhabitants of a Yiddish-speaking village on the eve of the Nazi invasion of Soviet Ukraine.
Then there is the UK Premiere Animation Gala screening of Charlotte with a voice-cast comprised of UK acting talent including Keira Knightley, Brenda Blethyn, Sam Claflin, Eddie Marsan, Helen McCrory, Sophie Okonedo, and Jim Broadbent. The film explores the war-time life of the talented young artist Charlotte Salomon as she sets about painting over 1,000 autobiographical images.
In addition, over the ten days, the festival’s global outlook will be represented by a full and diverse line-up across the European Film, Israeli Film, British Film and Americas Film programmes, along with additional in-depth programmes covering the Alan Howard International Documentary Strand, LGBTQ+ cinema and shorts.
London venues: BFI Southbank, Curzon Mayfair, Curzon Soho, Everyman Belsize Park, Everyman Kings Cross, Everyman Muswell Hill, JW3 London, Phoenix, Picturehouse Central, Close Up Cinema
National venues: Brighton Komedia, Bristol Scott, Cineworld Didsbury, Curzon Knutsford, Everyman Edinburgh, Everyman Leeds, Glasgow Film Theatre, HOME Manchester, Nottingham Broadway, Phoenix Picturehouse (Oxford)
For further information and announcements: https://ukjewishfilm.org/festival/uk-jewish-film-festival-2022/
