Mandell JCC’s 19th Annual Hartford Jewish Film Festival, which begins March 12, features Global Cinema, Big Stars and Live Music in Hartford and West Hartford.

Submitted by Mandell JCC

Sophie Tucker, Theodore Bikel, Nancy Spielberg, Kara Sundlun, and Darko Tresnjak are some of the big names on screen and in person that will light up the Mandell JCC’s 19th Annual Hartford Jewish Film Festival, March 12 – 22, 2015, announced Festival co-chairs Nicole Greenblatt and Benson Monastersky.

Daring Israeli flyboys and soldier girls; prime ministers and pastrami kings; heroes, homeruns and heartthrobs star in 19 red hot hits from 10 countries screening in 7 venues during Connecticut’s 10 day celebration of Jewish culture and identity. Cinephiles of all faiths will be treated to riveting dramas, powerful documentaries, coming-of-age sagas, romantic comedies and shorts; all are New England, Connecticut or Hartford premieres.

Live music, foodie events, and insightful programs with visiting filmmakers, authors, performers and academics add an extra dimension to the lineup. Throughout the festival, a series of original short films “Through a Centennial Lens” will screen to celebrate the Mandell JCC’s 100th birthday.

Opening Night at Hartford’s new Infinity Music Hall & Bistro brings back Sophie Tucker, the city’s most famous daughter and “Last of the Red Hot Mamas” in the Connecticut premiere of The Outrageous Sophie Tucker. Hartt School senior and winner of Hartford’s Next Sophie Tucker competition, Colleen Welsh, will perform a live cabaret, accompanied by The Hartt School’s Paul Feyer with filmmakers Susan and Lloyd Ecker in attendance.

More showbiz with a sheer movies spotlight Connecticut’s own Theodore Bikel – In The Shoes of Sholom Aleichem and The Go Go Boys, the story behind Cannon Films’ legendary Israeli cousin moguls.

Deli Man dishes out a mouthwatering nostalgic history nosh about corned beef, garlic pickles and knishes (which will be served).

The screenplay of Jewish life continues with films about history, heroes and the Holocaust. Closing Night celebrates the daring North American and Canadian flyboys who volunteered as pilots during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence in the Connecticut Premiere of Above and Beyond – The Birth of the Israeli Air Force. Producer Nancy Spielberg, Steven’s younger sister, will attend and speak following the film.

In Berlin Calling, an ex-punk chick pulls back the suburban veil to uncover her father’s dark days in World War II Germany. A Connecticut father-daughter story narrated by and starring TV anchor Kara Sundlun reveals the little-known but heroic great 1943 escape of the late Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun in Above and Beyond – Bruce Sundlun’s Incredible WWII Journey. Ms. Sundlun and film director Tim Gray will be interviewed by Dennis House following the film.

The sequel to Ambassador Yehuda Avner’s juicy tell-all memoir movie, The Prime Ministers, Part Two – Soldiers and Peacemakers is an insider’s peek behind the headlines and newsmakers of Israel. When a 23 year old Jewish Parisian is kidnapped for ransom in the unflinching 24 Days – The True Story of the Ilan Halimi Affair, a chilling chain of events is set in motion that continues until today in Europe.

Three of Israel’s top box office hits will screen at the festival. Eran Riklis’ Dancing Arabs, based on the book by Sayed Kashua, is about fitting in, family ties and finding love while straddling two opposing worlds – Arab and Jewish. Israel’s most famous acting legends star in The Farewell Party, a poignant dramedy about love at sunset and knowing when to say goodbye. M*A*S*H meets Girls in Zero Motivation, the zany dark comedy about young bored female soldiers on a remote Israeli army base.

Coming-of-age flicks travel to Cuba where Havana Curveball brings together a baseball loving California Bar Mitzvah teen with homerun-obsessed kids in need. In Hannah Cohen’s Holy Communion, a sweet Irish lass gets a humorous ecumenical lesson. A young boy escapes the Nazis and lives in the woods in the extraordinary true saga Run Boy Run. Pianist Mona Golabek and Darko Tresnjak will preview Hartford Stage’s upcoming The Pianist of Willesden Lane following this film.

Love stories – forbidden, hilarious, inter-cultural and desperate – abound. Star of David-crossed lovers in Felix and Meira pair a discontented young Hasidic mother and an eccentric artist in Montreal. A sophisticated German business student meets her Israeli mis-match in Hanna’s Journey. The WWII story Closed Season traps a refugee and a desperate farm couple into a complicated triangle of strange bedfellows. Since a Jewish film fest demands a family dysfunction film, the French It Happened in Saint – Tropez delivers a chocolate box full of guilty pleasures.

Ticket prices range from $12 in advance ($15 at door) for most films to $75 for the March 12, 2015 The Outrageous Sophie Tucker Opening Night film, dinner, cabaret and parking. Tickets for the Sunday, March 22, 2015, Above and Beyond – The Birth of the Israeli Air Force Closing Night film and reception are $25 per person.

Tickets will be on sale in January 2015 in person, via phone and by mail at the Mandell JCC. Seating is limited, advance purchase is recommended to avoid sellouts. Tickets will be sold at the door subject to availability; all seating is general admission and program is subject to change.

All events are under Hartford Kashrut Commission supervision. For tickets, schedules, trailers, directions, and a Festival brochure contact the Box Office, Mandell JCC, Zachs Campus, 335 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, CT. 06117, 860-231-6316, visit www.hjff.org or call the Mandell JCC, 860-236-4571.