Jan 9, 2022

Spotlight on Made-in-Florida Stories

The Miami Jewish Film Festival is celebrating its milestone 25th edition with a special spotlight on “Made-in-Florida” movies this year. To deepen its commitment to support emerging local voices, the festival has expanded to host its largest number of Florida-focused stories, which notably includes five world premieres.

For the first time in MJFF’s history, the festival is opening with a Miami-made world premiere of iMordecai, a heart-warming comedy that is a love letter to the city of Miami, starring Academy Award-nominated and two-time Emmy-winning actor Judd Hirsch (Taxi, Independence Day), and Academy Award-nominated actors Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings) and Carol Kane (Hester Street). Hosted at the historic North Beach Bandshell, the opening night event will include the attendance of actors Judd Hirsch and Azia Dinea Hale, as well as writer/director Marvin Samel.

MJFF’s focus on “Made-in-Florida” films will also include the world premieres of the poignant Holocaust-themed documentary Against All Odds: Surviving the Holocaust, directed by Miami-based filmmaker Paul Bachow, the moving documentary Ezra, May His Memory Be a Blessing for All, and a short film about local artist Donyoni directed by Miami filmmaker Gisele Savdi.

Other Florida stories receiving their premieres at MJFF are the Steve McQueen produced Three Minutes – A Lengthening, an experimental documentary about a three-minute home movie that was shot 80 years ago in Poland and later found in Florida. The film compellingly provides a look into the lives of the inhabitants of a Jewish village that would be devastated by the Holocaust one year later. Also included in the Florida spotlight is Sylvie of the Sunshine State, an experimental documentary by South Florida filmmaker Sasha Levinson that offers a startlingly honest glimpse into modern motherhood that was entirely made during the COVID-19 lockdown.

With the exception of opening night’s in-person/outdoor premiere at the North Beach Bandshell, all the films featured in the “Made-in-Florida” spotlight will be available to stream for free on MJFF’s virtual program from January 14-26, 2022. To learn more about the 2022 Miami Jewish Film Festival, which will present more than 145 film premieres from 25 countries, visit miamijewishfilmfestival.org

You can find the complete “Made-in-Florida” film program below:

Against All Odds (2022)

Miami filmmaker and MJFF alum Paul Bachow's stunning new documentary focuses on Survivor stories outside the concentration camps where each day was uncertain and their discovery almost always meant death. Click here to Watch the Film!

Boxed (2021)

Traumatized in a boxcar en route to a Nazi concentration camp, a husband-and-wife dance team find their bond of love strengthened. Starring Avi Hoffman & Laurel Levey. Click here to Watch the Film!

Donyoni (2022)

From "pizza face" to "Don Yoni", a Bolivian Jewish family living in Miami recounts the sacrifices and contradictions inherent in raising a son with tuberous sclerosis, a rare condition from which only his raw, uncanny works of art can provide solace. The world premiere presentation will take place on Tuesday, January 18 at 7:30pm at the Miami Beach JCC. Click here to Buy Tickets!

Ezra, May His Memory Be for A Blessing (2022)

This moving and impactful film unravels the story of the life and death of a teenage boy who tragically took his own life, and intimately provides a personal, no-holds-barred insight into teenage suicide and surviving its aftermath. Click here to Watch the Film!

iMordecai (2022)

A heart-warming comedy about being young at heart and living one's life to the fullest, iMordecai is a love letter to the city of Miami starring Academy Award-nominated and two-time Emmy-winning actor Judd Hirsch (star of the Emmy-winning sitcom Taxi), and Academy Award-nominated actors Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings) and Carol Kane (Hester Street). The world premiere encore presentation will take place on Saturday, January 22 at 8:00pm at the Michael-Ann Russell JCC. Click here to Buy Tickets!

Sylvie of the Sunshine State (2022)

South Florida filmmaker Sasha Levinson aims the lens at her eccentric multigenerational Jewish family in an unconventional hybrid documentary offering a startlingly honest glimpse into modern motherhood that will make parents everywhere feel a little less crazy and a lot less alone. Click here to Watch the Film!

Three Minutes – A Lengthening (2021)

Produced by Steve McQueen and narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, Bianca Stigter’s documentary Three Minutes – A Lengthening transforms rare color home-movie footage shot in 1938 Poland, which were recently found in Florida, into a testament to victims of the Holocaust. Click here to Watch the Film!

MORE INFORMATION:
Full details on the Festival program can be found at miamijewishfilmfestival.org/films/2022. All Festival films will be available to stream for free starting Friday, January 14 until Wednesday, January 26. More information is available at miamijewishfilmfestival.org or by calling 305-573-7304.

Follow the Miami Jewish Film Festival on Facebook (/miamijewishfilmfestival) or Twitter (@MiamiJFF) for updates with the latest information about the Festival and attending filmmakers.

The Miami Jewish Film Festival is a program of the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE), a subsidiary of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.