Brief: Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival Celebrates 19 Years This Weekend
The 19th annual Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival has arrived and will take place Jan. 28-30 in person at the Jepson Center. The festival will also take place online Jan. 28-Feb. 5.
The festival is put on by Spokane Area Jewish Family Services (JFS).
The festival will consist of screenings of various films that share Jewish life and culture with the community, said festival director Neal Schindler.
“We intend for the festival to offer the best of both worlds: opportunities for in-person schmoozing and the thrill of watching great films on the big screen, but also the convenience of attending virtually for those who need or prefer to do so,” he said.
Schindler said the 10 films screened this year include themes such as Jewish identity, Orthodox Judaism, global Jewry, the Holocaust and its lasting legacy, activism intended to make the world more peaceful and just and intercultural and interfaith relations.
There is also a Q&A with several filmmakers including Amy Grappell, Rafal Zielinski, Esther Taka and Anna Somershaf. There will also be a special opening-night introduction to the film “Charlotte” from Paul Regelbrugge, the education director at Seattle’s Holocaust Center for Humanity.
“On opening night we’ll be paying tribute to one of the festival’s strongest supporters, Julie Morris, who died unexpectedly and suddenly on Jan. 21,” Schindler said. “Julie’s death is an enormous loss for both the local Jewish community and the wider Spokane community.”
Schindler said festival proceeds directly support the essential human services work of JFS. Their services provide effective and compassionate support to seniors, low-income families and individuals and clients with disabilities.
