Skip to content

From scroll to screen

Discover art house film through a Jewish lens at the International Jewish Film Festival

Indie-film fanatics rejoice as the Victoria International Jewish Film Festival returns for a second year, taking place Nov. 12 -15.After much success with last year's inaugural event, the Jewish Community Centre of Victoria is excited to bring back the film festival in a bigger and better way, spanning four days, and featuring six full-length and five short films from around the world.Sandra Glass, film festival director, guarantees a genre for everyone, whether it be a romantic comedy, murder mystery, documentary or drama."We try to make sure that we have a wide range because we're appealing to all sorts of different tastes," says Glass. "But one thing that all these films have in common is that first of all, they're foreign films, which we don't get too many foreign films in Victoria, and they celebrate the diversity and depth of the indie film-making process."While the festival aims to foster an appreciation of Jewish-themed films, it also celebrates arthouse films as an artistic expression of human nature, and encourages a community of indie-film lovers. "You get people coming from disparate backgrounds coming together to look at these films and discussing them afterwards," says Glass, noting the films are of a secular nature.Must-sees for Glass include the Oscar-nominated short comedy Ave Maria; Who's Gonna Love Me Now, an award-winning documentary following the story of a gay, HIV-positive Israeli expatriate living in London; and In Search of Israeli Cuisine, a PBS documentary exploring various Israeli cultures through food."Hopefully [audiences] will come away feeling that they've participated in a great cultural experience," says Glass. "And I'd hope they would come away thinking 'Yes, we want to go to it next year as well.'"The festival launches Nov. 12 at Cineplex Odeon Theatre (780 Yates St.) at 6:30 p.m., followed by an opening reception at The Atrium. For show times and festival tickets, visit vijff.ca.