Jewish Film Festival celebrates 10th anniversary with variety of comedies, documentaries, dramas

Now Southern Nevada’s longest-running film festival, the 15-day event takes place at six Las Vegas venues. The festival’s original home at the Suncoast hosts Saturday’s opening-night benefit, the hit French comedy "Coco." Closing-night festivities will take place Jan. 30 at the Palms’ Brenden Theatres, with the Las Vegas premiere of "Howl," starring James Franco as Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg.

In between, 15 additional features cover a similarly eclectic range.

There’s comedy, including Israel’s "The Beetle" (screening Monday afternoon), in which a couple, about to become parents, squabble over the fate of the husband’s beloved, but beat-up, Volkswagen Beetle. Fact-based dramas such as France’s "La Rafle (The Round Up)," screening Sunday, and Germany’s "Saviors in the Night" (Jan. 23) explore ever-resonant Holocaust themes, while Argentina’s "Anita" (Jan. 23) and Israel’s "Seven Minutes in Heaven" (Jan. 26) deal with terrorism’s impact on innocent lives.

The documentary lineup includes "Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story," an extra-base hit at several Jewish film festivals, to "A Film Unfinished," a haunting study of Nazi propaganda footage filmed inside the Warsaw Ghetto. (Both screen Sunday afternoon.) Other documentaries focus on such pioneers as Israeli leader Lova Eliav ("The Idealist," screening Jan. 23), dancer Anna Halprin ("Breath Made Visible," Jan. 27), actress Gertrude Berg (Monday’s "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg") and Las Vegas Sun publisher Hank Greenspun ("Where I Stand: The Hank Greenspun Story," Jan. 20).

Because the festival venues stretch from Summerlin’s Adelson Campus to the South Point — with additional stops at the aforementioned Suncoast and Palms, plus downtown’s Historic Fifth Street School and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas — "we’re bringing the program to the people," says Joshua Abbey, festival co-founder and executive director. "There’s no excuse not to attend."

When the festival began a decade ago, the Suncoast was the sole venue, and the event had a "best of the fests" format spotlighting award-winners from established Jewish film festivals around the world.

"The concept was a little high and didn’t resonate," Abbey admits.

And while "I don’t know when the epiphany came," he recalls, Abbey ultimately had one — to restructure the festival by inviting local Jewish organizations to present screenings.

Although it’s "a unique formula," he notes, "it seems to work here." After all, "the more stakeholders you can get invested" in the festival, "the more likely it is to survive."

In the past two years, the festival has expanded its focus, with the event (produced by Abbey’s Desert Space Foundation and Las Vegas’ Jewish Family Service Agency) benefiting the nonprofit, nonsectarian Jewish Family Service Agency.

"People like the arts supporting social services," Abbey says.

From the start, festival organizers have tried to look beyond Southern Nevada’s Jewish community to attract movie fans of all backgrounds; to that end, this year’s lineup includes programs sponsored by Opportunity Village (Jan. 20’s "Anita," about a teenager with Down syndrome), the Swiss consulate (co-sponsor of Jan. 27’s "Breath Made Visible") and the city of Las Vegas’ cultural affairs office (Jan. 29’s "Lepke," with Tony Curtis as the title gangster), which ties in with the development of downtown’s Mob Museum.

At least a broader audience should be more aware of this year’s festival; Abbey says Cox Communications has donated airtime for a 30-second public-service announcement touting "Top Five Reasons Why People Love the Jewish Film Festival."

Abbey chuckles as he cites one of those reasons: "After wandering for thousands of years, it feels good to sit down for a couple of hours."

And, after a decade putting down roots in the sandy soil of Las Vegas’ supposed cultural desert, Abbey relishes the chance to celebrate the festival’s milestone 10th anniversary — and demonstrate that it’s "essentially a myth" that "it’s nearly impossible for cultural institutions to establish, sustain and thrive."

All it takes, he says, is "pure grit and determination against all odds."

You can’t get any more Las Vegas than that.

Contact movie critic Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.