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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jewish life and culture, including stories on Carla Peperzak and Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at center of film festival beginning Saturday

By Azaria Podplesky For The Spokesman-Review

Throughout the year, Spokane Area Jewish Family Services offers programming and support to members of the community, primarily seniors, low-income residents and people with disabilities.

These services include home, hospital and hospice visits with seniors, errand and chore services for seniors and clients with disabilities, referrals to relevant community resources, fall-prevention classes, peer-led support groups for caregivers, food and financial assistance and a medical lending closet for those in needs of things like wheelchairs, canes and shower chairs.

“While our mission and the way we approach work is inspired and driven by Jewish values, we’re not a religious organization,” said Jack Sorensen, a member of the Spokane Area Jewish Family Services board of directors. “We provide services to anyone who needs them.”

Once a year, the organization’s services also include the Spokane Jewish Film Festival, which celebrates Jewish life and culture via short and feature-length films. This year’s festival brings a mix of documentary and narrative films to the Magic Lantern Theatre from Saturday through Feb. 2. There will also be two films screened online.

“There are some films that are made really from a Jewish perspective about a Jewish topic,” said Sorensen, who is also the festival committee chair. “There are films that contain Jewish culture, Jewish values, but that are broadly appealing.”

The festival opens Saturday with the West Coast premiere of “Carla the Rescuer” (4 and 7 p.m., both sold out), which puts the spotlight on Spokane’s Carla Peperzak. As a teen, Peperzak was a member of the Dutch resistance during World War II and helped make fake IDs and provide shelter to fellow Jewish people. Peperzak will speak at 6:30 p.m. to introduce the second showing.

“It speaks to Carla’s continued work and dedication to teach and speak out, particularly to teach youth about injustice and where it leads us,” Sorensen said about Peperzak’s appearance at the film’s premiere.

A short called “Jack and Sam,” about two Holocaust survivors who reunite after 80 years, plays before the second showing of “Carla the Rescuer.”

On Sunday, the festival features “Lyd,” (2 p.m.) a sci-fi documentary that examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the life of the city of Lyd (Lod in Israel today) and its residents. The city is voiced by Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi.

After the screening, audiences can take part in a Zoom Q&A with co-directors Sarah Ema Friedland and Rami Younis, moderated by Rob Sauders, an EWU professor whose expertise centers on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On Thursday, Jan. 30, the festival and the Spokane NAACP will co-host the screening of “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” (7 p.m.). This documentary tells of the first organized interracial civil rights protest when the largely Jewish community near Glen Echo Amusement Park in Maryland joined Black students from Howard University in boycotting the segregated park.

“As student activists being mentored by union organizers, this experience produced 10 of the 1961 Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael,” Sorensen said. “It’s a really well-done documentary about a really untold story that this is the perfect moment to tell.”

“Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” will be followed by a Q&A session. Tickets to this film are sold separately and are not included in any festival pass packages.

On Feb. 1, the festival continues with “Shoshana” (7 p.m.), a movie set during the British Mandate in 1930s Tel Aviv. The film tells the story of Shoshana Borochov (Irina Starshenbaum), who is the daughter of one of the founders of socialist Zionism, and a British police officer named Tom Wilkin (Douglas Booth). At the same time, Wilkin and fellow officer Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling) are searching for Zionist militant Avraham Stern (Aury Alby).

The festival continues Feb. 2 with “Running on Sand” (2 p.m.). Aumari (Chancela Mongoza), a young Eritrean refugee living in Israel, is set to be deported but after an escape attempt at the airport, he is mistaken for a new Nigerian striker for Israel’s Maccabi Netanya soccer team, who is scheduled to arrive at the airport at the same time. Aumari decides to play along with this mistaken identity and must work to hide his true identity and help the struggling team.

Before “Running on Sand,” the festival will screen two short films. “We Should Eat” touches on everything from raising teens to kvetching to deciding what to order for dinner. “Just the Tip” follows Jewish filmmaker Jessie Kahnweiler as she explores the topic of male circumcision.

The Spokane Jewish Film Festival also features two online screenings. “Vishniac” is available to screen Sunday through Wednesday and tells the story of Roman Vishniac, a photographer known for his work capturing Jewish life in Eastern Europe from 1935 through 1938.

Before “Vishniac,” viewers can watch “Tattooed4Life,” a short film which follows Liraz, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre, as she uses tattooing to immortalize the 364 people who were killed. Viewers can also watch a pre-recorded Q&A with festival director Neil Schindler and director Kineret Hay-Gillor.

From Tuesday through Jan. 31, audiences can also screen “The Goldman Case,” which tells of the 1975 trial of Pierre Goldman, a controversial left-wing activist, who was accused of multiple crimes, including two murders. The case divided France at the time and is still impactful decades later.

It takes months for the film committee to whittle the list of submitted films down to the selected few that will be shown at the festival. Through multiple screenings and discussions, the team works to strike a balance between documentary and narrative films, comedies and dramas, all while covering a variety of topics showcasing Jewish life and culture.

“That’s a question that we absolutely do ask ourselves when we’re selecting the lineup, ‘What perspectives and insights are we showing?’ ” Sorensen said. “It’s important for us that the film festival offers a film for everyone in our community. Not to sound too philosophical about it, but film festivals and art in general are meant to stir conversation and learning and exchange and dialogue, and there’s really, I think, no other better way to do that than film.”