NCJF Films in Distribution. Available for DVD/Video purchase and/or public exhibition screenings. A [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Advice And Dissent 2002, USA, 21 minutes, Color Directed By Leib Cohen 35mm DVD VHS A frustrated businessman, Jeffery Goldman (John Pankow) tries to end his hopeless marriage by asking his local Rabbi (Eli Wallach) to place a curse on his wife. More The Affair Blum East Germany, 1948, 109 minutes, B&W German with English subtitles Directed by Erich Engel 16mm This early postwar suspense story, based on a well-known 1926 murder trial with Dreyfus-like overtones represents an East German reflection on Nazism. More All Jews Out Alle Juden Raus! Germany, 1990, 82 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Emanuel Rund 16mm DVD Interviews with former Nazi Party members, townspeople and the switchboard operator from Theresienstadt are conducted by German high school students... More Alois Brunner: The Last Nazi USA, 2000, 60 min, color Directed by Monika Kopla DVD VHS Alois Brunner was a notorious Nazi war criminal having been responsible for sending more than 128,500 European Jews to death camps all across Europe. More Altalena Israel, 1994, 53 minutes, color/B&W English and Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Ilana Tsur DVD In 1948, the ship Altalena arrived in Israel carrying 930 World War II refugees and ammunition in direct violation of Prime Minister David Ben Gurion's new military chain-of-command. More Ambulance Ambulans Poland, 1962, 15 minutes, B&W Music- no narration/dialogue. Directed by Janusz Morgenstern 16mm DVD In this haunting short fiction film, a group of Jewish children and their teacher are herded into an ambulance by Nazis. More America Condemns Nazi Terrorism USA, 1938, 4 minutes, B&W Narrator: Lowell Thomas 16mm This Movietone newsreel from the week of November 20, 1938 is the only known filmed American news story about Kristallnacht. More American Matchmaker Amerikaner Shadkhn Restored by NCJF USA 1940 87 minutes B&W Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer 35mm 16mm DVD Leo Fuchs, the "Yiddish Fred Astaire," stars in this musical comedy as Nat Silver, a debonair and fabulously wealthy Jewish-American businessman whose recent engagement (his eighth) goes awry. More Amy USA, 1997, 8 min, color Directed by Susan Rivo DVD A poignant and hilarious personal narrative about the filmmaker’s lifelong attachment and deep bond with a stuffed animal received at birth. An Appeal to the Jews of the World USSR, 1941, 6 minutes, B&W Russian, Yiddish and English with English subtitles 16mm DVD In 1941, a group of the Soviet Union’s most prominent Jewish writers and artists signed an appeal to Jews throughout the world. More Angst Australia, 1993, 56 min, color Directed by Judy Menczel DVD VHS Angst looks at the lives of three Jewish comedians—Deb Filler, Sandy Gutman, and Moshe Waldoks—whose parents are concentration camp survivors. More Appelfeld's Table Israel, 2004, 47 min, color Hebrew w/ English subtitles Directed by Adi Japhet Fuchs DVD Imagination, memories, and fiction combine in this film about the life and world of renowned Israeli writer Aharon Appelfeld. More The Arena Israel, 2001, 48 minutes, color Hebrew w/ English subtitles Directed by Moish Goldberg & Yonatan Gurfinke DVD Through decades of celebration, protest and turmoil, the massive Rabin Square, in the heart of Tel Aviv, has served as an arena for Israel's national drama. More As If It Were Yesterday Belgium, 1980, 85 minutes, B&W Directed by Myriam Abramowicz and Esther Hoffenberg 16mm DVD Many Belgian citizens risked their lives in an effort to rescue over 4,000 Jewish children from deportation and extermination during WWII. More As If Nothing Happened Israel, 50, Minutes Directed by Ayelet Bargur DVD This award winning drama focuses on one family waiting to hear news of a son who may be involved in a terrorist incident. More At the End of the Day Directed by Ayelet Bargur Israel 50 Minutes Hebrew w/English subtitles DVD Four young men, all commanders in the same Israeli Defense Force Golan Heights paratrooper unit, were killed over a twenty-two month period from 1995 to 1997. More Auschwitz Oswiecim USSR, 1945, 21 minutes, B&W Produced at the Central Documentary Film Studio English narration 16mm DVD This Soviet Army film of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp was awarded the Red Banner in 1945. More Avodah Palestine, 1935, 50 min, b&w Music Only with English subtitles Director: Helmar Lerski 35mm DVD This landmark documentary celebrates the pioneering labors of early Jewish settlers in Palestine, recording the technological and agricultural accomplishments of the pioneers and the idea of a socialist Jewish state. More Aya: An Imagined Autobiography Israel, 1994, 87 minutes, Color Directed by Michal Bat-Adam 35mm DVD Played by filmmaker Michal Bet-Adam, Aya is a woman who, since early childhood, has been driven by her father’s ambition to see her become successful. More Back to Top B [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Back To Gombin USA, 2002, 56 minutes, color Directed by Minna Packer DVD A tapestry of film and photographs including rare footage shot in Gombin in 1937, this film tells the story of a group of 50 children of survivors of the Shoah, who return to their parents’ Polish village of Gombin and experience acts of reconciliation, healing, and discovery. More Baklava and The Meaning of Life USA, 1999, 23 minutes, color Directed by Jamil Simon DVD Where does one find the meaning of life? Perhaps it lies in the kitchen of sculptor Helene Simon, where she shows us how to make her world famous Baklava. More The Balcony Israel, 2000, 54 minutes, color Directed by Ruth Walk DVD VHS This is a moving documentary portrait of Israel Becker, a founder of the first professional Yiddish theatrical company in post-war Germany and writer and star of the historic film Long Is the Road, the first feature to portray the Holocaust from a Jewish point of view. More Being Jewish in France France, 2007, 185 minutes (Part I, 73 minutes; Part II, 112 minutes) French with English subtitles Director/Writer: Yves Jeuland DVD A sweeping documentary that explores the complex history of Jews in France--the first country to grant Jews citizenship--beginning with Revolutionary cries of Vive la France in Yiddish through the explosive Dreyfus Affair, and the absorption of Jews from Arab countries in the 1960s to charges of rising antisemitism in the 21st century. More The Bells USA, 1926, 85 minutes, B&W, Silent Directed by James Young 16mm Lionel Barrymore stars as Mathias, an Alsatian innkeeper whose political ambitions drive him to commit brutal murder in this 1926 melodrama based on Alexandre Chatrian and Emile Erckmann's 1869 play, "Le Jeuf Polonais" (The Polish Jew). Hunted by a circus mesmerist (chillingly played by Boris Karloff) and haunted by the ghost of his victim, Barrymore's Mathias is caught in a surreal fantasy where his guilty conscience torments him to the brink of spiritual agony. Although only marginally Jewish in subject matter, The Bells is an example of one way in which Jews have been stereotyped in theater and cinema-as the traveling merchant who becomes an easy target for violence and/or mockery. Ben Dov: Images of a Dreamer France, 1999, 55 mins, color/B&W Directed by Alex Szalat 16mm VHS Yakov Ben Dov came to Jerusalem from the Ukraine in 1907 with little more than a still camera to his name. More The Bene Israel: A Family Portrait India, 1994, 33 minutes, color Directed by Karen Nathanson and Jean-Francois Fernandez DVD This documentary is both an intimate family portrait and a fascinating ethnographic study of the Bene Israel, one of three groups of Jews living in India today. More Benjamin and the Miracle of Chanukah USA, 1978, 30 minutes, color Directed by Robert Mitchell 16mm This animated film featuring the voice of Herschel Bernardi traces the story of Chanukah through the fictional story of a young boy and his faithful donkey. The boy volunteers for a mission to obtain oil for the rededication of the temple. He goes off to Caesaria and overcomes one peril after another and returns successfully to Jerusalem by following the stars. Although the film takes considerable artistic license with the Chanukah story (especially the similarities to the Christmas story), it is still a delightful way to present Chanukah and the miracle of the oil. Recommended for ages 6-12. The Benny Zinger Show Israel, 1993, 37 minutes, color Hebrew with English Subtitles Directed by Arnon Goldfinger DVD VHS Benny Zinger presents slide shows at weddings, until one day, while preparing a show for a couple, he falls in love with the bride. More The Bent Tree USA 1980 8 minutes Animated Directed by Sally Heckel 16mm The Bent Tree is an animated fable based on Itzik Manger's folk tune, "Afn Veg Shteyt a Boym" (On the Road Stands a Tree) about a child whose mother deprives him of freedom to explore the world. Josh Waletsky's music and vocals infuse this work with warmth and feeling. Recommended for younger children and/or Yiddish-speaking audiences. "Sally Heckel's sand animation is skillful and lyrical, its patterns visually follow the flow of the song." Edith Zornow, Film Producer, Children's Television Workshop, 1980 Benya Krik Restored by NCJF USSR, 1926, 90 minutes, B&W Directed by V. Vilner 35mm DVD The seamy Jewish underworld of Odessa is the setting for Isaac Babel's story based on the life of gangster king Mishka Yaponchik ("Mike the Jap") Vinnitsky. More Beyond the Walls Israel, 1984, 103 minutes, color Directed by Uri Barbash 35mm The story of an unusual friendship between two prisoners, a Palestinian Arab and an Israeli Jew, who manage to unite their respective groups in a revolt against prison authorities. More The Biggest Jewish City in the World UK, 1976, 60 minutes, color/B&W Produced by Thames Television for the series "Destination: America" 16mm This comprehensive, nostalgic exploration of the Jewish immigrant experience in New York City includes footage and interviews spanning 1900-1976. Beginning with footage of the Lower East Side at the turn of the century, the film progresses from sweatshops and labor strikes, to early American-Jewish institutions like the Daily Forward newspaper and Yeshiva University, to prosperous descendants of Jewish immigrants living on Long Island. Featuring commentary by Irving Howe and Sam Levenson, the hour is filled with wonderful images and tales; a most enjoyable history lesson for all. Biloxi Blues USA, 1988, 106 minutes, color Directed by Mike Nichols 16mm The further adventures of Eugene Jerome, Neil Simon's youthful alter ego introduced in Brighton Beach Memoirs. Here, World War II is winding down and Eugene (Matthew Broderick) leaves Brooklyn for Biloxi, Mississippi and ten grueling weeks of army basic training. Also stars Christopher Walken, Matt Mulhern, and Penelope Ann Miller. Bitter Herbs and Honey Australia, 1996, 70 Minutes, color Directed by Monique Schwartz 16mm DVD In the turmoil of World War II and the postwar era, thousands of poor, Jewish immigrants fled Europe to rebuild their lives in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. More Blind Man's Bluff Israel, 1993, 93 Minutes, color Directed by Aner Preminger 35mm DVD VHS Based on a novel by Lilly Perry Amitai, Blind Man's Bluff takes a bittersweet look at the life of a young Israeli woman. More Blood Money The Netherlands, 2001, 58 min, color Directed by Benny Brunner & Daniel Cil Brecher Millions of Jewish victims of the Holocaust have claimed and obtained monetary compensation for their persecution, enslavement, and dispossession. More Bonjour! Shalom! Canada, 1991, 53 minutes, color Directed by Garry Beitel 16MM DVD In the small Montreal municipality of Outremont, two very different communities live side by side: Hassidic Jews and their French-Catholic neighbors. More Born in Berlin Israel, 1991, 85 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Naomi Ben-Natan and Leora Kamenetzky 16MM DVD VHS This penetrating documentary produced for Israel Educational Television looks at the lives of three Jewish women writers. More Born In Buenos Aires USA. 2003 40 minutes Directed by Beth Toni Kruvant DVD VHS This documentary provides personal insight and understanding into the difficult situation faced by the Jews of Argentina during the recent economic and political crisis. More Both Sides of the Wire Canada, 1993, 51 minutes, color Directed by Neal Livingston 16mm DVD This documentary focuses on a group of German and Austrian refugees who were deported from Britain in the summer of 1940 and sent to a Canadian prison camp. More Bound for Nowhere: The St. Louis Episode USA, 1939, 9 minutes, B&W Produced by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) 16mm DVD VHS The JDC produced this film to record what it thought would be a successful effort to save over 900 Jews, including 200 children... More Braids Israel, 1989, 90 min, color Directed by Yitzhak Halutzi 16mm DVD Based on a true story, Braids tells the tale of So'ad, 14 year old Jewish girl imprisoned by the Iraqi government in 1947 for her participation in the Zionist movement. More Breaking Home Ties Restored by NCJF USA, 1922, 86 minutes, B&W silent with German intertitles Directed by Frank N. Seltzer and George K. Rowlands 16mm VHS As antisemitic campaigns increased in 1920s America, American Jews looked for a way to present Judaism in a positive light. It was inevitable that some would turn to the motion picture as a solution to this dilemma. Consequently, a number of feature length films dealing with Jewish themes appeared in the 1920s. Breaking Home Ties, produced by a "syndicate" of prominent Jews in Philadelphia, was one of the first. The stated goal of the film was to truthfully represent "the every-day life of the Jew, with emphasis on that human and sympathetic element in his nature too often overlooked...." The film focuses on David Bergman who, thinking he has killed a friend in a jealous rage, flees Russia and becomes a successful lawyer in New York. His penniless family follows him to America, but by now he has lost touch with them. When David gets married on the premises of a home for the aged (to which he and his bride have contributed) he is happily reunited with his family, who also live in the home. Cast: Lee Kohlmar, Rebecca