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ON THE NEWS REEL: 18TH WASHINGTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

(BY ALI NADERZAD) WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts will be holding its18th Washington Jewish Film Festival, curated by Joshua Ford. It’s an impressive program which will launch on Tuesday, November 29th with Cao Hamburger’s The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (see SCREEN COMMENT review). An 11-year old whose parents are forced into hiding during a brutal crackdown in 1970s Brazil is raised in a vibrant Yiddish-speaking neighborhood of Sao Paulo. Hamburger’s film is a fine opener for what’s become a venerable institution on the festival circuit. Israel’s cinema has been enjoying quite a revival and the Jewish Film Festival’s program will be reflecting this. Sweet Mud, which won International Jury at Sundance, Beaufort which got nods at Berlin and Jellywish, which won the Camera D’Or in Cannes. Another film from this past Cannes festival that will be shown next week is Raphael Nadjari’s Tehilim, a film about the slow devastation that occurs when a father disappears from home. Shorts and feature films will be screened at various locations in northwest DC from November 29th until December 9th, with Jellyfish closing the festival. Check out complete program listings and locations here. (pictured: still from Sweet Mud).