October 21st 2025
JIFF - Jewish International Film Festival
Among Neighbors
Avenue of the Giants
Bad Shabbos
Claude Lelouch, la vie en mieux
Come Closer
The Eichmann Trial
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire
Holding Liat
Outsider. Freud
The Property
Riefenstahl
Soda
The World Will Tremble
A special edition for a wonderful festival! Time to plan what you will see over the next month.
Jewish International Film Festival
Now until November 26th
Classic Elsternwick, Cameo Belgrave, Lido Hawthorn
As always JIFF is the biggest selection of Jewish-themed films in Australia, featuring more than 50 films from around the world. Powerful documentaries focus upon such iconic Jewish figures as Freud, Eli Wiesel, Claude Lelouche and more. Israeli films that have won awards at many festivals world-wide abound, along with films featuring Yiddish culture (including Yiddish horror shorts!) And of course there are many films (narrative and documentary) offering new perspectives on the Holocaust, including a new digital print of the epic Shoah. That's only a taster of a festival that always gives movie-goers the chance to immerse in and learn about the Jewish experience. Here's a selection I've previewed. All excellent!
Among Neighbors: Imagine surving the horrors of a concentration camp, only to be murdered by your neighbors once the war is over. This is the dark secret that director Yoav Potash reveals in this compelling film. An elderly gentile woman, Pelagia, talks of her experience as a witness to the Nazi atrocities in Poland, and of her love for a Jewish boy, Janek, whose fate she never knew. They had lived in the town of Gniewoszów where Jews and Catholics once co-existed in relative harmony but the war brought all the simmering anti-Semitism to the surface. The film seamlessly blends archival footage, interviews, and beautiful animations that represent a child's memories. The larger horrors and the more intimate tragedies weave well together.
Avenue of the Giants: Herbert Heller grew up in Prague, the son of a loving, optimistic father who never believed things would get as bad as they did after the Nazis invaded. His entire family ended up in Auschwitz, with Herbert's parents and siblings killed. Fifty years later, Herbert has still never told his story to anyone, including his family. When in hospital, he connects with Abby, a troubled young woman with her own traumas, and the two open up to each other. The time frame then toggles between Herbert's recounted memories and the present day. What's not to love about a gentle story of an unexpected intergenerational friendship, especially when it is true? Beautifully scripted and acted, the film is, despite the trauma both main characters have experienced, strangely uplifting.
Bad Shabbos: Need a good laugh after all the serious films? This is the one to see! Harking back to the old days of semi-farce, and with Woody Allenesque overtones, this is a wonderful, whacky black comedy. David and fiance Meg are anticipating Shabbos dinner with his parents. Meg is undergoing conversion to Judaism, and her Catholic parents are coming to meet David's family. An unfortunate incident results in a dead body in the bathroom, leading to a series of madcap ploys to cover-up the situation. The film sports a host of well-known faces, and a hilarious turn from rapper Cliff Smith as the doorman with a solution to everything. Everything is laced with archetypal Jewish humor, making for a fast-paced, totally enjoyable and crowd-pleasing film.
Claude Lelouch, la vie en mieux: Part of a Jewish Algerian family, four-year-old, Claude was hidden by his mother in a Parisian cinema to avoid being rounded up by the Nazis. At that age film not only saved his life, but would become his life. In 1966 he won the Palme D'Or and an Oscar for A Man and a Woman, and went to make more than fifty more films. This engaging documentary gets deeply into the mind of a filmmaker - featuring the man himself talking of his life, his philosophies on film, and the highs and lows of his frenetic career. The doco also features interviews with several actors who have been in his films over the years, as well as clips of the making of many of Lelouch's films. As an insight into the passion and obsession of a filmmaker, this is worth seeing, especially for cinephiles.
Come Closer: This very modern narrative looks at loss, grief and friendship from the viewpoint of two young woman who were close to the same young man. Nat is killed in an accident in the opening scenes. His sister Eden is wild with grief, and then discovers that Nat had a secret girlfriend, Maya, who he had never revealed to his friends or family. As Maya and Eden draw closer it must be asked if this is a true love connection, or something borne only out of shared grief and the desire to keep Nat's memory alive. The lead actresses are impressive, and with its fresh vibrant script the film feels very authentic. It won Best Film, Director and Lead Actress at the Israeli Oscars in 2024.
The Eichmann Trial: Director Elliott Levitt has been an editor for most of his film career, until now, where he directs this confronting documentary, constructed entirely from archival footage, with not a word of voice-over. That's what makes this such a brilliant and compelling documentary. Because Eichmann's trial was broadcast worldwide for four months, there are countless hours of footage in many languages. Levitt assembles selected pieces of this, so that we feel we are watching the trial take place in real time, with courtroom excerpts, newsreports, interviews and more. The many close ups of Eichmann in his glass booth are confronting, while the entire documentary is a rare insight into a legal trial, with its pervasive issue of personal culpabiliy versus "just following orders". Thought-provoking and horrifically mesmerising.