Weintraub, Richard Farrell, Arthur Ashley, Betty Howe, Jane Thomas, Henry B. Schaffer, Maude Hill, Robert Maxmillian. Breaking the Silence: The Generation After the Holocaust USA, 1984, 58 minutes, color Directed by Edward A. Mason, M.D. DVD This PBS documentary tells a moving story of personal growth as the children of Holocaust survivors find the strength to confront their painful legacy and overcome the barriers of unasked and unanswered questions that separate them from their parents. More Brighton Beach Memoirs USA, 1986, 110 minutes, color Directed by Gene Saks 16mm Screen version of Neil Simon's autobiographical play about two families living under the same roof in 1937 Brooklyn. Starring: Jonathan Silverman, Blythe Danner, Judith Ivey, Gene Saks. The Buchenwald Ball Australia, 2006, 52 min, color documentary Directed by Andrew Wiseman, Danny Ben-Moshe & Uri Mizrahi DVD Uplifting, full of swagger and joie de vivre, this film tells the story of 45 orphans who survived the Holocaust and found their way to Australia. More Back to Top C [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. A Cantor on Trial Khazan afn Probe Restored by NCJF USA, 1931, 10 min, B&W Directed by Sidney M. Goldin 35mm 16mm DVD VHS Cantor Leibele Waldman plays multiple roles in this spoof of a synagogue committee in search of a chazan (cantor). More The Cantor's Son Dem Khazns Zundl Restored by NCJF USA, 1937, 90 min, b&w Directed by Ilya Motyleff (Sidney Goldin, uncredited) 35mm DVD This toe-tapping Yiddish musical drama marks the screen debut of Moishe Oysher in the title role critic J. Hoberman calls the “anti-Jazz Singer.” Leaving behind his Shtetle Belz for the Lower East Side, Sol eventually lands the American dream, becoming a popular radio star. More Catskill Honeymoon Restored by NCJF   USA 1949 93 minutes B&W Directed by Josef Berne 16mm DVD A Jewish resort hotel celebrates a pair of longtime customers' fiftieth wedding anniversary by staging an old-fashioned Borscht Belt show. More Chariots of Fire UK, 1981, 124 minutes, color Directed by Hugh Hudson 16mm Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture. An absorbing and unusual drama based on the true story of two men-devout Scottish missionary Eric Liddell and driven Jewish university student Harold Abrahams-who run in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Abrahams' Judaism figures significantly in the film, as he faces elitist anti-Semitism at Cambridge University. Chasing Shadows UK, 1990, 52 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Naomi Gryn 16mm DVD VHS Hugo Gryn was 15 years old when he left his hometown, Berehovo, never believing he would see it again. More A Child of the Ghetto Restored by NCJF USA, 1910, 15 minutes Silent with English intertitles Directed by D. W. Griffith 16mm DVD This short tale of Lower East Side life captures the hustle and bustle of Rivington Street through the lens of legendary Hollywood director D.W. Griffith. More Children Must Laugh Mir Kumen On Restored by NCJF Poland 1935 63 minutes B&W Directed by Aleksander Ford 16mm DVD Directed by Lodz native Aleksander Ford and financed by the Jewish Labor movement in Poland, Children Must Laugh is one of the few surviving documentaries about Jewish life in Poland before WWII. More The Children of Izieu USA, 1992, 28 minutes, color Director: Tom Demenkoff DVD In 1944, one month before the end of World War II, the Gestapo in Lyon sent two vans to the French village of Izieu to remove Jewish children from an orphanage. More The Chosen USA, 1982, 108 minutes, color Directed by Jeremy Paul Kagan 16mm Adapted from Chaim Potok's best-selling novel, this film examines the differences among Orthodox Jews and conflicts between fathers and sons. Set in Brooklyn in the 1940's, the story focuses on two sons (Robbie Benson and Barry Miller) and two fathers (Maximilian Schell and Rod Steiger): Danny, the brilliant scion of a Hasidic dynasty in training to succeed his formidable father as Grand Rabbi; and Reuven, the son of a worldly progressive scholar. The boys develop a strong friendship and find themselves influenced by the other's father. When the fathers enter into a bitter, passionate conflict over the issue of Zionism, their devoted and dutiful sons must part ways-until one makes the painful choice to oppose his father and claim his own destiny. Chronicle of Love Israel, 1998, 90 min, color Feature Directed by Tzipi Trope 35mm DVD In this the first Israeli feature film to deal with the subject of battered women, two women victimized by their husbands form a healing bond. More Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising According to Marek Edelman Poland, 1994, 70 minutes, B&W Directed by Jolanta Dylewska DVD In this documentary, Marek Edelman, a member of the Jewish Labor Bund and leading participant in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, gives a daily account of events from April 19 through May 10, 1942. More Closed Country Switzerland, 1999, 86 minutes 35 Directed byKaspar Kasics 35mm DVD VHS Many years after World War II, evidence showing a connection between Swiss policy and the deportation and murder of Charles and Sabine Sonabend's parents at Auschwitz fall into Charles' hands. More Cohen on the Telephone USA, 1929, 9 minutes, B&W Directed by Robert Ross 16mm DVD With the advent of sound, the vaudeville-immigrant genre added comic speech to its repertoire of physical comedy and funny situations. More Cohen Saves the Flag USA, 1913, 10 minutes, B&W, silent Directed by Mack Sennett 16mm DVD Ford Sterling, Keystone's most popular comedian before Chaplin, plays Cohen, a sergeant in the Union Army who is the bitter rival of another officer for the attentions of Rebecca... More Cohen's Advertising Scheme USA, 1904, 1 minute, B&W, silent Directed by Edwin S. Porter 16mm VHS This typical one-shot gag film was produced for the Edison Company by Edwin S. Porter, who had previously filmed the famous silent movie version ofThe Great Train Robbery. More Cohen's Fire Sale USA, 1907, 10 minutes, B&W, silent Directed by Edwin S. Porter 16mm VHS By 1907, extended stories had become popular over the single gag. As in Cohen's Advertising Scheme, Cohen is again portrayed as the "scheming merchant." More Comrade Abram Restored by NCJF USSR, 1919, 18 minutes, B&W Silent with English Intertitles Directed by Alexander Razumni 35mm 16mm DVD This short propaganda film (or agitka) tells the tale of a Jew who survives a pogrom and becomes a leader in the Red Army. More  The Cowboy USA 1968 11 minutes B&W Yiddish (no subtitles) Director: Abe Wexler 16mm DVD Yes, it's just your typical all-Yiddish shoot-'em-up: a small boy falls out of a covered wagon on its way West and shows up years later as a quick trigger cowboy. More Crossing Delancey USA, 1988, 97 minutes, color Directed by Joan Micklin Silver 16mm Set in modern-day New York, this romantic comedy highlights the contrasting values between first and third generation American Jews by focusing on a 33-year-old single Jewish woman (Amy Irving), who works, lives, and loves in the modern gentile world and repeatedly rejects her grandmother's efforts to find her a traditional Jewish suitor. When she meets "the Pickle Man" (Peter Riegert) she begins reexamining her values as a modern, assimilated Jew and her prejudices against the "traditional" Jewish world. Back to Top D [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Daffke...The Four Lives of Inge Deutschkron Germany, 1999 (English Language version), 90 minutes, color Directed byWolfgang Kolneder VHS Holocaust survivor Inge Deutschkron stunned German and Israeli audiences with her memoir, an account of her two years spent hiding from the Nazis in Berlin. Adapted for the stage as ‘From Now On Your Name Is Sara,’ Deutschkron’s story now comes to the screen in this documentary chronicling 70 years of her life and career. Daniel USA, 1983, 130 minutes, color Directed by Sidney Lumet 16MM In this screen adaptation of E. L. Doctorow's celebrated novel "The Book of Daniel," the children of a couple patterned after Julius and Ethel Rosenberg must confront their painful heritage in order to deal with their own lives in the protest-filled 1960s. Stars Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin, Edward Asner, Ellen Barkin, and Amanda Plummer. (See also UNKNOWN SECRETS: Art and the Rosenberg Era ) Danzig 1939 USA, 1980, 30 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Sidney Reichman for the Jewish Museum of New York VHS This documentary details the struggles of Jews in the German city of Danzig to survive the brutal assault of the Nazis. All but approximately one hundred Danzig Jews escaped the Nazi terror because local synagogue leaders made the unprecedented move of selling their religious artifacts; the money gained from this sale was used to finance the immigration of the entire community. The film documents an exhibit exhibit of Danzig's religious treasures, reclaimed and stored at the Jewish Museum in New York City. Interviews with the survivors, along with film footage from 1939 and photographs of the lost community, paint an unforgettable portrait of a courageous people who managed to save their lives and part of their history from the murderous Nazi regime. Davidoff Newsreel Palestine, 1934, 10 minutes, B&W Hebrew (an English translation sheet accompanies film) Produced by Davidoff Newsreel Company 16mm VHS This newsreel segment depicts the first voyage of a Polish ocean liner to Palestine in 1934. The film contains crudely edited footage of the festive departure from the Black Sea port of Constanta, the passengers enjoying the pleasures of the open sea, the recitation of Yom Kippur prayers on deck, and an extended cantorial performance. Other images include passengers dancing the hora, singing Zionist songs, and the impressive urban vistas of Haifa and Tel-Aviv which greeted the visitors upon their arrival. The Day Grandpa Died USA, 1970, 11 minutes, color VHS Frankness and family solidarity at the funeral help him to accept and understand what has happened. The film depicts Jewish mourning practices and attitudes toward death, and can serve as a starting point for a discussion of these traditions with young people. A Day In Warsaw Restored by NCJF Poland 1938 10 minutes B&W Yiddish with complete, new English subtitles 16mm DVD The lively Jewish neighborhoods of Warsaw, including Zamenhof Street and the commercial "beehive" Nalewki Street, were home to 400,000 Jews before World War II. More Days of Memory Lithuania, 1999 65 minutes, color/B&W Lithuanian, Hebrew and Yiddish with English narration Directed by Saulius Berzinis VHS An overview of an academic conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the destruction of the Vilna Ghetto held in Vilna in 1993, this film opens with an overview of the history of Lithuania and the Jews of Lithuania. The production includes contemporary footage juxtaposed with historical film and photographs of the once vibrant Jewish community of Vilna. Dear Mr. Waldman Israel, 2006, 86 minutes, color Directed by Hanan Peled 35mm In Tel Aviv in the 1960s 10-year-old Hilik knows his goal in life is to compensate for the grief his parents suffered in the Holocaust. This fragile equilibrium begins to waver... More Death Mills aka Mills of Death, Die Todesmuhlen USA, 1945, 22 minutes, B&W Produced by the U.S. Department of War Information 16mm DVD VHS Originally made with a German soundtrack for screening in occupied Germany and Austria, this film was the first documentary to show what the Allies found when they liberated the Nazi extermination camps: the survivors, the conditions, and the evidence of mass murder. More Diamonds in the Snow 1994, 59 minutes, color Directed by Mira Reym Binford 16mm DVD VHS Thousands of Jewish children lived in the Polish city of Bendzin before the Nazi Holocaust. Barely a dozen survived the community's destruction. More Disraeli USA, 1929, 89 minutes, B&W Directed by Alfred E. Green 16mm George Arliss won an Oscar for his portrayal of the British Prime Minister as a great (and cunning) statesman and a devoted husband. Also stars Joan Bennett and Anthony Bushell. Divorce (Get) Israel, 1992, 34 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Ayellet Menachemi VHS Originally presented as part of the acclaimed anthology film Tel Aviv Stories, this short satire addresses one of the most difficult and serious issues facing Israeli women today. When a policewoman (Anat Waxman) suddenly recognizes her husband who has been AWOL for years, she takes an odd assortment of local onlookers hostage, threatening to kill them if she is not issued a divorce immediately. An unusual look at the conflict between religious law and modern Jewish life. Dream of My People USA, 1934, 66 minutes, B&W Directed by A.J. Bloome for Palestine-American Film Co. 16mm DVD An early travelogue on Palestine featuring the last appearance of Cantor Joseph (Yosselle) Rosenblatt. More Dreamers and Builders Israel, 1996, 50 minutes, B&W Directed by Yaakov Gross DVD This historic document of Palestine during the tumultuous 1920s includes footage from three rare films by Ya'akov Ben Dov, the father of Hebrew cinema. More Dreyfus Revisted: A Current Affair USA, 2006, 17 minutes Written & Produced by: Lorraine Beitler Directed by: Jonathan Gruber, Dawn Freer & Patricia Giniger Snyder DVD The Dreyfus Affair, one of history's most notorious cases of criminal injustice and antisemitism, set off an international uproar that served as a prelude to the Holocaust and as a catalyst to the development of modern Zionism. Dreyfus Revisited offers a cogent history of the affair and explores its relevance to pressing contemporary concerns. More The Dybbuk Der Dibuk Restored by NCJF Poland 1937 123 minutes B&W Directed by Michal Waszynski for Feniks Production Company 35mm 16mm DVD VHS Boundaries separating the natural from the supernatural dissolve as ill-fated pledges, unfulfilled passions and untimely deaths ensnare two families in a tragic labyrinth of spiritual possession. More Back to Top E [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. East and West Mizrekh un Mayrev/ Ost und West Restored by NCJF Austria 1923 85 minutes B&W Directed by Sidney M. Goldin and Ivan Abramson 16mm DVD This delightful comedy opens as Morris Brown, a New Yorker better acquainted with his checkbook than his prayerbook, returns to Galicia with his