I feel honored today that we are getting to talk about the Jewish culture and heritage.

And the Jewish Film Festival is coming up.

This is your 15th anniversary of doing this, and what a phenomenal project.

Thank you.

Yes, it's the 15th anniversary of the Michiana Jewish Film Festival.

We've been lucky to partner with Notre Dame and the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center for our entirety of our 14 seasons prior to this year, and this year being our 15th, we have just, a terrific lineup of films in store for the community.

You guys really do.

And thank you so much for having us here.

I know you and I are usually on different stages today.

Which one are we in?

We are in the Philbin, the Regis Philbin Theater, which is a black box that gets used particularly for studio performances.

Okay.

And where all of the actual performances for this going to be taking place.

They will be in the Browning Cinema just across the hallway.

Okay.

Our 200 seat cinema where all of our screenings are throughout the year now, 200 seats.

There's plenty of room for everybody to come and see these.

And you guys, when is this happening?

Because it's not just one day.

No, we get a couple of options.

Yes, indeed.

It's an entire, four days starting May 12th.

Okay.

Each evening, there's, at least one screening there.

One, two evenings there are two screenings.

So Tuesdays and Wednesdays, a double feature.

Yeah, I love it.

Okay, so tell us about what you guys have on the lineup this year.

And actually, let's start back a little bit further on that.

What goes into deciding the featured films that you're going to be showing?

So a lot of watching trailers, reading descriptions, reading reviews.

I'm lucky to work with a committee of volunteers in the Jewish community, some outside the Jewish community, that come together, debate on, you know, which films should be shown.

And it's it's a process that takes about, 4 or 5 months just to know what the hell to the seven films that we have presented this year.

I love that, and you are part of the Jewish Federation of Saint Joseph Valley.

I am.

And how long have you been helping out with the film festival?

Well, I started out as a volunteer, just on a committee, and that's a great way to start.

Right?

And that was, just just such an interesting project to be on.

As a committee member, you know, getting to watch these films that I was, I felt lucky to participate and get to see just this wide variety of Jewish themes, cinema, storytelling from across, you know, across the world.

Absolutely.

And and I think that's important to know.

These aren't necessarily just films that are being produced locally or regionally, but this comes from all across the entire world.

That's right.

Yeah.

We have a number of films from Israel.

We have a number of films from Europe this year.

We have a film from Finland of all places, and, you know, American films as well, documentaries, comedies.

It's a just a delightful opportunity to share these stories, a great variety.

All right.

Let's get talking about it.

So first up, what do we have on our first day?

We have a double feature showcase.

We do.

We're showing two Israeli documentaries okay.

The first film, it's part of a double feature that begins at 7 p.m..

The first film is telling Nonie, which is a story about redemption.

An Israeli, officer in the Israeli secret service in the 1950s, wants redemption for a killing that he made, an assassination of a lieutenant in the Egyptian army.

And he is seeking redemption with that lieutenant's now grown daughter.

Oh, interesting.

Trying to reconcile.

You know, what happened?

And it's, an incredible film.

Yeah.

Wonderful, wonderful.

And it's followed up by another Israeli documentary about the, the October 7th massacre of, the Supernova Festival on October 7th.

And, looking at survivor testimonies and seeing how that unfolds through a creative use of miniatures.

So without actually showing violence, where we're able to depict what happened that day.

Yes, it's it's quite a film.

Interesting.

And I do want to point out that one is is called 630, but it's not going to be shown at 630.

Okay.

Just to be clear, in case anybody runs across that that is the name of the film itself.

Okay.

Let's head into day to day two.

We have, starts out at 5:30 p.m. with a finished film called Never Alone, which is about the, you know, a man in Finland, a prominent Jewish physician, I believe, who prevented the deportation or tried to save, Jewish members, okay, community members and Finland from being deported during, during, you know, the when the Holocaust was on, the rise in Nazi Germany was on the rise.

A wonderful film, I'm sure.

Yes.

When was that one created?

Was that a newer film, too?

Yeah.

I mean, all of the selection that you guys have done for this year are relatively recent, correct?

That's right, that's right.

Yeah.

They're all within the last few years.

I would say we have, a few films from 2025.

We have a number of films from last year in the year prior.

Yeah.

It's intentional.

Yeah.

And it's worth noting, these films haven't screened in the area before.

And oftentimes this is like exclusive, right?

They are debuting, in the Michiana area here.

And oftentimes, these are unable for streaming.

You can't have access to them.

But for a big festival like this wonderful.

Well, this is all the more reason to come.

All right, what's next on our lineup?

So following that evening on Tuesday, May 13th at 8 p.m., we are showing a comedy, called Yaniv which is about about, an underground card game that a high school teacher discovers.

Why?

Because, he's looking to raise money for his high school musical.

This card game happens to be in the Hasidic community, Jewish community in Brooklyn.

So.

Okay, it's, it's a hilarious film, a really sweet story.

I think audiences will love it.

It is that one family friendly.

Are they all generally family friendly or kind of contrary?

It's content based.

I would say the few comedies we have are probably not family friendly.

Oh goodness.

No.

Okay.

But you know, if if your older child is maybe interested in learning more about the Holocaust or, you know, some number of our documentaries, I think would be, you know, specific to how you mature, mature your child.

Sure, absolutely.

And you may be interesting on your guys's web page.

Do you have the synopsis, too, so people can come back and look and see what they might want to attend?

Yeah.

And not only do we have synopses and some information, I will say a lot of these films because they're international or because they haven't been, released in other forms, may not have a rating that people go with.

But there are a lot of websites.

There's a classic one.

Does the dog dot com where you can go and read and kind of give parental advice or just general advice on what you're walking into, if for any reason you think that, you know, you have a child or someone with you who might find something more challenging.

