#FIRSTLOOK: 2022 TORONTO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

The 2022 Toronto Jewish Film Festival is back and now in its 30th edition! This year, the Festival will showcase 70 titles from 16 countries. Films will screen in person from June 9-15, 2022 at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, Innis Town Hall, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk and Leah Posluns Theatre, with more films available through the TJFF Virtual Cinema in Ontario from June 16–June 26, 2022. Additional in-person screenings include two free Archival Series screenings and the closing film on June 26, 2022. Box office opens May 12, 2022.

Opening Film
PLAN A, dirs. Doron Paz and Yoav Paz (Germany/Israel)
Based on Dina Porat’s book Vengeance and Retribution are Mine, a group of Holocaust survivors seek revenge and plan to kill millions of Germans by poisoning Nuremberg’s water supply. Stars Michael Aloni (Shtisel), Syliva Hoeks (Bladerunner 2049) and August Diehl (Hidden Life).
Guests in attendance: Directors Doron Paz and Yoav Paz

*Micki Moore Award Winner (Best Narrative Feature by a Female Director)
CINEMA SABAYA, dir. Orit Fouks Rotem (Israel)
Jewish, Arab, secular, and devout women in an introductory filmmaking course share their personal video footage with their classmates. In so doing, they are not only confronted with the stark differences in their circumstances, but also elements of connection. 

*David A. Stein Award Winner (Best Documentary)
Centrepiece Film – Documentary
FOUR WINTERS: A STORY OF JEWISH PARTISAN RESISTANCE AND BRAVERY, dir. Julia Mintz (United States)
Four Winters celebrates the 25,000 Jewish partisans who escaped into the forests of Eastern Europe to resist the Nazis, carrying out deadly acts of sabotage, staging ambushes and waging clandestine warfare. Featuring interviews with five of the last surviving partisans, two of whom (Faye Schulman and Sara Ginaite) raised families in Toronto.
Guest in attendance: Director Julia Mintz

Centrepiece Film – Narrative
LET IT BE MORNING (Vayehi Boker), dir. Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Winner of seven Israeli Academy Awards, Let It Be Morning highlights the absurdities of everyday life for Israeli Arabs. Kolirin’s (The Band’s Visit) film is based on Sayed Kashua’s novel about a family that gets trapped by a military blockade in a tiny Arab village in Israel.

Closing Film
NEIGHBOURS (Nachbarn), dir. Mano Khalil, (Switzerland/France)
Winner of the Grand Prize at the Mons International Film Festival, the semi-autobiographical story by director Mano Khalil highlights the plight of the Kurdish people through the eyes of a sensitive child. 
Guest in attendance: Director Mano Khalil

More on the complete programming line and tickets here.

(Photo credit: TJFF)