very American daughter, Mollie (Molly Picon) for a family wedding. More The Eighty-First Blow Israel, 1975, 91 minutes (originally 115 minutes), B&W Directed by David Bergman 16mm Written by Israeli soldier, poet and journalist Haim Gouri, this first of a trilogy constitutes one of the most ambitious attempts at a comprehensive film history of the Holocaust. More Embroidered Canticles France, 1991, 26 min, color (16mm) Producer: Izza Genini 16mm VHS The matrux is a unique form of Moroccan-Jewish music, fusing Hebrew and Arabic texts. The music and lyrics are derived from Andalusian traditions of music and poetry, reflecting the centuries-old link between Jewish and Muslim societies. More Enemies: A Love Story USA, 1989, 119 minutes, color Directed by Paul Mazursky 16mm Based on the brilliant, enigmatic novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, this is a quietly haunting film about an aloof Jewish intellectual (Ron Silver) who managed to hide from the Nazis during WWII and now, in 1949, leads a double life in Coney Island, NY. He's married to his wartime (non-Jewish) protector (Margaret Sophie Stein) and fooling around with a sexy married Jewish woman (Lena Olin). Things get even more complicated when his first wife (Angelica Houston), thought dead in the Holocaust, returns. Escape to the Rising Sun Belgium, 1990, 95 minutes, color (16mm/video - 60 minute video version also available) Directed by Diane Perelsztejn 35mm DVD VHS In 1939, Jews lucky enough to escape the Nazis' reach in Europe had only one place in the world to go that didn't require an exit visa: Shanghai. More Everlasting Joy or the Life and Adventures of B. Spinoza as Reported by His Vigilant Neighbors Israel, 1996, 96 minutes, color Directed by Igal Bursztyn 35mm What would happen if philosopher Baruch Spinoza were to live in an apartment house in Hulon? More Everything's For You USA, 1989, 58 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Abraham Ravett 16mm DVD VHS Filmmaker Abraham Ravett attempts to reconcile issues in his life as the child of a Holocaust survivor in this experimental non-narrative film. More Exodus USA, 1960, 212 minutes, color Directed by Otto Preminger 16mm Few motion pictures can approach the grandeur of this classic Hollywood epic adapted from Leon Uris' best-selling novel about the rebirth of a people and a nation. More Exodus to Berlin USA and Germany, 2001, 90 minutes, color English and German with English subtitles Directed by Peter Laufer and Jeff Kamen DVD VHS Jews are building thriving communities in Germany, the site of the fastest growing Jewish population outside of Israel. More Expulsion and Memory Canada, 1996, color, 60 minutes (video) Directed by Simcha Jacobovici and Roger Pyke DVD Shot on location in Spain, Portugal, Israel, Canada and the United States, this documentary traces the descendants of Spanish Jews who were forced to either flee or convert to Catholicism after Queen Isabella's edict of 1492. More Back to Top F [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Farewell Russia, 1992, 27 minutes, B&W Directed by Arkadiy Yakhnis 35mm DVD This short documentary chronicles a 90 year old man's emigration to Israel from his native shtetl in Bessabaria. More The Feast of Passover Di Seder Nakht USA 1931 15 minutes B&W English, Hebrew, and Yiddish (no subtitles) Producer: Sidney M. Goldin for Jacob Berkowitz 16mm VHS DVD A seder in the midst of North American prosperity recalls traditional Passover celebrations in Russia (with the same cast enacting both scenes). More Fiddler on the Roof USA, 1971, 181 minutes, color Directed by Norman Jewison 16mm This classic Hollywood musical is a rousing, colorful adaptation of Joseph Stein's hit play based on Sholem Aleichem's novel, "Tevye the Dairyman." More The Fifth Horseman is Fear Czechoslovakia, 1964, 100 minutes, B&W Czech with English subtitles Directed by Zbynek Brynych 16mm In Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia a Jewish doctor, forbidden to practice, has to remove a bullet from a wounded Resistance fighter. He roams Prague streets in a desperate search for morphine while hiding his patient from the Nazis. Flames in the Ashes Israel, 1985, 90 minutes, B& Directed by Haim Gouri and Jacquot Erlich 16mm This film, the third in a trilogy (The Eighty-First Blow ,The Last Sea ) examines Jewish resistance during World War II. More Four Friends Israel, 2000, 60 minutes, color Directed by Esther Dar 16mm DVD Four women, who were roommates at an Anglican boarding school in Jerusalem in 1939, meet 50 years later for a reunion. More Force of Evil USA, 1989, 60 minutes, color Producer: Steven Schlow DVD VHS Winner, Northeast Regional Emmy Award for Writing This television documentary traces the rise of Nazism with emphasis on the career of Adolf Eichmann . More Forever Activists! Stories from the Veterans of Abraham Lincoln Brigade USA, 1991, 60 minutes, color Directed by Judith Montell 16mm DVD The Spanish Civil War and the October 1986 reunion of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade serve as the backdrop to Judith Montell's documentary on these heroic veterans and their fifty years of activism. More The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists USA, 1980, 60 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher 16mm This film dramatically portrays immigrant life in the United States as seen through the eyes of the sweatshop workers who made up the Jewish anarchist movement. More From Philadelphia to the Front USA, 2005, 37 min, color Directed by Judy Gelles and Marianne Bernstein DVD One of the few documentaries to explore the stories of Jewish-American World War II veterans, this film focuses on six Philadelphia men in their 80’s, and their individual experiences during the war and a bittersweet reunion they share in their old age. More The Front USA, 1976, 94 minutes, color Directed by Woody Allen 16mm A classic Woody Allen comedy with a serious theme. Allen is a nebbishy guy enlisted by blacklisted writers to put his name on their scripts during the 1950s McCarthy era, leading to various hilarious complications. The movie's original screenplay was written by blacklisted writer Walter Bernstein and many of the stars (Martin Ritt, Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, Joshua Shelley, and Lloyd Gough) were also blacklisted in real life. The Führer Gives a City to the Jews Germany, 1944, 23 minutes -incomplete, B&W Produced by the Ministry of Propaganda of the Third Reich 16mm DVD VHS This is the only film known to be made by the Nazis inside an operating concentration camp. More. Funny Girl USA, 1968, 155 minutes, color Directed by William Wyler 16mm Barbra Streisand made her Oscar-winning film debut in this classic musical based on the life of Jewish singer-comedienne Fanny Brice, who rose to fame with New York's Ziegfeld Follies despite an unhappy private life. Featuring a fine Bob Merrill-Jule Styne score, including the memorable finale "Don't Rain on My Parade," the film co-stars Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis, and Walter Pidgeon. Back to Top G [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Genocide England, 1975, 52 minutes, color/B&W 16mm Produced by Thames Television as part of the "World at War" series. Narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier, this documentary is one of the best comprehensive overviews of the Holocaust and is an excellent tool for teacher training. Organized chronologically from the exposition of the "master race" theory in the early 1930s, through the persecution, ghettoization, deportation and mass murder of European Jewry, this film is so painfully brutal and explicit that it is recommended for mature audiences only. Gentleman's Agreement USA, 1947, 118 minutes, B&W Directed by Elia Kazan Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Director 16mm This classic film adapts Laura Z. Hobson's novel about a writer (Gregory Peck) who is assigned to write an article on antisemitism in America and decides to pretend he is a Jew. He discovers, to his surprise and confusion, that antisemitism is rampant in postwar America. Stars Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Celeste Holm, John Garfield, Jane Wyatt, and Dean Stockwell. Germany Awake Germany, 1968, 90 minutes, B&W German with English narration and subtitles Directed by Erwin Leiser 16mm This compilation film examines the use of feature films as a political weapon in the Third Reich. Among the numerous works excerpted are: Bismark, Venus on Trial, Victory in the West, Jud Suss, I Accuse!, The Rothchilds, and The Great King. Girona: The Mother of Israel, The Jews of Catalonia USA, 1989, 30 minutes, color Directed by Patricia Giniger Snyder DVD This video documents Jewish daily life in Girona, a city in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, from its "Golden Age" in the middle ages through the expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492 and up to the present day. More The Giving Tree USA, 1971, 10 minutes, color From the story by Shel Silverstein 16mm This animated short tells the story of the relationship between a little boy and the tree which lovingly and unstintingly provides for his needs at each stage of his life, asking nothing in return. Simple and low-key, this film raises profound questions about parental and filial love, and about the need to give and the need to repay. Golda Meir UK, 1971, 52 minutes, color/B&W 16mm A film report by Alan Hart for the BBC. A close-up portrait of one of the century's outstanding women and an illustrated account of the dramatic events in which she has been a leading protagonist. Narrated mostly by Meir herself, the film utilizes early stills and film footage of the Yishuv and the State of Israel and conveys Meir's own special strength of character and style: that curious combination of grandmotherly humanity and hard-nosed realism that has made her a legend in her own time. God Does Not Believe in Us Anymore Austria, 1982, 110 Minutes Directed By Axel Corti 16mm DVD The first film in Corti’s acclaimed epic trilogy, Where To and Back. After his father is murdered by the Nazis a young Viennese Jew lands in a French prison camp. More God, Man and Devil Got, Mentsch, un Taybl Restored by NCJF USA 1949 100 minutes B&W Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Joseph Seiden 16mm DVD A wager between God and Satan has dire consequences in this allegory about the material world's false promises. More Great Cantors in Cinema Great Cantors of the Golden Age Restored by NCJF USA, 2006, 120 minutes B&W/color Hebrew, Yiddish & English with English subtitles Directed by Rich Pontius DVD The long-awaited re-release of NCJF’s most popular titles, these two films feature some of the rarest and finest performances of renowned cantors from 1910 to the 1940s. More Green Fields Grine Felder Restored by NCJF USA 1937 95 minutes B&W Yiddish with NEW English subtitles Directed by Edgar Ulmer and Jacob Ben-Ami 35mm 16mm DVD VHS With a cast from the Artef and Yiddish Art Theaters, Peretz Hirschbein's semiautobiographical play and music by Vladimir Heifetz, Edgar Ulmer created a hit. More Gripsholm Germany, 2000, 102 minutes German and Swedish with English subtitles, color Directed by Xavier Koller 35mm DVD Based on the novel Schloss Gripsholm by Kurt Tucholsky, Gripsholm plunges us into the pleasure-craving, decadent world of Berlin cabaret at the beginning of the 1930s. More Back to Top H [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Half the Kingdom Canada 58 minutes Color Directed by Francine E. Zuckerman & Roushell N. Goldstein DVD Half the Kingdom documents the ongoing quest of seven Jewish feminists in the process of discovering their place within Judaism. More Half Sister USA, 1985, 22 minutes, color Directed by Abraham Ravett 16mm DVD VHS At 26, Abraham Ravett learned that his mother had previously been married and lost her family at Auschwitz, including his half-sister, Toncia. More The Hangman USA, 1964, 12 minutes, color Directed by Paul Julian and Les Goldman 16mm In this allegorical animated short based on the poem by Maurice Ogden, the people of a town are condemned to die one by one by a mysterious stranger who erects a gallows in the town square. The remaining townspeople create a rationale for each hanging, until only one person is left. But the hangman's rope is really intended for "he who serves me best:" the last survivor, he who has failed all along to raise his voice in protest and now shudders to find no one left to protest on his behalf. Narrated by Herschel Bernardi. Harry Weinberg's Notebook USA, 1991, 25 minutes, color Directed by Yariv Kohn 16mm VHS Based on the story "A Letter to Harvey Milk," this award-winning short examines the sensitive issues that surface when an older Jewish man, enrolls in a creative writing class... More Hatikvah: The Hope Restored by NCJF Germany, 1936, 48 minutes, B&W Silent with German and English intertitles Produced by the German Zionist Union 16mm DVD Created in 1936 in an effort to inspire German Jews under Nazi rule to make Aliyah, Hatikvah: The Hope is a documentary about the earliest period of Zionist history... More His Excellency Yevo Prevoshoditelstvo Restored by NCJF   USSR 1928 76 minutes B&W Silent with English intertitles (Incomplete: missing one reel) Directed by Grigori Roshal 35mm 16mm DVD In the tradition of brilliant Soviet directors Eisenstein and Pudovkin, this film features stylized cinematography and stars Leonid Leonidov, a star of the Moscow Art Theater... More His People Restored by NCJF USA, 1925, 91 minutes, B&W Directed by Edward Sloman Silent with English intertitles 16mm DVD VHS Restoration by the National Center for Jewish Film with permission of Universal City Studios, Inc. This restored early American feature starring Rudolph Schildraut is a nostalgic melodrama centered on two sons of a Russian-Jewish immigrant family: Morris, a lawyer, and Sammy, a prizefighter. More His Wife's Lover Zayn Vaybs Lubovnik Restored by NCJF USA, 1931, 80 minutes, B&W Directed by Sidney M. Goldin 35mm DVD His Wife’s Lover stars the popular comedian of the Yiddish theatre Ludwig Satz in his only film performance billed as the "first Jewish musical comedy talking picture." More The Holocaust Tourist UK, 2005, 10 min, color Directed by Jes Benstock DVD A whistle-stop tour from Auschwitz hot-dogs to Krakow's kitsch