By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
With a global focus, the 30th Annual Seattle International Film Festival will showcase over 300 feature films and short films from 58 different countries. This 25-day event is the largest in the country and is considered to be among the top film festivals in the world. The following is a list of the Jewish films to be screened in this year’s festival, which runs May 20–June 13,
Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi
Documentary Competition
Language: Hebrew
Israel, 2003, 94 minutes
This family comedy, written and directed by Shemi Zarhin, focuses on Shlomi, a 16-year-old boy who plays the peacemaker within his own chaotic family. The constant pressures of being mediator, confidant and cook leave Shlomi little time to develop his own personality. But when one of his teachers detects an extraordinary gift Shlomi never knew he had, aided by the power of first love, Shlomi discoves his own independence and potential. The film was nominated for 12 Israeli Oscars.
Sun., May 30, 7:15 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
Mon., May 31, 4:15 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
Checkpoint
Documentary Competition, Refracting Reality: Documentary Films
Feature Film Debut
Language: Hebrew, Arabic and English
Israel, 2003, 80 minutes
Checkpoint gives an impression of the daily confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians at a number of border checkpoints in the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This documentary, directed by Yoav Shamir, looks at the destructive impact of enforced boundaries on both societies. It won Best Feature from the Amsterdam Documentary Festival last year.
Mon., May 24, 6:45 p.m., Broadway Performance Hall
Tues., May 25, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Performance Hall
Death in Gaza
Refracting Reality: Documentary Films
Language: English, Arabic and Hebrew
Great Britain, 2003, 77 minutes
Emmy Award-winning director James Miller (Beneath the Veil) planned to make a film about children living in the Arab-Israeli war zone, when he was shot dead in the Gaza Strip and became the victim of the very violence he went to expose. The film was completed by producer-writer Saira Shah, who was working with Miller when he was shot.
Fri., May 21, 4:45 p.m., Broadway Performance Hall
Sat., May 22, 6:15 p.m., Broadway Performance Hall
Everyday People
Contemporary World Cinema
USA, 2004, 91 minutes
Language: English
Acclaimed American independent director Jim McKay’s newest film features an inspired cast of multicultural characters in a look at how the closing of a Jewish-owned Brooklyn diner impacts the lives of its employees.
Fri., May 21, 7:15 p.m., Harvard Exit
Sun., May 23, 1:45 p.m., Broadway Performance Hall
Facing Window
Emerging Masters
Italy, 2003, 106 minutes
Language: Italian
A young married couple takes in a Jewish Holocaust survivor with amnesia, while the wife develops an obsession with a man she sees through her window every night. From Ferzan Ozpetek, the director of Steam: The Turkish Bath. Facing Window won numerous awards, including Best Film, Actor, Actress at the Italian Golden Globes last year.
Fri., June 4, 7:15 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
Sat., June 5, 4:15 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
The Kite
Lebanon, 2003, 80 minutes
Language: Arabic
A humorous love story directed by Randa Chahal Sabbag, The Kite centers on Lamia, a teenage girl from the Lebanese side of the Israel-Lebanon border. Her family conspires to match her with a cousin from the Israeli side, but Lamia fights against it so that she can pursue her love for an Israeli soldier. Separated by more than a mile of barbed wire from Lebanon, her border-divided family is forced to shout at each other through megaphones.
Mon., May 24, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Fri., May 28, 2 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
Moving Malcolm
Contemporary World Cinema
Canada, 2003, 82 minutes
Canadian actor-comic Benjamin Ratner makes his directorial debut with this film about an aspiring Jewish novelist who strives to win back the attention of a B-movie actress who jilted him at the altar. Ratner performs the role of the novelist, whose life is thrown into chaos when the actress (played by Elizabeth Berkeley) shows up on his doorstep over a year later with a request to move her sick and elderly father to a new apartment.
Fri., June 4, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Sun., June 6, 11:30 a.m., Harvard Exit
Nina’s Tragedies
Contemporary World Cinema
Israel, 2003, 110 minutes
Language: Hebrew
Nina’s Tragedies is the story of a turbulent year in the life of a family living in modern-day Tel Aviv as filtered through the eyes of Nadav, a shy, teenage boy who is in love with his aunt Nina. Savi Gabizon’s acclaimed film won 11 Israeli Academy Awards and was the top film at the box office in that country last year.
Fri., June 4, 5 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
Sun., June 6, 9:30 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
Paper Clips
Refracting Reality: Documentary Films
USA, 2003, 83 minutes
Directors Joe Fab and Elliott Berlin present this documentary about eighth grade students in rural Tennessee who collected millions of paper clips to illustrate the number of Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust. Ultimately, the students dedicated a memorial to the Holocaust victims, using an authentic German rail car filled with millions of paper clips collected from contributors across the globe.
Sun., June 6, 4:30 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
Wed., June 9, 4:45 p.m., Egyptian
Rosenstrasse
Contemporary World Cinema, Women in Cinema
Germany, 2003, 136 minutes
Language: German and English
Nazi Germany is the setting for German film-maker Margarethe von Trotta’s Rosenstasse. The movie tells the story of Aryan women who fought for the release of their imprisoned Jewish spouses in 1943, in the only public protest in Germany against the deportation of Jews, and won.
Sunday, May 23, 6 p.m., Egyptian
Tuesday, May 25, 2 p.m., AMC Pacific Place
Individual tickets for the Seattle International Film Festival are $6.50 for matinee and midnight screenings and $9 for evening screenings. Purchase online at www.seattlefilm.com or call 206-324-9996. Online and over-the-phone purchases are subject to a $3.50 handling charge per order.