JCC MetroWest has August/September films and series
Israeli-focused films covering the big screen from North Jersey to Tel Aviv are headed to the area. First up is an exclusive J-Films sneak preview of the highly anticipated flick “Golda,” starring Helen Mirren as the former Israeli prime minister. The film will be presented in partnership with the Village at SOPAC, where it will be screened, on August 24 at 7:30 p.m. JCC MetroWest will present the inaugural J-Films Israeli Cinema Seminar, a three-part series, beginning on September 7. The series will continue the Israel-centric programming at the J’s Goldstein Center for Israel and the Diaspora on the West Orange campus.
The J-Films sneak preview of “Golda” is before its official release in select theaters. It is set during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, faced with the possibility of Israel’s complete destruction, must navigate overwhelming odds. That included a skeptical cabinet, and a complex relationship with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber). At the same time, she’s undergoing treatment for cancer treatment — in secret.
The film is directed by Oscar-winner Guy Nattiv and co-stars some of Israel’s finest actors, including Lior Ashkenazi, Rami Heuberger, and Ohad Knoller.
A talk-back with Stuart Weinstock, the JCC MetroWest’s director of film, director of the J’s New Jersey Jewish Film Festival, programmer for J-Films, and professor of topics in Israeli cinema at Columbia University, will follow the screening. All tickets are sold online at jccmw.us/Golda and in-person at the Village at SOPAC box office, 1 SOPAC Way in South Orange.
The J-Films Israeli Cinema Seminar at the Goldstein Center for Israel and the Diaspora will be a short series of three 90-minute film-clip-and-discussion-based classes on Israeli cinema led by Mr. Weinstock. He will offer a class that class, also on Israeli television, on Thursdays, September 7, 14, and 21, at the J’s Goldstein Center for Israel and the Diaspora, at JCC MetroWest in West Orange. For information on the seminar, email Mr. Weinstock at sweinstock@jccmetrowest.org.
“Golda is a tense, engaging depiction of Golda Meir and the history she shaped,” Mr. Weinstock said. “In many ways, it’s a perfect film for our community. I’m very excited to see it in a packed theater with friends and acquaintances from around our area, and then discuss it together in a talkback.
“I’m equally excited to host a much smaller group for the first of, what I hope are many, appreciations and discussions of Israeli cinema. We’re carving out a niche for film at JCC MetroWest, for folks interested in studying film, for just seeing a great movie, and for everything in between.”
In addition to J-Film screenings and the upcoming Israeli Cinema Seminar, JCC MetroWest is home to the New Jersey Jewish Film festival, which will be held from March 28 to April 14. Founded in 2000, the NJJFF has become one of the premier Jewish cultural events in the state, screening award-winning premieres and first-run Israeli, American, and international films of Jewish interest, followed by thought-provoking post-screening discussions.
For more information, go to www.jccmetrowest.org.
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