Judaica that asks, how is dark tourism changing history? More Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream USA, 1997, 100 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Simcha Jacobovici 16mm Based on Neal Gabler's best-selling book An Empire of Their Own, this feature-length documentary tells the story of the men who founded Hollywood. More Holy For Me Israel, 1995, 34 min, color Hebrew w/ English subtitles Director: Assaf Bernstein DVD VHS This fiction film spoofs tours of the "holy" sites of Israel. Join Jonah and his unwitting group of tourists on an insane two-day tour of Tel Aviv. More The Holy Land USA 1917 4.5 minutes B&W Silent Produced by Conquest Pictures 16mm This historic footage of Palestine focuses on the holy Christian and Jewish sites of Jerusalem. Sites documented here include the Garden of Gethsemane, Mt. of Olives, the Wailing Wall, the Way of the Calvary, and the Damascus Gate. Other footage depicts beggars, lepers and Arab men and women at work in Bethlehem. Homicide USA, 1991, 102 minutes, color Directed by David Mamet 16mm Tough homicide detective Bobby Gold (Joe Mantegna) is torn between his loyalty to the police force and his rediscovered Jewish identity in writer-director David Mamet's tense and gritty police thriller. Gold is caught between two dangerous worlds when he's pulled off a drug case and assigned to the murder of an elderly Jewish woman who runs a pawn shop in the ghetto. Was her death a simple homicide, or was it related to an antisemitic plot? Suddenly, what appeared to be a routine investigation becomes Gold's line to the conspiracy of death and destruction that has plagued the Jewish people for centuries. House of Rothschild USA, 1934, 88 minutes, B&W Directed by Alfred L. Werker 16mm George Arliss stars as Nathan Rothschild in this chronicle of the famed banking family at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Loretta Young plays his daughter and Robert Young as her suitor. Boris Karloff also stars as the villain. The finale was originally shot in color. The House on August Street Israel, 2007, 63 minutes Hebrew and German with English subtitles Director: Ayelet Bargur DVD The remarkable, unknown story of Beate Berger, a German Jew who single-handedly rescued over 100 children during the Holocaust, smuggling them from Berlin to Palestine in the 1930s. Berger, founder of the House of Love Children's Home, was quick to recognize the Nazi threat and resolved to protect the 120 children under her care on "August Street.”. More The House on Chelouche Street Israel, 1973, 115 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Moshe Mizrahi Academy Award Nominee, Best Foreign Film 16mm This Academy Award-nominated feature focuses on Sami, a teenager from a newly-arrived, poor Sephardic family living in the slums of Palestine during the turbulent last days of the British Mandate. More How Moshe Came Back Restored by NCJF USA, 1914, 10 minutes, B&W, silent Produced by Crystal Films 16mm DVD This short provides an interesting early example of a Jewish screen character: the nebbish who dreams of physical prowess. More Hungry Hearts USA, 1922, 80 minutes, B&W Silent with English intertitles Directed by E. Mason Hopper 16mm DVD VHS Based on the short stories of Anzia Yezierska, the first writer to bring stories of American Jewish women to a mainstream audience, Hungry Hearts focuses on the members of the Levin family who emigrate from Eastern Europe to New York City's Lower East Side. More Back to Top I [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. I Accuse! USA, 1958, 99 minutes, color Directed by Jose Ferrer 16mm Gore Vidal wrote the screenplay for this Hollywood version of the 1894 treason trial of Alfred Dreyfus in France. Dreyfus, a captain on the French general staff, was accused (partly from motives of antisemitism) of having sold secret documents to Germany, and was condemned to life imprisonment. Dreyfus was finally exonerated, but not before his case caused a furor in France that contributed to the separation of the Church and the State of France, the rise of the Socialist Party, and (by its influence on Herzl) to the development of Zionism. Jose Ferrer plays Dreyfus and Emlyn Williams plays his defender, Emile Zola. (See also The Life of Emile Zola) I Am Joseph, Your Brother Israel, 2001, 59 minutes, color DVD VHS Inspired by the visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel in 2000, this film assesses and reflects on the often difficult and turbulent relationship between Jews and Christians. More I Love You, Rosa Israel, 1972, 84 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Moshe Mizrachi Academy Award nominee, Best Foreign Film 16mm Jerusalem's Orthodox community at the turn of the century is the setting for this now-classic film about the life of a young Sephardic widow. More I Miss the Sun USA, 1984, 20 minutes, color Directed by Mary Halawani 16mm DVD In I Miss the Sun , filmmaker Mary Halawani profiles her grandmother, Rosette Hakim, who left Egypt for the United States in 1962. More I Want To Be A Boarder Ich Vil Zeyn a Boarder Restored by NCJF USA 1937 15 minutes B&W Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Joseph Seiden 35mm 16mm DVD Rubber-limbed Leo Fuch's song-and-dance highlights this lively short about a husband and wife who seek to reignite their marriage by pretending to be landlady and tenant. More Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust USA, 2004, 92 minutes, color Directed by Daniel Anker An audience favorite at more than 50 film festivals around the world this film tells a provocative story of the 60-year relationship between Hollywood and the atrocities of Nazi Germany. More The Immigrant USA, 1917, 20 minutes, b&w, silent Directed by Charlie Chaplin 16mm Charlie Chaplin's hilarious portrayal of a penniless immigrant's journey to, and arrival in, America. The Imported Bridegroom USA, 1990, 93 minutes, color Directed by Pamela Berger 35mm 16mm DVD Based on a story by Jewish Daily Forward editor Abraham Cahan, The Imported Bridegroom is a nostalgic Jewish romance about Asriel, a turn-of-the-century rich Boston widower who returns to the old country looking for spiritual nourishment. More The Impossible Spy UK, 1987, 96 minutes, colo Directed by Jim Goddard DVD VHS This riveting film tells the incredible but true story of Elie Cohen, an Egyptian-born Jew and top Israeli intelligence recruit whose obsession with his mission as a double agent drove him to his death. More In Memory USA, 1993, 13 minutes, B&W Directed by Abraham Ravett 16mm DVD In this non-narrative short, footage of life from the Lodz Ghetto is juxtaposed against the chanting of "Kel Maleh Rachamim"... More In Search of Jewish Amsterdam Denmark, 1975, 70 minutes, color Directed by Philo Bregstein 16mm DVD VHS Historian and filmmaker Bregstein set out to discover what Jewish life was like in Amsterdam before the virtual annihilation of the city's Jewish population during the war. More The Inheritance USA, 1964, 58 minutes, B&W (video) Produced by Harold Mayer 16mm DVD This documentary, sponsored by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, chronicles the history of the garment workers from 1900 to 1964. More Is There Poetry After Auschwitz? USA, 1992, 60 minutes, color Produced by Vivienne Hermann and Dale Sonnenberg DVD At the age of nine, artist Vivienne Hermann was caught in a mass arrest on the streets of Prague and subsequently spent five years in forced labor camps in Czechoslovakia and Poland before being liberated by the Russians in 1945. More Island of Roses: The Jews of Rhodes in Los Angeles USA, 1995, 55 min, color English, Italian, French & Ladino w/ English subtitles Directed by Gregori Viens DVD This documentary film visits the Los Angeles community of “Rhodeslis,” Jews who lived on the Mediterranean island of Rhodes from 1492 to World War II. More Israel Rocks: A Journey Through Music of Visions and Divisions Israel, 55 min, color video Hebrew with English Subtitles Directed by Izzy Abrahami and Erga Netz DVD VHS Can you grasp Israel by its rock and pop bands? Can you see through them the complexities, the tribulation and the dreams of this young country? More Back to Top J [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Jakob the Liar Jakob der Lügner GDR/East Germany, 1975, 95 minutes, color German with English subtitles Director: Frank Beyer Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film; Best Actor, 1975 Berlin Film Festival 35mm 16mm Jakob Heym, a Jew trapped in a Polish ghetto, overhears news of a nearby Russian victory on a Gestapo radio. Pretending to have heard the good news on his own clandestine radio, Jakob passes the word on to his neighbors. Clinging to this newfound hope of deliverance, Jakob's friends anxiously ask him for regular reports of the Red Army's advance. A reluctant Jakob feels obligated to invent more "good news" in order to provide his doomed community with the courage to endure. This story was adapted for the screen by Holocaust survivor Jurek Becker from his novel. "... forceful, funny, and poignant... a heartwarming saga ..." - A.H. Weiler, New York Times The Jazz Singer USA, 1927, 90 minutes, B&W silent with some sound Directed byAlan Crosland 16mm This landmark of modern cinema, the first 'talking picture,' is also a pro-assimilationist story focusing on the conflicts between generations and between the old and new worlds. Al Jolson plays Jakie, a cantor's son who rejects his family's tradition and wish for him to follow in his father's footsteps by heading for Jazz and Broadway. The film emphasizes Jakie's new world rebellion against the loss of his father's old world values, a topic no less relevant for today's audiences than it was for moviegoers in the 1920s. Cast: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, Eugenie Besserer, Myrna Loy. The Jester Der Purimspieler Restored by NCJF Poland 1937 90 minutes B&W with sepia tone and blue tone Directors: Joseph Green and Jan Nowina-Przybylski 35mm DVD A parade of costume, buffoonery and music, The Jester highlights both a shoemaker's scheme to marry his daughter into a prominent family as well as the festival of Purim. More The Jewish Basketball Hall of Fame 2008, 112 minutes, b&w and color, The Jewish Sports Legacy Series, Volume 1 Director: Steven Bass DVD A compilation of marvelous film footage of legendary Jewish basketball heroes of the 20th century brought together for the first time, giving viewers the opportunity to experience these legendary players at the height of their game. More Jewish Life in Bialystock Jewish Life in Cracow Jewish Life in Lwow Jewish Life in Vilna Restored by NCJF Poland 1938 and 1939, each 10 minutes B&W Yiddish with complete, new English subtitles 16mm DVD VHS In 1938 and 1939, Shaul and Yitzhak Goskind of Warsaw-based Sektor Films produced six short films about urban Jewish communities in Poland. More Jewish Luck Yevreiskoye Schastye / Menakhem Mendl Restored by NCJF USSR 1925 100 minutes B&W Silent wiht English intertitles (Russian intertitles also available) Directed by Alexander Granovsky 35mm 16mm DVD Jewish Luck was among the first Soviet Yiddish films to be released in the US during the 1920s. More Jews of the Spanish Homeland Restored by NCJF Spain, 1929, 13 minutes, B&W, silent Produced by Ernesto Giménez Caballero 35mm 16mm DVD VHS The documentary provides a rare glimpse of Sephardic communities in Salonika, Constantinople, Yugoslavia, and Romania as well as former centers of Jewish life in Spain. More Jews Under the Red Star - Birobidzhan USSR/West Germany, 1989, 56 minutes, color/B&W Russian with English narration Directed by Irmgard von zur Mühlen 16mm This documentary tells the astonishing story of Jewish life in Birobidzhan, a region located in the far eastern region of Siberia, near the Manchurian border. Birobidzhan was the capital of the "Jewish Autonomous Region," an area so designated by Stalin in 1928 in an attempt to oppose Zionism and as a point of military strategy. In the early 1930s, Jews from the US, South America, and Palestine joined the community, which was centered in Birobidzhan. Many of the pioneers could not adapt to the harsh climate and rural life and quickly departed; the Stalinist purges of the 1930s and 1940s devastated the community. This documentary, which was filmed during 1988-89, examines the problems facing the Jews of this region, including the questioning of their religious activities under a communist regime. Footage from American and Russian sources, from 1928 to the present, appears here for the first time. Jolly Paupers Freylekhe Kabtsonim Restored by NCJF Poland 1937 62 minutes B&W Yiddish with NEW English subtitles Directed by Leon Jeannot/ Z. Turkow 35mm 16mm DVD In this musical comedy, the famous comic duo Dzigan and Shumacher play two small town "entrepreneurs" who believe they have struck oil in a local field. More Joshua Then and Now Canada, 1985, 127 minutes, color DirectED BY Ted Kotcheff 16mm James Woods stars in this feature based on Mordecai Richler's semi-autobiographical novel about the unorthodox life and times of a Jewish writer in Canada. Also stars Alan Arkin, Gabrielle Lazure and Michael Sarazin. Journey Into Life: Aftermath of a Childhood in Auschwitz Germany, 1996, 130 minutes, color German with English subtitles Directed by Thomas Mitscherlich 16mm DVD Journey into Life follows the struggles of three concentration camp survivors to rebuild their lives after World War II. In on-camera interviews, these extraordinary individuals... More Judgment at Nuremberg USA, 1961, 186 minutes, B&W Directed by Stanley Kramer 16mm In this epic Hollywood dramatization of the Nuremberg trials, director Kramer assembled one of the most powerful casts of any day, including Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Montgomery Clift, Judy Garland,and Maximilian Schell (who won an Oscar for his performance as a defense attorney.) Back to Top K [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Kazablan Israel, 1973, 95 minutes, color Directed by Menahem Golan 16mm This Israeli West Side Story unfolds when Kazablan, a dark Sephardic Jew, takes time out from hassling the poverty-stricken tenants of the Jaffa ghetto to court the fair-skinned Rachel, an Ashkenazic Jew. More A Kiss To This Land Mexico, 1995, 93 minutes, color Spanish with English subtitles (also available in Spanish and