Captivating Films Highlight JxJ DC Jewish Film and Music Festival
By • May 1, 2025 0 286
By Dina Gold
Yes, folks, it’s that time of year again! The Edlavitch DCJCC’s, JxJ, our region’s leading Jewish film and music cultural arts center, begins its annual ten day-long celebration on May 8.
Now in its 35th year, the JxJ Jewish Film and Music Festival will host screenings and performances in Washington, D.C., as well as in Bethesda, Maryland, and Fairfax Virginia.
Yael Luttwak, artistic director of the festival and year-round program, notes: “Things have changed dramatically in the lead up to this year’s JxJ festival. We are now the only independent movie theater in downtown D.C.”
She has plenty of treats in store, offering 27 feature-length and short movies along with four concerts.
There are films in English as well as subtitled works in their original Hebrew, Spanish, French, German and Polish languages. And there is something on offer for every taste – dramas, documentaries, romantic comedy, historical narratives, portrayals of the LGBTQ+ experience and women in film.
Highlights include Eid, directed by Bedouin Arab Israeli Yousef Abo Madegem, portraying a young man from Rahat who feels trapped between tradition and his own desires. Both he and Bedouin feminist and peace activist Amal Al Sana (a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2006) will attend the post-screening discussion.
You can binge-watch, in two parts, all six episodes of TV comedy series The Zweiflers, about a dysfunctional Jewish family in contemporary Germany fighting over the future of their delicatessen empire when the patriarch’s less than salubrious history in the red-light district of Frankfurt is unearthed. Winner of the best series award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival the screenings are sponsored by the German embassy, which is hosting a reception on opening night.
The Argentinian embassy is sponsoring and providing wine for the reception accompanying the movie Mazel Tov by acclaimed Argentinean actor and director Adrián Suar. When Dario Roitman returns from the U.S. to Argentina for a family wedding and Bat Mitzvah, he anticipates the usual family drama. But his carefully laid plans for a family reunion are suddenly upended when he learns, just hours before his flight, that his father has passed away. While navigating grief, sibling rivalry, and delightfully eccentric grudges, Mazel Tov captures the strength it takes to forgive, let go, and find joy amid the tears.
Luttwak says “Come and see movies and hear music you cannot enjoy anywhere else.”
She has four standout concerts scheduled at the EDCJCC’s Goldman Theater.
Gili Yalo, one of the most captivating and innovative artists on the current Israeli scene, is bringing his unique blend of Ethiopian roots, soul, funk, psychedelic and jazz to audiences on May 17. Performing in both English and Amharic, Yalo incorporates his personal journey in his music – his trudge on foot in 1984 from Ethiopia to Sudan and escape to Israel as part of Operation Moses. With his unique voice, his performances are an exceptional, rich and vivid experience.
Multi-talented professional composer, klezmer saxophonist and clarinetist (and local boy hailing from Baltimore) Seth Kibel and his band will delight audiences with the music of legendary Jewish songwriters. Renowned cappella group The Maccabeats will be performing their unique harmonies along with a heavy dose of Jewish humor and celebrated clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen is jetting back to DC from Tel Aviv to share her virtuoso musical dexterity.
JxJ DC Jewish Film and Music Festival, May 8 to 18, at the Edlavitch DCJCC, 1529 16th St., NW, Washington, D.C., with screenings also at Bethesda Row Cinema, 7235 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, Maryland, and Cinema Arts Theatre, 9650 Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia. Tickets $16-$36. For further information, trailers, a festival calendar and to purchase tickets, click here.
