By Belle Crawford
In September of this year, the Asheville Jewish Community Center (JCC) and Grail Moviehouse collaborated to launch Asheville’s first Israeli Film Series. On the second Sunday of each month at 3 p.m., films by Israeli directors or films that explore Israeli themes, stories or settings will screen at Grail Moviehouse in downtown Asheville. Discussions with film directors or local facilitators will follow each film.
Films in the series have been selected to provide varying perspectives on issues related to Israeli history and culture. The movies fall into a variety of genres including political narratives, historical documentaries, romantic dramas, comedies and artistic or experimental films.
“The idea for the film series came from several directions, each one affirming the other,” says Rochelle Reich, director of Community Life and Events at the JCC. “We were working on developing programming around Israel in order to create real and meaningful connections to Israel for our members and the larger community. We also wanted to give people the opportunity to enter important discussions about Israeli culture and events. We conducted a survey to find out what types of programming and events people wanted to see. Film was the number one choice.”
Films are chosen based on recommendations from members of the Jewish community and from Barbara Weitz, a JCC member and former director of the Film Studies Certificate Program at Florida International University.
“What we are trying to do is bring to Asheville as many films as possible that are being picked up for distribution and shown in many larger cities around the world, but that would otherwise never make it to our much smaller market,” says Weitz. “We’re trying to use the film festival format to provide the audience time to engage with the directors of the films and/ or film scholars who have worked in the area of Jewish film for a long time.”
The Grail Moviehouse is located at 45 South French Broad Avenue. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased at grailmoviehouse.com. For a description of upcoming films in the series see jcc-asheville.org.