French versions) Directed by Daniel Goldberg 35mm 16mm DVD This fascinating documentary recounts the unique experiences of Jews who immigrated to Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s. More Krasnodar- The Trial of 1943 Germany, 1987, 55 minutes, color/B&W English and German with English subtitles Directed by Irmgard and Bengt von Zur Mühlen Krasnodar was the site of the first World War II war crimes trial, convened by Soviet authorities in July 1943. A Russian city of 500,000 inhabitants, Krasnodar was occupied by the Germans on August 8, 1942 and liberated February 13, 1943. During the six months of German occupation, thousands of the city’s inhabitants were murdered, beginning with and including every member of the Jewish community. Meticulously combining German and Soviet newsreel footage with the testimony of eyewitnesses and war crimes defendants, this landmark film tells the story of the six month Nazi reign of terror, the trial against eleven Russian collaborators and their public execution on July 18, 1943. Kupishok: For Eternal Memory Remembrance and Redemption in the Shadow of the New Anti-Semitism USA. 2005, 40 minutes Directed by Norman Meyer and Harvey Sherzer DVD In the aftermath of World War II, Christian midwives in Kupiskis, a small Lithuanian shtetl that was called Kupishok by its Jews, compiled a list of the Jews of the town that were murdered by the German Nazis and their Lithuanian accomplices in the summer of 1941. More Kurow Poland, 1932, 10 minutes, B&W, silent Cinematographer: Jack Weisbord 16mm This fascinating portrait of shtetl life was made by Jack Weisbord, an American whose father-in-law had emigrated from Kurow, a Polish town not far from Lublin. At the time, the Jewish population of Kurow comprised over 50% of the approximately 4,000 persons in the shtetl. The film shows the villagers of Kurow immersed in animated conversation; the streets and shops of a typical Polish town; a latter-day Tevye with his horse; a weary pauper resting on a curbside; several family portraits; the ancient cemetery; as well as the contrast between the local church and the old synagogue Back to Top L [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. L'Chaim: To Life! USA, 1973, 80 minutes, B&W and color Directed by Harold Mayer DVD Produced for the Women's American ORT and narrated by Eli Wallach, this highly acclaimed documentary describes more than a century of Jewish life in Russia. More Labyrinth Czechoslovakia, 1991, 90 Minutes, color German with English subtitles Directed by Jaromil Jires Critics' Choice, AFI International Film Festival 1992 35mm Labyrinth is an intellectually-bracing investigation of the connection between the fictional world of Franz Kafka and the historical persecution of the Jews that culminated in the Holocaust. Framing his intense drama with recitations of the human rights denied to Jews under the Third Reich, veteran Czech director Jires creates his alter ego in Maximilian Schell, who plays a director taking up residence in Prague to prepare a film about Kafka. Christopher Chaplin, son of Charlie Chaplin, plays Kafka. Ladies' Tailor USSR, 1990, 92 minutes, color Russian with English subtitles Directed by Leonid Gorovets 35mm DVD This powerful Holocaust drama takes place in Kiev, Russia on September 29, 1941. Chronicling the last twenty-four hours in the lives of a Jewish tailor... More Land of Promise Palestine, 1935, 57 minutes, B&W English and Hebrew Directed by Juda Leman DVD One of Palestine's earliest sound films and part of a campaign to encourage settlement and investment in "the Jewish homeland,"... More The Land Was Theirs USA, 1993, 55 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Gertrude Dubrovsky DVD An absorbing documentary about Farmingdale, New Jersey, one of many Jewish farming communities in the United States... More The Last Chapter USA, 1966, 85 minutes, B&W Directed and Produced by Benjamin Rothman & Lawrence Rothman DVD A lyrical, sweeping history of Jewish life in Poland, depicting the richness of Jewish culture both religious and secular... More The Last Jews of Libya USA, 2007, 50 minutes, Color Directed by Vivienne Roumani-Denn Narrated by Isabella Rossellini DVD This film documents the final decades of a centuries-old North African Jewish community through the lives of the Roumani family, who lived in Libya for hundreds of years. More Last Journey Into Silence Israel, 2001, 52 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Shosh Shlam DVD VHS After the Holocaust, men and women who either had nowhere else to go or were emotionally shattered by their experience ended up in a mental hospital in Israel where some of them spent up to 40 years. Many were abandoned by their families. More The Last Sea Israel, 1979, 68 minutes, B&W Hebrew with English subtitles or dubbed English Directors: Daniel Bergman, Jacquot Erlich, Haim Gouri, Benny Shilo 16mm In 1945, multitudes of liberated survivors of the death camps, finding themselves homeless in Europe, sought to immigrate to Israel. More Laughter Through Tears Skvoz Slezy Restored by NCJF USSR 1928 92 minutes B&W Silent with English intertitles Directed by Grigori Gricher-Cherikover 35mm 16mm DVD VHS Like Sholem Aleichem, on whose "Motl Peysi, the Cantor's Son" and "The Enchanted Tailor" stories Laughter Through Tears is based, director Gricher leavens pathos with humor in his earthy portrait of prerevolutionary shtetl life. More Legado Argentina, 2004, 72 min, color Spanish & Yiddish w/ English subtitles Directed by Vivián Imar & Marcelo Trotta DVD In August 1889, the steamship Wesser docked in Argentina with the first group of Jewish escapees from the pogroms of Czarist Russia. More The Legend of Mrs. Goldman and the Almighty God Germany, 1996, 3 minutes, color Directed byMichael Verhoeven 35mm VHS A short comic parable related on camera by writer George Tabori, this gem provides an ideal introduction for the Verhoeven-Tabori feature My Mother's Courage. Leon the Pig Farmer UK, 1992, 98 minutes, color Directors: Vadim Jean and Gary Sinyor International Critics' Prize, 1992 Venice Film Festival; Best Film, 1992 Edinburgh Film Festival 35mm VHS An irreverent comedy from the production company of Monty Python's Eric Idle, Leon the Pig Farmer is considered a cult classic in Europe. The movie's zany story is set in motion when Leon Geller ( Mark Frankel), a sensitive Jewish boy from London, accidentally learns that he is the product of artificial insemination. Leon's search for his biological parents leads him to the still more startling discovery of a sperm bank mix-up proving that he is the son of a Yorkshire pig farmer! The inevitable confusion results in a comic Jewish identity crisis. A Letter to Mother A Brivele der Mamen Restored by NCJF Poland 1939 106 minutes B&W Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Joseph Green and Leon Trystand 35mm 16mm DVD A tale of family disintegration and poverty that serves as a metaphor for the displacements facing European Jews in 1939. More Levy and Cohen: The Irish Comedians USA, 1903, 1 minute, b&w, silent Produced by American Mutoscope and Biography Company 16mm Two vaudeville comics perform before an unappreciative audience that pelts them with various vegetables. The Liberation of Auschwitz 1945 Germany, 1985, 55 minutes, B&W English and German with English subtitles Directed by Irmgard von zur Muhlen 35mm 16mm VHS This chilling, vitally important documentary was produced to mark the fortieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The film contains unedited, previously-unavailable footage of Auschwitz shot by the Soviet military forces between January 27 and February 28, 1945 and includes an interview with Alexander Voronsov, the cameraman who shot the footage. The horrifying images include: survivors; camp visit by Soviet investigation commission; criminal experiments; forced laborers; evacuation of ill and weak prisoners with the aid of Russian and Polish volunteers; aerial photos of the IG Farben Works in Monowitz; and pictures of local people cleaning up the camp under Soviet supervision. "a stark, shocking and unflinching testament the film stands as a powerful tool in efforts to never let the world forget what happened under Nazi rule." - Variety Lies My Father Told Me Canada, 1975, 102 minutes, color Directed by Jan Kadar 16mm Three generations of a Russian-Jewish immigrant family in 1920s Montreal form the focus of this autobiographical tale by Ted Allen, which enjoyed success in print, radio and television before its adaptation into this film by Oscar-winning Czech director Kadar. David, a young boy, is caught between the traditional Jewish values of his peddler grandfather (Yossi Yadin) and the material ambitions of his parents, who are preoccupied with supporting him and their new baby. When his father's words don't agree with his grandfather's teachings, David perceives them as lies. Gradually, however, as he moves from innocence towards maturity, David begins to realize that his beloved grandfather is also capable of invention and deception. "A warm, funny and touching tale." - Judith Crist, Saturday Review "Under Jan Kadar's sensitive guidance, this journey back to lost youth touchingly, modestly reveals people as authentic as the settings in which they are captured." - A.H. Weiller, New York Times The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg USA, 1999, 95 minutes Directed by Aviva Kempner 35mm 16mm As Hitler invaded Europe, a young Jewish baseball player challenged Babe Ruth’s homerun record. This is the story of how he became an American hero. More The Life of Emile Zola USA, 1937, 116 minutes, B&W Director: William Dieterle Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Picture 16mm Paul Muni stars in this biography of the famed 19th century French writer who defended Captain Dreyfus (see I Accuse! ). "Rich, dignified, honest, and strong, it is at once the greatest historical film ever made, and the greatest screen biography... Paul Muni's portrayal of Zola is, without doubt, the best thing he has ever done." - Frank S. Nugent, New York Times, August 1937 The Light Ahead Fishke the Lame Restored by NCJF USA 1939 94 minutes B&W Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer 35mm 16mm DVD VHS Impoverished and disabled lovers Fishke and Hodel dream of life in the big city of Odessa, free from the poverty and stifling old-world prejudices of the shtetl. More Lissy East Germany, 1957, 88 minutes, B&W German with English subtitles Directed by Konrad Wolf 16mm Director Konrad Wolf's interpretation of Franz Weiskopf's anti-fascist novel sheds light on the parallel and differing paths of the Nazis and socialists in Germany between 1932 and 1934. The film follows Lissy, a young woman raised in the socialist working class, who finds herself living the bourgeois lifestyle of a Nazi stormtrooper's wife when her husband joins the S.A. Lissy must juggle her political and personal loyalties, until a final clash of values forces her to make some very difficult and potentially dangerous choices for her future. Living For Tomorrow: Untold Stories by the Pioneering Women of Israel USA 2000 53 minutes color Hebrew/ English with English subtitles Directed by Lilach Dekel DVD Lilach Dekel's grandmother, with other young idealists from Eastern Europe, immigrated to Palestine in the 1920's, resolved to build the kibbutz movement -a utopia of communal ownership of property, decision-making and education. More The Living Orphan Der Lebediker Yusem Restored by NCJF USA 1937 97minutes B&W Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Joseph Seiden 35mm DVD This dramatic tale of immigrant hardship highlights some of the traumatic problems of the immigrant experience, including alcoholism, separation and poverty. More Long Fliv the King Restored by NCJF USA, 1926, 22 minutes, B&W silent with English intertitles Directed by Leo McCarey 35mm 16mm An offbeat comedy short from future Hollywood screwball director McCarey about a princess (Martha Sleeper) who must find a husband in twenty-four hours or forfeit her throne. Threatened by a greedy prime minister and his henchman (Oliver Hardy), she quickly marries a condemned man (Charles Chase) who is sentenced to die next weekend; she then returns home to rule her country. When the man is pardoned, he enlists the aid of a Jewish speculator (Max Davidson) to bankroll a journey to his new kingdom. Together, the two partners battle court intrigue, murder plots, and strange customs to emerge victorious. Long is the Road Lang ist der Veg Restored by NCJF U.S.