Yeah.

And I think it's so important, especially to, continue for all of us really to learn about other cultures, other heritages.

And I think that comes into play within this film festival, too.

It certainly does.

That is the impetus for the festival was what's what's a accessible way we can share our culture and heritage with the wider community.

We do want the wider community to come out.

This is not just for the Jewish community.

I love that.

That's why we are here at Notre Dame, because it's the additional exposure that being here on campus gives us.

And a number of audience members who come every year are just from the broader community, and we love to see them out.

Fantastic.

Made a lot of good connections, I love it.

Okay, so we've gone through, I think day one and day two.

Yeah, I do want to mention, on day two, you know, friends are welcome to stay after the first film.

Bring a bring a dinner with.

Okay.

DeBartolo has been very gracious with their space, allowing us to maybe have a meal in between films.

Yeah.

So it's just a cool another opportunity to connect with each other and and have some discussions too.

Yeah.

And I think as we head into the next day, day three, are you guys going to be able to talk to some of the members involved with the film?

Yeah, well, that's actually coming on day four okay.

I won't skip it.

Oh there it is.

Yeah.

All right.

Listen.

Yeah.

If we if we look at day three, and I should mention that a number of these films are sponsored by organizations in our community.

So we mentioned already never alone.

Holocaust themed drama.

On day three, we were showing a Holocaust documentary called 999 The Forgotten Girls.

Both of those films are sponsored by the Simon Fund for Holocaust Remembrance.

Okay.

Which, works in our community.

Yeah.

Has a mission statement of Holocaust education, Holocaust awareness.

And they partnered with us each year as well.

So that's great.

You know, this being our second Holocaust film of the line up, and it's a documentary about the first transports, to Auschwitz of 999 Slovakian young teenagers.

Wow.

Girls, I'm sure that's going to be a very powerful film, including Survivor Testimony, which it's very powerful.

We can't hear their stories enough, you know, and and we need to hear their stories.

Absolutely.

All right.

And then is there one more that's happening on Thursday?

Yes.

So that one I'm particularly excited about.

It's just another comedy.

So okay.

We love showing comedies.

We love the variety.

But bouncing to a comedy that evening called Bad Shabbos, about it's a, it's a play on a family dynamic of an interfaith relationship where, you know, you're bringing your in-laws to Shabbat dinner, which happens Friday evenings in Jewish households.

Okay.

And sort of that dynamic.

And, you know, some things happen that are kind of interesting.

I won't spoil it.

Don't spoil it.

We got to get people here into the seats talking.

Kyra Sedgwick, Method man, she's, is.

Yeah, just a number.

It's an ensemble comedy.

So it's a great, great film.

Okay, perfect.

And then we are wrapping up as we head into Friday day for Thursday.

Thursday, yes there is.

So Thursday, at 7 p.m., we were showing a documentary called Sabbath Queen, directed by Sandy de Boesky.

The director will actually be in attendance that evening to really give us a Q&A and give us a glimpse behind the film.

That's fantastic.

It is it is.

And that is a documentary about, an enigmatic rabbi in in New York.

Rabbi Amichai lullaby.

I think I'm saying that correctly.

No disrespect, but his journey, and as a, as a queer person navigating, you know, Judaism and and transforming himself, you know, into a leader in his community.

It's an eye opening documentary.

I think our community will enjoy it.

And again, having the director present will allow us to really bubble up some questions at the end that I love us.

Yeah, I love this.

Okay, so people have to get tickets for this, but they you will have tickets still available day.

Correct?

Hopefully.

So if you go to our website Performing Arts that needs you you can find information there.

Okay.

If you Google Michiana, Jewish Film Festival, you will catch you there.

Their site or our site or its.

Okay.

Or you can call our box office at 6 3 1 2800 multiple ways.

And to ensure that you're able to see the movies that you want to check out.

And I want to point out to you there, so reasonably priced, I mean, this is a great option for people to get out in the community, learn something more about people that maybe they are familiar with or that they aren't familiar with, and their stories behind those.

I think that's just a fantastic thing that you guys have going on here.

Yep.

Tickets run about, 4 to $7.

But most importantly, the Jewish Federation has a sponsor that makes popcorn, free to everyone.

Okay, well, now you really got me on that one, and we can't thank our sponsors enough from across the community, from across the broader community.

Our presenting sponsor, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Cloud, Ruth Roth and Associates, they've been with us a number of years now as our presenting sponsor.

And and we also thank Carrie and Barry Shine, who are, very generous in matching, a number of our sponsorships this year, all of our sponsorships, in fact, and just have a wide variety of community support.

I love that I know it's all going to be in the program itself, too, so people can see everything that you guys have going on, too.

I know we're almost out of time, but you have other stuff coming up here too.

Ricky, just a real quick because we are at the end of our season, we have a couple of screenings that we have to offer performances.

We have Salome and The Barber of Seville, both big productions.

Can check those out.

And then we have two other films to highlight.

We are showing, Pope Francis a man of his word.

And that will be in the weekend prior to, the film festival is just starting up.

Tonight, as it were.

And, that is a documentary by the vendors about, that the Pope sat for and was interviewed.

And it really expands on his view towards, caring for other people and peace and humility.

And so that documentary will run for the weekend.

And we also have a sneak peek of the new live action, How to Train Your Dragon.

Yes.

I'm so excited for that.

May 10th at 10 a.m., and, it's a month before it comes out, and that's free.

Tickets are available an hour beforehand.

We only have 200 tickets, so, so you got to get them.

You got to come early to ensure that you'd have a spot.

All right.

Well, thank you guys so much.

Best of luck to you and your festival.

Thank you.

And, we'll see you here in the seats.