January 9-14, 2024
Individual Screening Tickets: $10 OJMCHE members, students, seniors; $12 general admission. Full festival passes are no longer available.
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.
Thank you to our sponsors: Rosalind Babener, Cedar Sinai Park, Congregation Beth Israel, Congregation Shir Tikvah, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Elizabeth Menashe, Mittleman Jewish Community Center, Multnomah County Cultural Coalition / Oregon Cultural Trust, Oregon Israel Fund*, Oregon Jewish Community Foundation, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland Jewish Academy, Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Family Fund of OJCF / Jordan Schnitzer*, Leonard & Lois Schnitzer Charitable Supporting Foundation*, Schwartz Charitable Foundation, Diane Solomon, Travel Portland, and Carolyn and Gary Weinstein*.
*Support provided via a philanthropic fund of OJCF
PJFF committee members include Howie Bierbaum, executive director Eastside Jewish Commons; Zach Larkin, program management officer USC Shoah Foundation; Eric Slade, OPB Oregon Art Beat producer; Leonard Shapiro, community member; Richard Silver, community member; Andrea Stolowitz, OJMCHE Lacroute Playwright-in-Residence; along with OJMCHE staff members.
Film Descriptions
You can find more information about each film on their individual event page.
Remembering Gene Wilder
Tuesday, January 9 | 7pm | TICKETS
Gold Lead Sponsor: Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Family Fund of OJCF / Jordan Schnitzer
Community Partner: Kickstand Comedy
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. Online ticket sales have closed for this screening; however, a limited number of tickets may be available at the door.
Vishniac
Wednesday, January 10 | 7pm | TICKETS
Gold Lead Sponsor: Leonard & Lois Schnitzer Charitable Supporting Foundation of OJCF
Community Partner: Blue Sky Gallery
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 | TICKETS
Gold Lead Sponsor: Cedar Sinai Park
Community Partner: Co/Lab & Art/Lab
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.
Nathan-ism and The Anne Frank Gift Shop
Saturday, January 13 | 7pm | TICKETS
Gold Lead Sponsor: Mittleman Jewish Community Center and Portland Jewish Academy
Community Partner: Reboot and Eastside Jewish Commons
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 | TICKETS
Gold Lead Sponsor: Jewish Federation of Greater Portland
Community Partner: Holocaust Center for Humanity
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.
PJFF Passes
Full festival passes are no longer available.