-occupied Germany 1948 77 minutes B&W Yiddish, German, Polish with NEW English translation and subtitles Directed by Herbert B. Fredersdorf and Marek Goldstein 35mm 16mm DVD This is the first feature film to represent the Holocaust from a Jewish perspective. More Louis Brandeis: The People's Attorney USA, 2007, 56 minutes, color Directed, Produced & Written by Charles Stuart This sweeping documentary portrait traces the evolution of one of America’s most influential legal minds from his youth, through his years as a Boston attorney, to his controversial appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1916. More Love at Second Sight Israel, 1998, 90 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed byMichal Bat-Adam 35mm DVD VHS The beautiful Michal Zuaratz stars as a young female photographer infatuated with a stranger whose image she accidentally captures on film. More Love And Sacrifice Libe und Laydnshaft Restored by NCJF USA 1936 76 minutes Yiddish with new English subtitles Director: George Roland 35mm VHS Based on a book by Isidore Zolotarefsky This film is a prime example of "shund", the melodramatic theatrical escapist entertainment of the Yiddish theater. More Love Inventory Israel, 2000, 90 minutes Hebrew with English subtitles Directed By David Fisher 35mm VHS In revealing moments of grief and humor, filmmaker David Fisher leads his brothers to uncover the family's dark secrets of the past, secrets his parents were afraid to unearth. More Back to Top M [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Majdanek 1944 West Germany, 1986, 65 minutes, B&W English and German with English subtitles Directed by Irmgard and Bengt von zur Mühlen 16mm VHS This documentary is the film record of one of the first Nazi war crimes trials, conducted while the war was still raging. More Making A Killing UK, 1998, 52 minutes, color Directed by Anne Webber DVD VHS This film is a compelling detective story about one family's 50 year quest to recover their missing art collection, set against a background of murder, greed and corruption. More Mamele Restored by NCJF Poland, 1938, 100 minutes, B&W Yiddish with NEW additional English subtitles Directed by Joseph Green and Konrad Tom 16mm DVD Mamele is a muscial comedy that embraces the entire gamut of interwar Jewish life in Lodz in all its diversity, with tenements and unemployed Jews, nightclubs and gangsters, and religious Jews celebrating Succoth. More The March 1999, 25 min., color & b/w Directed by Abraham Ravett 16mm VHS Abraham Ravett 1999: Both my parents were in Auschwitz and survived "The Death March." More Marriage in the Shadows GDR/East Germany, 1947, 96 minutes, B&W German with English subtitles Directed by Kurt Maetzig 16mm Based on a true story and adapted from the novel by Hans Schweikart, this fiction feature marks the German cinema's first attempt to address antisemitism and the Holocaust. The film focuses on key events of the years 1933, 1938, and 1943 and how the lives of a famous Jewish actress (whom the Nazis barred from the stage) and her non-Jewish husband are affected by Hitler's rise to power. Maytal Israel, 1996, 51 min, color Hebrew w/ English subtitles Director: Yael Kipper Zarezhky VHS A 1996 terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv left 27-year-old Maytal Lederman critically injured and took the life of her brother Asaf. This documentary follows Maytal over a period of eight months in an Israeli rehabilitation hospital, as she struggles to cope with her loss and rebuild her life. More Meet Me In Miami Beach USA, 1994, 18 minutes Directed by Bonnie Cohen 16mm VHS This short documentary focuses on three elderly Jews living out their retirement years in Miami Beach. More Minyan in Kaifeng: A Modern Journey to an Ancient Chinese Jewish Community USA, 2002, 74 minutes, color Narrated by Leonard Nimoy; Directed by Steven Calcote and Jonathan Shulman 35mm 16mm DVD The last rabbi of Kaifeng died well over a century ago, and today's descendants of the ancient Chinese Jewish community have never celebrated Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. More Mirele Efros Restored by NCJF USA 1939 80 minutes B&W Yiddish with English subtitles Director: Joseph Berne 16mm DVD Mirele Efros, "the Jewish Queen Lear," was the masterpiece of Ukrainian-born Jacob Gordin, an enormously influential Yiddish playwright. More Mothers of Today Hayntige Mames Restored by NCJF USA, 1939, 85 minutes, B&W, Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Henry Lynn 35mm DVD Mothers of Today includes the sole motion picture performance of radio star Esther Field, who was well-known on the radio airwaves of the 1930's as the 'Yidishe Mama.' More Motl the Operator Restored by NCJF USA 1939 88 minutes B&W Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Joseph Seiden 35mm DVD Focusing on a labor dispute in the garment district of New York City, the film survives as an important historical document highlighting the hardships of the Jewish immigrant experience in America. More Multiply by Six Million USA, 2007, 24 minutes, B&W Directed by Evvy Eisen & Kelly Hendricks DVD The culmination of Evvy Eisen’s fifteen-yearlong project photographing holocaust survivors and collecting their personal stories. The film presents Eisen’s beautiful, original, black and white gelatin silver prints as the subjects recount their experiences during and after the World War II. More A Musical Passage USA, 1983, 73 minutes, color Directed by Jim Brown 35mm 16mm Since its first concert in 1978, the Soviet Emigre Orchestra was hailed by critics and audiences as one of the best chamber music ensembles in America. This "entertainment-documentary" combines superb performances (including music by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich) with an examination of the lives of the orchestra members and their conductor, Lazar Gosman. Director Brown expertly documents the struggles and triumphs of these Soviet Jewish musicians who risked their futures to seek personal and artistic freedom in the United States. "An unqualified delight." - Vincent Canby, New York Times My Brother’s Wedding USA, 2003, 36 minutes Directed by Dan Akiba DVD VHS When Boston director Daniel Akiba's brother Jonah traveled to Israel, his mother's parting words to her son were, "Have a good time, but whatever you do, don't become Orthodox." More My Dear Clara Canada, 2002, 44 minutes, color Directed by Gary Beitel DVD When Clara Greenspan left Montreal for Warsaw in June of 1938 she could not have known how her personal destiny would soon become intertwined events about to unfold in Europe. More My Mother's Courage Germany, 1996, 92 minutes, color German with English subtitles Directed by Michael Verhoeven 35mm VHS From Michael Verhoeven, director of The White Rose and The Nasty Girl, comes this stunning cinematic version of Hungarian author George Tabori's play and novel. More Back to Top N [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Nana: Un Portrait USA, 1972, 23 minutes, color French with English subtitles Directed by Jamil Simon 16mm DVD VHS From her apartment in New York, eighty-year-old Louise Zilkha reviews the highlights of her life that began with a traditional Jewish upbringing in Baghdad. More The Nasty Girl Germany, 1990, 92 minutes, color German with English subtitles Directed by Michael Verhoeven 16mm Based on the true story of Ann Elisabeth Rosmus, Michael Verhoeven's award-winning black comedy uses sharp wit to explore Germany's Nazi past. More Nazi Concentration Camps USA, 1945, 59 minutes, B&W Produced by the U.S. Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality 16mm DVD This film is the official documentary report compiled from over 80,000 feet of film shot by Allied military photographers in the German concentration camps immediately after liberation. More Nemt: A Language Without a People for a People Without a Language 2004, France, color, 90 minutes Directed byIsabelle Rozenbaumas and Michel Grosman DVD Nemt is the last Yiddish inscription rescued from the walls of Vilnius, once a thriving capital of Jewish culture. More Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good Czech Republic, 2002, 64 minutes, color Directed by Matej Minac 35mm DVD A gripping documentary about the courage and determination of a young English stock exchange clerk who saved the lives of 669 children. More Night and Fog France, 1955, 31 minutes, color/B&W French with English subtitles Directed by Alain Resnais 16mm Night and Fog is a powerful, personal statement about the banality of evil in our time. Brutally graphic, Resnais' artistic depiction of life and death in a Nazi extermination camp... More Nightmare: The Immigration of Joachim and Rachel USA, 1978, 24 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Tom Robertson 16mm During the struggle to survive the Warsaw Ghetto, thirteen-year-old Joachim and his little sister Rachel receive final instructions from their parents: hide in an old cabinet. From their hiding place, the siblings hear soldiers take their parents away and know they will never see them again. Left to care for themselves, they must scrounge for food and sleep wherever and whenever they find shelter. Many people refuse to help them for fear of the Nazis. Facing starvation, they decide to try to escape the ghetto through the sewers and embark on a journey leading them toward a new life. 94 Years and One Nursing Home Later USA, 1999, 46 minutes, video Directed by Laurel Greenberg VHS This important documentary begins when filmmaker Laurel Greenberg watches some home movies that her father shot of his mother in a nursing home in Philadelphia. More Nize People USA, 1927, 20 minutes, B&W Silent with English intertitles Directed by Sam Newfield 16mm In this slapstick comedy in the immigrant/vaudeville genre, the Goldbergs and the O'Connors have planned a big welcome home party for their children... More None So Blind USA, 1923, 66 minutes, B&W Silent with English intertitles Directed by Burton King 16mm A silent feature that shows how gingerly the Hollwood cinema of the 1920s dealt with Jewish-Gentile conflicts. No. 17 is Anonymous Israel, 2003, 75 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by David Ofek, Ron Rotem & Elinor Kowarsky DVD VHS In June 2002, a bus on its way from Tel Aviv to Tiberius, was bombed and 17 people were killed. Of the dead, 16 were identified. Number 17 wasn’t. More Nuremberg USA, 1946, 76 minutes, B&W Compiled by Pare Lorentz and Stuart Schulberg, produced by the Civil Affairs Division, US War Department 16mm This US government film is a grim and unflinching documentary account of the Nuremberg trials, told almost totally without editorial comment. During the trials, the courtroom was dominated by a large motion picture screen upon which the prosecution showed films of Nazi atrocities; much of this footage was confiscated from the private libraries of high Nazi officials and proved to be the most damning evidence against them. Excerpts of these films are included with the trial sequences. Due to graphic footage, this film is not recommended for viewing by young or impressionable audiences. Back to Top O [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Of Stars and Shamrocks: Boston's Jews and Irish USA, 1995, 55 minutes, color/B&W Directed by John Michalczyk DVD VHS Both Irish and Jewish immigrants settled in Protestant Brahmin Boston in the late 19th century... More. Old Isaac, the Pawnbroker USA, 1908, 10 minutes, silent, B&W American Mutoscope and Biograph Company Directed by Wallace McCutcheon 16mm VHS This is a significant film in the history of American cinema. One of the first films scripted by D.W. Griffith, not only does it herald many of the social themes of his later films... More Oliver Twist UK, 1948, 105 minutes, B&W Directed byDavid Lean 16mm David Lean, award winning director of Lawrence of Arabia, had many problems bringing this film version of the classic Dickens novel to America due to antisemitic overtones in his portrayal of arch-fiend Fagin. The Optimists USA, 2000, 82 minutes Directed by Jacky Comforty VHS The Optimists tells the virtually unknown story of how the fifty-thousand Jews living in Bulgaria survived the Holocaust despite intensive Nazi efforts to deport them to death camps. More On My Way to Father's Land Israel, 1995, 98 min, color/b&w Hebrew w/ English subtitles Director: Aner Preminger VHS This film takes us on two journeys: the first to Vienna, where Preminger's father lived as a child under Nazi occupation; the second, to Palestine where he became a member of the first Knesset, joined the Palestine Communist Party, and established the Hebrew Communist Party. More Operation Thunderbolt Israel, 1977, 126 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Menahem Golan 16mm This is the stunning retelling of the famed July 4, 1976 raid by Israeli commandos to rescue 104 passengers from a hijacked plane at Entebbe, Uganda in Africa. With a mostly Israeli cast and government cooperation, this film details the dramatic events surrounding the incredible rescue, which took only minutes with a minimum of casualties. Orders of Love UK, 2004, 10 minutes, color Directed by Jes Benstock DVD Armed with a videophone, his dad, and a therapist, director Jes Benstock explores a family history of murder, migration, breakdown, and suicide. More Our Children Unzere Kinder Restored by NCJF Poland 1948 68 minutes B&W Yiddish with NEW English subtitles Directed by Natan Gross and Shaul Goskind 35mm 16mm DVD In this, Poland's last Yiddish feature, comedy duo Dzigan and Shumacher play all the parts in a Sholem Aleichem story for an audience of children who survived the Holocaust. More Our Time in the Garden USA, 1981, 15 minutes, B&W Directed by Ron Blau 35mm 16mm DVD VHS This moving experimental short uses rephotographed home movies and overlapping soundtracks to relate one woman's true memoir of growing up Jewish in 1930s Berlin. More Out of Bondage USA, 1974, 23 minutes, color Produced by the United Jewish Appeal 16mm VHS Narrated by Theodore Bikel, this documentary is an excellent introduction to the history of Soviet Jewry. Scenes and interviews with recent Jewish emigrees, on their way across Europe to Israel, are interspersed with flashbacks of Russian Jewish history related through paintings, still photographs, film footage, and music. Topics include the history of Jewish settlement in Russia; Jewish life under the tsars; and the religious, cultural, and political movements (Hasidism, Haskalah, Zionism, Socialism, and Communism) which transformed Russian/Soviet Jewish life. Overture to Glory Der Vilner Balebesl USA 1940 77 minutes B&W Yiddish with NEW English subtitles Directed by Max Nosseck 35mm 16mm DVD Beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending on Yom Kippur, this story of a Vilna cantor seduced by the opera resonates with the voice of Moishe Oysher. More Back to Top P [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Papa's Pest Restored by NCJF USA, 1928, 20 minutes, B&W Silent with English intertitles Directed byLes Goodwins 16mm DVD Another in the Izzie and Lizzie series (see Nize People), this film continues the slapstick style which explodes from a domestic comedy into a frenzy of wild action and fast chases. More The Paper Bridge Austria, 1987, 95 minutes, color German with English subtitles Directed by Ruth Beckermann 16mm DVD VHS Tracing the migratory paths of her family before WWII, Director Ruth Beckermann returns to the European Jewish communities which inspired her childhood stories... More Partisans of Vilna USA, 1985, 130 minutes, color/B&W Directed by Josh Waletzky 35mm 16mm DVD This extraordinary film tells the story of the men and women who formed the Jewish partisan movement in Vilna, Lithuania during World War II. More Passover: Traditions of Freedom USA, 1994, 57 minutes, color Senior Producer: Joan Nathan VHS This educational video depicts varying interpretations and celebrations of the seder by six different families in the United States and Israel. More The Past That Lives Netherlands, 1970, 65 minutes, B&W Director: Philo Bregstein 16mm DVD VHS The late Jewish historian and author Jacques Presser narrates and appears in this documentary