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire: Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for his tireless campaigining against racism, violence and oppression. His 1960 autobiographical book Night was a seminal text, recounting his experiences as a teenage survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Now the life of a very private man is portrayed in this excellent doco, using extensive archival footage and many interviews with the man himself, at various stages in his life. Much of the narrative is portrayed through powerful expressionistic black and white paintings. This is yet another vitally important film that bears first-hand witness to atrocities, coming from the burning passion and commitment of an unforgettable man.
Holding Liat: When the horrific events of October 7th occured, director Brandon Kramer made a quick decision to chronicle the events by following the family of his American-Israeli friend Liat, who had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Oz by Hamas, along with her husband Aviv. This confronting and deeply affecting documentary brings a perspective and deep compassion to the horrific events. We follow Liat's family, especially her father, and their efforts to convince the US government to put pressure on Hamas to release their daughter. Combining political perspective with deeply intimate, open and personal drama, this is an important and eye-opening film.
Outsider. Freud: At a mere 66 minutes, this terrific doco manages to pack in plenty of information about the world's most famous psychiatrist. Combining creative animation sequences, readings from Freud's letters, and many interviews with contemporary psychoanalysts, the film gives an excellent insight into the man and his theories. It also examines how his growing up as a Jew in Austria as Hitler came to power affected his thinking and theories.
The Property: Nominated for four awards at the Israeli Oscars, this Israeli/Polish co-production, is a delight, tackling a serious theme with a light touch and a hefty dose of romance. Regina (Rivka Michaeli), now 83, travels to Poland, hoping to reclaim a property that was seized from her family during World War II. Her travelling companion is her granddaughter Mika. Michaeli is an iconic figure in the Israeli theatrical scene, and she brings a heart-breaking charm to the old woman who is really seeking to connect with Roman, the love of her life from her youth. Romance enters Mika's life unexpectedly in the form of a Gentile boy, Tomas, who is a guide for Holocaust tours of Warsaw. Every aspect of the film balances out beautifully - humor and pathos, the mystery of the property, the revelations of Regina's past, the lovely relationship between grandmother and granddaughter and the uneasy relationship of modern Poland with its Jewish history. Fresh and engaging, authentically scripted, this is a treat to watch.
Riefenstahl: This remarkable documentary features a woman whose middle name is surely "controversy". Leni Riefenstahl started life as a performer and actress who then went into directing, allying herself with the Nazi regime for whom she made one of its best-known propaganda films, Triumph of the Will, followed by Olympia. The two-hour doco is based upon films, letters, recordings and photos from Riefenstahl's estate. In the many old TV interviews used in this film, it's amazing to note how she always denies having had close ties to the Nazi regime, yet so much other evidence points otherwise. The interweaving of all the material with the commentary makes for a totally thought-provoking and revelatory film, in which we must ask ourselves whether Riefenstahl's gifts as a filmmaker (yep, she was good!) can ever begin to counterbalance the evil of the people for whom she filmed. The filmmaker Andres Veiel doesn't pass judgment, but gives his subject enough rope to hang herself.
Soda: Israel in the 1950s was home to many Holocaust survivors. This feature narrative, inspired by the story of the director's grandparents, tells of one such man, Shalom (played by Lior Raz of Fauda fame), who lives in a closeknit community, and is attracted by a beautiful new arrival, Eva. Shalom and his wife Ghita had been partisans during the war, hiding and fighting in the forest. Now other community members recognise Eva and denounce her as having been a Kapo in a concentration camp. So begins a story of guilt, recriminations, and intergenerational trauma, as Shalom's daughter Esti is affected by what is going on around her. Nominated for several awards by the Israeli Film Academy, this is strong filmmaking that feels disturbingly real. It nicely balances romance with themes that are a constant in so many lives, still today.
The World Will Tremble: Films about the death camps abound, but this true story is a real stand-out. Michael Podchlebnik and Solomon Wiener were gravediggers at the horrific Polish death camp Chelmno, where Nazis first trialled mass extermination, forcing prisoners into trucks then gassing them and dumping the bodies in mass graves. The two men hatch a daring escape plan, as they are determined to get the message out to the world, exposing what the Germans were really doing to the Jews. Harrowing is the only word that comes to mind for this movie - it's really hard to watch, but it is so well shot, magnificently acted, and as much as any movie can immerse you in the horrors of a death camp, this one manages to do it. It's the sort of film that must be seen to remind us of what hate and prejudice lead to.
JIFF is, as always, wholeheartedly recommended
