OJMCHE is proud to present the Portland Jewish Film Festival 2024. Plan to join us for screenings of five new full-length films and two selected shorts that explore the complexity, history, and joy of Jewish life. This year’s festival spans five days: 7pm evening screenings are on Tuesday, January 9; Wednesday, January 10; Thursday, January 11; and Saturday, January 13, with a final matinee at 2pm on Sunday, January 14. The films are all new releases that have been featured at major Jewish Film Festivals nationally and internationally. Following each screening there will be a talk back session with authors, filmmakers, scholars, and artists that explores the themes and context of the films. You can purchase a festival pass and enjoy easy access to all the screenings.
More information: https://www.ojmche.org/events/weekend-in-quest-2024/
Remembering Gene Wilder
Tuesday, January 9 | 7pm
This movie focused on this celebrated actor is all about discovering joy and laughter amid darkness and is a moving and needed portrait of a Jewish legend.
Vishniac
Wednesday, January 10 | 7pm
The film takes us on a journey through the various chapters in the life of photographer Roman Vishniac. From the cosmopolitan streets of pre-war Berlin, to the shtetlach in Poland and Lithuania to the Princeton offices of Albert Einstein, Vishniac’s achievements in art and science invited praise and controversy.
The Artist’s Daughter and Mom & Judy
Thursday, January 11 | 7pm
With a stunning plot twist at the end, The Artist’s Daughter, set in Tel Aviv, paints a bewildering, surprising portrait of a relationship between a renowned artist absent from the life of his daughter, the filmmaker, in a story that can only exist in cinema. The short film Mom & Judy follows two women traveling in Israel as they talk about memory, aging, and health with light-hearted Jewish humor.
Nathanism and The Anne Frank Gift Shop
Saturday, January 13 | 7pm
At the end of World War II, Nathan Hilu, the son of Syrian Jewish immigrants, received a life-changing assignment from the U.S. Army: to guard the top Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. This experience fueled a lifetime of artistic inspiration for Nathan. The short film The Anne Frank Gift Shop asks is there is a wrong way to talk about the Holocaust? That’s the question at the heart of this dark comedy. When a high-end design firm presents its plans to reimagine the gift shop at The Anne Frank House, the company’s overt appeal to Generation Z sparks a debate about collective trauma, the Holocaust, and tote bags.
Irena’s Vow
Sunday, January 14 | 2pm
The film begins in 1939 Warsaw when the Nazis invade Poland and nurse Irena Gut is displaced and assigned to run the home of a Nazi commandant. Instead of following the path of least resistance, Gut risks everything to save a dozen Jewish refugees from persecution and murder, hiding them in her boss’s home.