version of his life story. Presser rose from the poverty of Amsterdam's Jewish ghetto... More The Pawnbroker USA, 1965, 114 minutes, B&W Directed by Sidney Lumet 16mm Rod Steiger stars in this somber portrait of a concentration camp survivor struggling with the horrors of his past and the bleakness of his present life as the owner of a Harlem pawnshop. Based on the novel by Edward Lewis Wallant, Lumet's film is a cinematic tour de force and a powerful character study that makes a strong statement about the legacy of the Holocaust. Steiger was nominated for an Oscar for his performance and won the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival. A People Chosen: Who Is a Jew? Israel, 1976, 57 minutes, color Directed by Herb Krosney DVD With interviews with such figures as Abba Eban, Rabbi Goren, Yigal Alon, and David Ben-Gurion this film remains an excellent vehicle to explore issues of Jewish identity. More Pillar of Salt Israel, 1980, 58 minutes, color Directed by Chaim Shiran 16mm DVD Based on the autobiographical novel by sociologist Albert Memmi, Pillar of Salt captures the cultural richness and social complexity of a Jewish boy's life in Tunisia, North Africa. More The Port of Last Resort: Zuflucht in Shanghai Austria/USA 1998, 79 minutes, Directed by Joan Grossman and Paul Rosdy 16mm DVD VHS The Port of Last Resort presents the little-known story of nearly 20,000 European Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai in the years 1938-41. More Positive Story Israel, 1996, 47 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed byRan Kotzer VHS An intimate documentary film in which an Israeli man shares his story of being gay and HIV positive. More Private Benjamin USA, 1980, 100 minutes, color Directed by Howard Zieff 16mm Goldie Hawn produced and stars in this comedy as a Jewish American Princess who enlists in the U.S. army. Punch Me in the Stomach New Zealand, 1996, 58 minutes, color Directed by Francine Zuckerman Based on the stage play by Alison Summers and Deb Filler 16mm DVD VHS Multi-talented performer-writer Deb Filler stars in this adaptation of her autobiographical off-Broadway solo show about her life as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. More Purple Lawns Israel, 1998, 56 minutes, color, video Director: Dina Zvi-Riklis DVD VHS Yael and Shlomit, two secular, free-spirited women, share a flat in Tel-Aviv. Their high rent forces them to take in a third roommate, Malka, an enigmatic ultra-orthodox woman. More Back to Top Q [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. The Quarrel Canada, 1992, 88 minutes, color Directed by Eli Cohen 35mm 16mm DVD "The Quarrel brings to the screen one of the most powerful works of modern literature - a haunting story by Yiddish writer Chaim Grade that was written shortly after the Second World War. More Back to Top R [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Rachel USA, 1974, 3 minutes, color 16mm VHS This short film about intermarriage is recommended as a trigger for discussion of Jewish assimilation and religious customs. In the film, a middle aged Jewish man mourns for his daughter Rachel ; at the end of the piece, we learn that Rachel was married in a church. Radio Days USA, 1987, 85 minutes, color Directed by Woody Allen 16mm Woody Allen narrates his nostalgic look at growing up in Queens, NY in the 1940s, showing how memories of family life are intimately tied to the radio performers of the day. Also stars Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner, Danny Aiello, and Tony Roberts. "Irresistible." - Jay Carr, Boston Globe Rain 1949 1998, Israel, 52 min, Directed by Ilan Yagoda Hebrew and Arabic, English and French subtitles DVD Kibbutz Megiddo was founded in 1949 at the expense of local Arab villagers by a group of Holocaust survivors, whose children and grandchildren still maintain the land. More Raindrops aka If Only the Rain Regentropfen West Germany, 1981, 90 minutes, B&W German with English subtitles Directed by Michael Hoffman and Harry Raymon 16mm Harry Raymon wrote the original screenplay for this feature based on his own experiences as a young German-Jewish boy growing up amidst the rise of the Third Reich. In response to mounting antisemitism and persecution, the eight year old protagonist and his family move from their small town to Cologne, preparing to emigrate to America. While learning English and awaiting their visas, the family faces increasing social ostracism and restrictive government policies. Told from the young boy's point of view, the story shows the painful, frightening plight of Jews trapped in the Nazi regime and the difficulties they faced in attempting to escape. "... one of the best feature films made to date on German Jews under the Third Reich." - Variety Rendevous with Freedom USA, 1972, 56 minutes, color Directed by Marc Siegel 16mm This documentary traces the development of American Jewry beginning with the arrival of the first Jewish settlers in 1645 in New Amsterdam (New York). Filmed in Holland, Germany, and throughout the United States, the film begins with the Spanish Inquisition and follows the persecuted Jews in their flight from Spain and Portugal to refuge in the Netherlands. The film examines how Jews participated in major U.S. historical events including the Revolution, the Civil War and the two World Wars. Vivid period paintings, engravings and photographs further demonstrate how Jews helped shape the growing American nation. René and I USA, 2005, 73 minutes, color Directed by Gina M. Angelone DVD This courageous documentary tells the story of Irene and her twin brother René, Czech Jews sent to Auschwitz at age six where they were they were experimented on by Josef Mengele. More The Return of Nathan Becker Nosn Becker Fort Aheym Restored by NCJF USSR, 1932, 72 minutes, B&W Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Boris Shpis and Mark Milman 35mm DVD This rare, newly restored feature was originally advertised as "the first Yiddish talkie from Soviet Russia." The plot centers on Nathan Becker, a Jewish bricklayer... More Return to Oulad Moumen Retrouver Oulad Moumen France, 1994, 50 minutes, color French with English subtitles Directed by Izza Genini VHS In south Marrakesh amidst the olive groves lies the village of Oulad Moumen where Habiba and Yossef Edery began their family in the 1920s. More Return to Vienna Austria, 1983, 95 minutes, color German with English subtitles Directed by Ruth Beckermann and Josef Aicholzer DVD VHS In 1924, fourteen year old Franz Weintraub and his parents moved from Magdeburg, Germany to Vienna, Austria, joining some 60,000 other Jews. More Reunion Le Retour France, 1946, 21 minutes, B&W Directed by Henri Cartier-Bresson for the United States Information Service 16mm Acclaimed by the Museum of Modern Art in New York as "one of the greatest human documents to come out of WWII," this is the moving story of the liberation of French prisoners from Nazi concentration camps. It is a quietly understated film, recorded by U.S. Army Signal Corps cameramen and the great French still photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, himself a prisoner in one of the camps. Scenes include the prisoners being removed to temporary hospitals and their joyful reunions with family and friends in Paris. Rhapsody in Blue USA, 1945, 139 minutes, B&W Directed by Irving Rapper 16mm Biography of the brilliant American composer George Gershwin whose life and music were cut short by a fatal brain tumor in 1937. "Rhapsody in Blue" is performed almost in its entirety in this film by famed pianist and Gershwin friend, Oscar Levant. Rhodes Forever Belgium, 1995, 60 minutes, color/b&w Spanish, French, Italian and Greek with English subtitles Directed by Diane Perelsztejn 16mm DVD VHS From the director of Escape to the Rising Sun comes this first-ever documentary devoted to the Jews of Rhodes, whose ancestors found refuge there after their expulsion from Spain... More The Righteous Enemy Italy & UK, 1987, 84 minutes, color/B&W Italian and German with English subtitles Directed by Joseph Rochlitz 16mm DVD A documentary account of the non-Jewish Italian resistance to Hitler's "Final Solution." Director Rochlitz begins with the story of his father, who was interned by the Italians during WWII... More Rites of Passage: The Spiritual Journey of Alice Shalvi Israel, 1998, 51 minutes, color Directed by Paula Weiman-Kelman DVD Alice Shalvi reflects on her life, from her childhood in Essen to her present-day success as a leading Israeli scholar, feminist, and peace activist. More Robert Clary A5714: A Memoir of Liberation USA, 1984, 57 minutes, color English and French with English subtitles Directed by Budd Margolis DVD VHS Robert Clary, the French actor who portrayed Louis Lebeau in the long-running American television series Hogan's Heroes, is a Holocaust survivor... More Romance of a Jewess Restored by NCJF 1908, 10 minutes, B&W, silent Directed by D.W. Griffith 16mm DVD This early D.W. Griffith short shows the director's interest in Jewish ghetto life, portrayed here with sympathy and sentimentality. More Rope USA, 1948, 80 minutes, color Directed by Alfred Hitchcock 16mm Inspired by the infamous Leopold-Loeb murder case, Hitchcock's first color film is about two young Jewish men who kill a school friend just to see if they can get away with it, and then challenge themselves by inviting friends and family to their apartment afterwards. Stars James Stewart, Farley Granger, John Dall and Cedric Hardwicke. Rosenzweig's Freedom Germany, 1998, 89 minutes German with English subtitles Directed by Liliane Targownik 35mm DVD VHS When Michael Rosenzweig, a Jewish manual laborer, becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a neo-Nazi leader, his brother Jacob, a young attorney, takes on his defense. More Rutenberg Israel, 2002, 90 minutes English and Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Eli Cohen 35mm DVD VHS Cohen takes an elliptical approach in telling the story of Pinchas Rutenberg, a visionary who amongst other things, brought electricity to Jewish Palestine. More Back to Top S [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. The Sabbath Bride UK, 1987, 52 minutes, color Directed by Naomi Gryn 16mm DVD Celebrate the excitement and diversity of Shabbat in London. More Samuel Bak: Painter of Questions Canada, 2003, 48 min, color Directed by Christa Singer DVD On the occasion of a retrospective exhibit of his work, painter Samuel Bak returned to his hometown of Vilna. More Santa Fe Austria, 1985, 110 min, b&w German w/ English Subtitles Directed by Axel Corti DVD VHS Picking up where God Does Not Believe In Us Anymore leaves off, Freddy struggles to find work after arriving in New York in 1940. More Second Watch Israel, 1995, 14 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Udi Ben-Arie 16mm DVD VHS Berkowitz, an Israeli Reserve soldier, is on watch at a remote post along the Israeli-Jordanian border. More Scenes from Jewish Life USSR, c.1912, 31 minutes, B&W, Silent Director: Unknown 16mm This obscure Russian-Yiddish two-reeler is believed to feature actors from a Warsaw theater. The plot concerns a young Jew seduced by a belly dancer and subsequently scorned by his family and community. The film ends with the man's suicide. Secret Courage: The Walter Suskind Story Netherlands/USA, 2005, 82 minutes Directed by Tim Morse and Karen Morse DVD Walter Suskind was a German Jew living in Amsterdam who was forced to serve as the Jewish head of deportation at the main deportation site in Holland. More A Secret Space USA, 1977, 80 minutes, color Directed by Roberta O. Hodes 16mm A thirteen year old boy in New York City discovers an abandoned Lower East Side synagogue and joins the motley congregation trying to rebuild it. His hip, liberal parents freak out when they discover his involvement with 'Religion.' The ensuing conflict in the family and its ultimate resolution is the subject of this unique comedy-drama. Stars Jon Matthews, Robert Klein, Phyllis Newman, and Virginia Graham. Recommended for teens and older. Seekers of Happiness USSR, 1934, 84 minutes, B&W Russian with English subtitles Directed by Vladimir Korsh-Sablin DVD During the late 1920s, many impoverished Jews searching for a better life made their way to Birobidzhan, the Soviet Jewish Autonomous Region on the Chinese border. More Settlement USA, 2008, 55 minutes Director/Writer: Marian Marzynski DVD Twelve years after the release of his landmark film Shtetl, Emmy-Award winning director Marian Marzynski, a pioneer of European cinéma-vérité, returns to one of his favorite subjects - the mystery of survival during the Holocaust. Settlement is the most recent of Marzynski's critically-lauded autobiographical films... More 17 rue Saint Fiacre France, 1999, 24 minutes, color French with English subtitles Directed by Daniel Meyers DVD VHS This documentary tells the story of Rachel and Leon, two young Jewish siblings who were sheltered by a working class family in the Nazi-occupied town of Compiegne... More Shalom Y'all USA, 2002, 60 minutes, color Directed by Brian Bain DVD Bain, a third generation Jew from New Orleans, sets out on a 4200-mile road trip though the American South and uncovers the unique history of Southern Jews. More Sharing the Light USA, 1994, 18 minutes, color Directed by Julie Gal 16mm VHS Sharing the Light documents the International Conference of Jewish Women held in Kiev, Ukraine in 1994. Project Kesher, founded by Sallie Gratch in 1989, organized this conference to "build a bridge between West and East, a bridge between two Jewish worlds...." Participants came from around the globe to share a common dream: to connect with each other as Jewish women, and to help rebuild Jewish life in the former Soviet Union. Through workshops and seminars, the women learned and explored their Judaism and Jewish culture so that they could return to their own communities and begin building a stronger sense of Judaism's rich heritage. The Shop on Main Street Czechoslovakia, 1965, 128 minutes, B&W Czech with English subtitles Directed by Jan Kadar Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film 16mm This haunting tragicomedy takes place during the early days of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Britko (Josef Kroner), a simple, amiable carpenter, is appointed "aryan controller" of a supposedly profitable Jewish shop. The shop's