The Axelrod Performing Arts Center presents the 2022 Axelrod Jewish International Film Festival (AJIFF) featuring 7 award-winning, critically-acclaimed, regional premiere films, plus the smash Israeli award-winning television drama, “The Chef.” The festival runs March 20-April 10, 2022. All films for this year’s festival will be screened virtually “from the comfort of your home.”
The Spring Virtual Axelrod Jewish International Film Festival (AJIFF) takes us on a journey from the frigid winter of our backyards into the endless creativity of the Cinema Arts. Opening with the regional premiere of Greener Pastures from Israel, this 12-time nominated comedy is a story of life, the pursuit of happiness and finding redemption. Ending with our closing film, the regional premiere from Spain, “The Replacement” is a fast-paced, gripping thriller in the tradition of Hitchcock, and is hailed as one of the best thrillers of the year.
Featured also is the 9-part TV series “The Chef.” This regional premiere drama highlights the behind-the-scenes world of restaurant intrigue fraught with infighting and fierce ambition. The experience is like dining on a Michelin-starred meal which is best watched on a full stomach.
Toby Shylit Mack, who has been the director of the Axelrod Jewish International Film Festival since its inception 13 years ago, has never been more enthusiastic about a season’s lineup. These 7 award- winning films offer multicultural and diverse topics including drama, family relationships, intrigue, moral dilemmas, comedy and a mouth-watering exploration of restaurant life. Shylit Mack noted that she found it hard to choose her favorite film. She is excited to present a bonanza of international films including France’s Valiant Hearts, based on real events, and others from Spain and Germany. Brazil’s Leaving Paradise is a documentary that is a breathtaking visual odyssey of discovery, and Israel’s Tel Aviv offers an alluring glimpse into modern love.
A Series Ticket Pass is $72 per household which includes all 7 films PLUS the 9-Part TV series “The Chef.” A pass for “The Chef” is also available for $36 per household. Passes are available for purchase online.
Greener Pastures (available March 20-23). A retired widower is forced to reexamine his past and embrace his future in this superbly acted comedy that was nominated for 12 Israeli Ophir Awards, including for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor. Boasting a dynamic visual sense, snappy dialogue, and a dream cast of talent, including icons of Israeli comedy like Shlomo Bar-Aba (Academy Award-nominee Footnote and MJFF 2016 film Hill Start) and Doval'e Glickman (International award-winning show Shtisel and MJFF 2020 film Shoelaces), Greener Pastures is a wryly comic story about life, moving on and finding redemption. Israel, 90 minutes.
Valiant Hearts (available March 23-26). Bristling with suspense and deeply stirring in equal measures, Valiant Hearts tells the true story of exceptional bravery and survival against all odds. Starring acclaimed French actress Camille Cottin (House of Gucci, Stillwater), the story recounts the odyssey of six Jewish children in August 1942 who are forced to take refuge where no one will ever think to look for them: amidst the Louvre Museum artworks hidden in the Château de Chambord. Between fear, outbursts of laughter, and unexpected encounters, the children learn about independence and discover solidarity and friendship in the midst of tumultuous circumstances. France, 87 minutes.
Leaving Paradise (available March 26-28). A breathtaking visual odyssey of discovery, Cleo had always wanted to leave the big city in Brazil where he lives and move to a large farm with his family. After years of saving and planning, he is finally able to pursue his dream and relocate with his wife and 15 children to communal living in Brazil’s great outdoors. In establishing their family farm, the Barolo family grows closer than ever. They form a deep and powerful bond while working, cooking, studying, and playing music together. Everything appears to be working according to plan until Cleo’s daughter makes a startling discovery about their heritage — they are among the 30,000 Brazilians who are descendants of Sephardic Jews. Israel-Brazil, 86 minutes.
Let It Be Morning (available March 28-31). Let It Be Morning is Israel's most acclaimed and prestigious film of the year, recognized for being Israel's official entry to the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film, winner of 7 Israeli Academy Awards (Ophirs), including for Best Film and Best Director, and winner of Best Film at the Haifa Film Festival. The Band's Visit director Eran Kolirin returns with this gently satirical tale of a man and his family trapped by a military blockade inside a tiny village in Israel. Executive Sami has reluctantly traveled to his remote hometown for his brother’s wedding with his wife Mina and their young son in tow never imagining he would encounter unexpected consequences. Israel-France, 101 minutes.
Persian Lessons (available March 31 - April 3). From Vadim Perelman, director of the internationally acclaimed film The House of Sand and Fog that received three Academy Award nominations. Alternating between suspense and linguistic absurdity, the story about Gilles, a young Belgian man arrested by the SS alongside other Jews, is compelling. He is sent to a concentration camp in Germany and narrowly avoids execution by claiming he is Persian not Jewish. This lie temporarily saves him, but then Gilles is assigned a seemingly untenable mission: to teach Persian to Koch, the officer in charge of the camp's kitchen, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Persia (Iran) once the war is over. Gilles finds himself having to invent a language he doesn't know, word by word. Germany, 127 minutes.
Tel Aviv (available April 3-6). Thought-provoking and utterly alluring, Tel Aviv is an intelligent, unabashedly honest look at modern love, led by marvelously natural performances from breakout stars Meital Ner and Yotam Gota. Michael and Dana are a married couple who live a decidedly imperfect love life. An unexpected crisis shakes their world apart and forces them to make a reckoning of their relationship and life choices. With tact and great care, director Marat Parkhomovsky digs into all the subjects that lay concealed below the surface of his characters, as their story becomes the story of contemporary Tel Aviv, its youth, its voices, its beauty, and its sadness. Israel, 81 minutes.
The Replacement (available April 6-10). Intrigue and suspense dominate this gripping thriller. Hardened by his work in the worst neighborhoods of Madrid, a young police officer accepts a post in a small village by the sea hoping to heal his sick daughter and gain some inner peace. Once there, he becomes involved in the investigation of the strange murder of the inspector he replaced. The inquiry leads him to a group of Nazi elders who live a heavenly and happy retreat on the coast. Fast-paced, gripping, and featuring a high-caliber cast, The Replacement is terrifically chilling in the tradition of Hitchcock and deserves a spot alongside the best thrillers of the year. Spain, 115 minutes.
The Chef (TV series) - available for duration of the festival. Behind-the-scenes intrigue and drama in the male dominated world of the culinary arts–starring Guri Alfi, Gal Toren, Rotem Sela, Yael Elkana. From the award-winning producers that brought us Fauda, Shtisel and the original version of Your Honor, The Chef is the second most-watched drama on TV in Israel this year and a second season has just been commissioned. When his lucrative IT career comes to an end, 44-year-old family man Nimrod takes an unexpected decision: starting over as a lowly prep cook at a trendy restaurant in Tel Aviv. Israel, 360 minutes.
The Axelrod Performing Arts Center, located in Ocean Township, New Jersey, produces its own professionally staged musicals and ballets for the Jersey Shore in collaboration with Broadway directors, choreographers, and designers, showcasing professional actors, dancers and singers.
The Axelrod Performing Arts Center fosters artistic excellence by showcasing varied and distinct cultural programs which enrich the imaginative, intellectual and creative soul, inspire Jewish journeys, and cultivate an appreciation of our diverse communities through the pursuit of the arts. A 501c3 organization, funding support for the Axelrod PAC comes from individuals, foundations, and grants that enable the arts center to present our year-round events and programming.