elderly proprietress (Ida Kaminska), a stubborn but lovable deaf widow, is oblivious to the war, and incapable of understanding why Britko is there. He tries to explain, but she doesn't understand and puts him to work as her assistant. When the Nazis begin deporting Jews, including the old woman, Britko is forced into a confrontation between trying to save the woman or passively complying with the policies of the Nazis. "Brilliant in performance and extraordinary in accomplishment one of the fine films of our time, for all time." ­ Judith Crist, New York Herald Tribune The Shower Israel, 1997, 35 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Jorge Gurvich 35mm DVD VHS Hospitalized in a ward, a father (Yossi Yadin) pleads with his son to be allowed to return home at least once for a shower. More Simply Human Israel, 30 min, color Dutch, English, Hebrew with English Subtitles Directed by Izzy Abrahami & Erga Netz DVD Simply Human tells the story of Mrs. Hans Snoek, a 90 year old Dutch dancer who has dedicated her life to helping people. More The Singing Blacksmith Yankl Der Schmid Restored by NCJF USA 1938 B&W 95 minutes Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer 35mm 16mm DVD VHS The Singing Blacksmith is the film version of "Yankl der Schmid," a classic 1906 drama that was one of the first Yiddish plays to offer a psychological study of physical passion. More Singing in the Dark USA, 1956, 86 minutes, B&W Directed by Max Nosseck 16mm DVD VHS This virtually unknown independent film is one of the very first American features to focus on the Holocaust. More So Many Miracles Canada, 1987, 58 minutes, color Directed by Katherine Smalley and Vic Sarin 16mm DVD VHS During the fall of 1942, in the Polish village of Pinczow, as the Germans deported Jews to the gas chambers, the Banya family offered to hide Israel and Frania Rubinek in their one room farmhouse. More So We Said Goodbye Israel, 1991, 26 minutes, color/b&w Hebrew and Yiddish with English subtitles Directed by Jorge Gurvich 35mm DVD VHS While saying goodbye to his son and grandchildren who are leaving Israel, Yackov remembers when, as a child, he also said goodbye to his family in Poland in 1937... More Song of Hannah USA/Hungary, 2005, 45 min, color/b&w English, Hungarian & Hebrew w/ English subtitles Directed by Nicole Opper DVD VHS Hoping to rescue victims of the Holocaust, 23-year old Hannah Senesh left the Palestine kibbutz she had helped to build and parachuted into her native Hungary. More Song of Radauti USA, 1978, 25 min, b&w Directed byLaurence Salzmann 16mm VHS Before World War II, 8,000 Jews lived in Radauti, Romania. By the mid-1970s, the town had only 240 Jews. Song of Radauti is a beautiful and melancholy statement about a vanishing culture and the lives of a few Jews who survived the Holocaust. Songs for a Shabbat France, 1991, 26 minutes, color French, Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Izza Genini VHS Listen to and experience the beautiful Moroccan-Jewish songs of Shabbat with Moroccan Rabbi Chaim Louk and his cantors in the Buffault Synagogue in Paris. Sophie's Choice USA, 1982, 157 minutes, color Directed by Alan J. Pakula Academy Award Winner for Best Actress 16mm Meryl Streep won an Oscar for her performance in this faithful adaptation of William Styron's novel about a Polish woman's attempt to justify her existence in America after the Holocaust and the mortifying choice she had to make while a prisoner in Auschwitz. Also stars: Kevin Kline, Peter MacNikol, Rita Karin and Josh Mostel. "... deeply affecting... casts a powerful, uninterrupted spell." - Janet Maslin, The New York Times Stan Getz: A Musical Odyssey USA, 1978, 60 minutes, color Directed by Herbert Dorfman DVD VHS Join jazz saxophone virtuoso Stan Getz on his 1977 three week tour of Israel. More The Star, the Castle and the Butterfly UK, 1990, 25 minutes, color Directed by Naomi Gryn DVD VHS Tour Prague's legendary Jewish quarter with Rabbi Hugo Gryn as he visits some of its most evocative sites and recalls a world that is no more. More The Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of Lodz Sweden, 1982, 55 minutes, color Directed by Peter Cohen Best Documentary, Global Village Documentary Festival 16mm In order to facilitate the destruction of Poland's three million Jews, the Nazis forced them to establish Jewish Councils responsible for administration of the Polish ghettos. Through the use of terror, manipulation and humiliation, the Germans forced the Jews to perform duties that would have otherwise necessitated large numbers of German personnel. Chaim Rumkowski, appointed by the Nazis as the Chairman of the Lodz Jewish Council, was responsible for establishing a vast bureaucracy that administered all social services within the ghetto. Rumkowski also attempted to turn the Lodz ghetto into an industrial center that would become indispensable to the German war effort, thus enabling the Jews of Lodz to survive the war. Unaware of Hitler's determination to realize his "final solution," Rumkowski's strategy for survival was doomed to failure. Utilizing hundreds of photographs taken by Jewish Council photographers and other ghetto inhabitants, the film depicts the activities of the Jewish Council, the conditions of daily life for ghetto inhabitants, Rumkowski's relationship to the Nazis, the gradual disintegration of the ghetto, and final deportation to the death camps. The Struma Canada, 2001, 90 minutes, color Directed by Simcha Jacobovici 16mm VHS In August 2000, a British diver, Greg Buxton, set out on an expedition to find the remains of the sunken Jewish-refugee ship on which his grandparents died. More Surrender Restored by NCJF USA, 1927, 77 minutes, B&W, silent Directed by Edward Sloman 16mm One of the few American silent feature films to deal with life in a European Jewish shtetl. More Back to Top T [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Tevye Restored by NCJF USA, 1939, 96 minutes, B&W Yiddish with NEW English subtitles Directed by Maurice Schwartz 35mm 16mm DVD VHS A renowned Yiddish theater and stage actor, Maurice Schwartz's adaptation of the classic Sholem Aleichem novel, centers on Tevye's daughter Khave... More Three Days in April Germany, 1995, 100 minutes, color German with English subtitles Directed by Oliver Storz 35mm DVD Nesselbühl, Germany, April 1945. A small Swabian village, shortly before the end of the war. The roaring guns of the approaching American troops can be heard in the distance. More Tijuana Jews USA 2005 52 minutes Color Directed by Issac Artenstein DVD VHS Throughout the early twentieth century thousands of European Jews sailed to Mexico looking for opportunity and escaping increasing persecution at home. More To Brave a Dream Israel, 1992, 27 minutes, color English and Hebrew Language Versions Available Directed by Yael Katzir VHS In 1866, a group of God-fearing Christians from Maine sailed to the Holy Land in order to prepare for the second coming of Christ. Under the influence of their charismatic leader, Reverend George Jones Adams, the group shipped pre-fabricated wooden houses and modern farming equipment to Jaffa hoping to establish an agricultural settlement. This documentary takes viewers on a tour of the remains of this settlement and presents interviews with ancestors of the original settlers. Life was hard and many pioneers either died from disease and drought or returned to America shortly after their arrival. Yet despite the difficulties, the wooden houses, some of which remain standing in Tel Aviv, continue to symbolize the pioneers' courage "to brave a dream." To Save A Life: Ending Domestic Violence in Jewish Families USA, 1997, 35 minutes, color Directed by Maria Gargiulo Produced by Jean Anton, The Center for The Prevention of Sexual and Domestic ViolenceEmmy Nomination, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Northwest Regional Chapter; Silver Plaque, International Communications Film and Video Competition; Cindy Award, International Association of Audio Visual Communications VHS An important resource for abused women, Jewish communal leaders, helping professionals, and all who seek to break the silence about domestic violence in Jewish families. "This video covers all the bases. It thoroughly explores all the aspects of family violence amid an illumination and supportive discussion of Jewish perspectives on the issue." -Rabbi Elliot Dorf, Rector, and Professor of Philosophy, University of Judaism "To Save A Life is the video we've been waiting for... an outstanding resource for shelters and synagogues... sensitive, powerful, hopeful and realistic." -Ellen Rubenstein Fisher, Director, National Domestic Violence Hotline Too Close To Home Israel, 1995, 50 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Ori Inbar VHS The future of the Golan remains a crucial issue for Israel's future. This documentary about the people who live in and protect the Golan provides important insight into the political and social issues surrounding the territory. In 1994, Israeli army officer and filmmaker Ori Inbar recorded his annual reserve service in the Israeli-Syrian border patrol on the Golan Heights. The resulting documentary follows five of the men of Inbar's unit during the 32 days of their yearly tour of duty, an experience they have been sharing for nearly 20 years. The film then moves on to reveal the soldiers' domestic lives; all five of the men actually live in the Golan, and were among the first to settle in the area after it changed from Syrian to Israeli hands. Toward Jerusalem Israel, 1990, 87 min, color Director: Ruth Beckermann VHS In this documentary road movie, Austrian filmmaker Ruth Beckermann records the diverse views and activities of Israelis and Arabs as she travels along the route from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. More Transnistria: The Hell Israel, 1996, 40 minutes, color/b&w Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Zolton Terner DVD VHS Israeli writer Aharon Appelfeld is one of several survivors of Transnistria featured in this emotional and hard-hitting Israel Educational Television documentary. More The Trial: An Account of the Majdanek Trial in Düsseldorf Der Prozess West Germany, 1984, 270 minutes, color/b&w German with English subtitles Directed by Eberhard Fechner 16mm DVD Between 1941 and 1944, at least one quarter of a million people were murdered in the Lublin/Majdanek concentration camp. More The Turkey La Dinde Belgium, 1998, 18 minutes, color Directed by Sam Garbarski 35mm VHS Billed as "a Jewish Christmas tale," this award-winning short takes place in Brussels, 1953. Rosa and Alfred, a young Jewish-Polish couple, await the arrival of Rosa's older brother from America. As Rosa prepares to leave for the airport, she asks Alfred to pluck the turkey that is to be delivered in her absence. When the farmer arrives with the delivery, Alfred realizes the turkey is alive! Alfred and his next door neighbor, Fons, who hid Alfred during the war, must try to kill the turkey. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Him Germany, 2005, 85 min, color German & English w/ English subtitles Directed by Malte Ludin 35mm Ludin's documentary focuses on how his family grapples with--or refuses to engage--the history of their family and of Weimar and Nazi Germany more generally. More Two Sisters Tsvey Shvester Restored by NCJF USA, 1938, 82 minutes, B&W Yiddish with NEW English subtitles Directed by Ben K. Blake 16mm DVD VHS After the death of their mother, older sister Betty works tirelessly only to see her happiness shattered when her sister and fiancée fall in love. More Back to Top U [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. Uncle Moses Restored by NCJF USA, 1932, 87 minutes, b&w Yiddish with NEW English subtitles Directed by Sidney Goldin & Aubrey Scotto 16mm DVD VHS When poverty and persecution compel his Polish landsmen to leave their shtetl, "Uncle" Moses welcomes them to the promised land of his Lower East Side clothing factory. More Underdogs: A War Movie Israel, 1996, 86 minutes, color Hebrew with English subtitles Directed by Doron Tsabori & Rino Zror DVD A charming documentary about a small working-class Israeli town seized by soccer mania as the local team prepares for their last crucial game of the season. More   The Unfortunate Bride (reedited reissue of 1926 silent Broken Hearts) Restored by NCJF USA, 1932, 68 minutes, b&w Yiddish and English intertitles with music and sound sequences Directed by Maurice Schwartz 35mm Schwartz's film directorial debut is a film within a film where a grandfather tells his grandchildren a cautionary tale about a Jewish political dissident writer who leaves his wife in Russia... More Unknown Secrets: Art and the Rosenberg Era USA, 1990, 30 minutes, color Directed by Daniel Keller, Charles Light & Rob Okun 16mm DVD Based on a compelling book and nationally touring art exhibit, this film shows the influence of the Rosenberg case on the work of artists past and present including Arthur Miller, poet Adrienne Rich, Picasso and many more. More Back to Top V [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Please refer to the Title Price Index for film format and pricing information. A Vilna Legend Dem Rebns Koyekh (reissue of Tkies Kaf/The Vow, 1924) Restored by NCJF USA 1933 60 minutes B&W Yiddish narration with English subtitles Directed by Zygmund Turkow (1924); George Roland (1933) 35mm 16mm DVD Few reminders are left of the vibrant Yiddish theatrical world that flourished in Warsaw, Poland, in the 1920s. This film is one of them. More The Vision of Chaim Weizmann USA, 27 minutes, b&w Directed by Lazar Dunner 16mm DVD This is a biography of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel, incorporating film footage, sketches, and still photographs. More The Voyage of the St. Louis Canada/France, 1994, 52 minutes, color/b&w English, German and French with English subtitles Directed by Maziar Bahari DVD VHS This definitive documentary tells the story of the infamous St. Louis episode as recalled by passengers and in readings from the diary of the ship's captain. More The Vow Tkies Kaf Restored by NCJF Poland, 1937, 82 minutes, b&w Yiddish with NEW English subtitles Directed by Henryk Szabo 35mm DVD VHS Based on the same legend as S. Ansky's classic play The Dybbuk, this spirited film offers the divine intervention of Elijah and a happy ending. More