Lights, Camera, Film Festival!
By Jill Cousins
Harriet Weiss was working as the cultural arts director at The Roth Family JCC back in 1999 when she got word that the Enzian Theater wanted to partner with the J to cosponsor a Central Florida Jewish Film Festival. She thought it was a great idea, and the festival – celebrating its 25th year in November – is still going strong.
The 2023 festival is set for November 4 through 7. It will showcase six groundbreaking films that are making their Central Florida premieres at the Enzian in Maitland and the Orlando Science Center. Harriet and her co-chair of the past five years, David Greenberg, are expecting this year’s festival to be another huge success thanks to its sponsors and the support of the Jewish – and local – community.
“It’s never been a hard sell,” says Harriet, who was also the JCC’s singles and seniors director and produced more than 20 theatrical productions for the JCC. “People liked it from the start, and we always had a large attendance. We’ve shown some absolutely outstanding movies over the years, and people keep coming back. I’m hoping we can get more sponsors so it can get bigger and bigger.”
The Enzian rolls out the Jewish red carpet for the annual event adding Jewish delicacies to their regular menu including bagels, latkes, stuffed cabbage, kosher hot dogs, and matzo ball soup. Food, in fact, is a common theme for many of the carefully selected films as well as the Holocaust, Jewish values, and Jewish heroes. “We want you to walk out of the theater and say, ‘I’m so glad I’m Jewish,’” Harriet says. “I think our committee does a good job of selecting movies that are what this community wants.”
It’s an arduous task for the festival’s six-person committee to choose the perfect programs each year. Committee members Harriet, David, Randa Marder, Dolores Indek, Louis Birney, and Leah Radetsky are required to watch 75 to 80 movies during a twomonth period before narrowing the list to their top 10 films. That’s when the Enzian gets involved, helping to pick the best six movies for its theater and the community.
Generally, about half of the movies come from Israel while the others come from all over the world. Several have been from the United States, but the festival has also featured films from Canada, Australia, Poland, France, the United Kingdom, and Colombia, among others.
“It’s a commitment to watch all the movies and do it in a timely fashion,” David, a self-described Jewish film aficionado, says of the selection process. “It’s a volunteer opportunity that really requires hundreds of hours of work. But it’s a labor of love.”
Over the years, the festival has featured many award-winning movies and documentaries. All the festival’s films have yet to be released in theaters, on television, or on streaming services. This year’s schedule includes Matchmaking, an Israeli Romeo and Juliet story; Farewell, Mr. Haffman, a French Holocaust drama; and Hummus Full Trailer, a wacky whodunit that involves Orthodox Jewish gun dealers, gay florists, and an Arab pimp.
“From my perspective, we’re asking members of the Jewish community to get out of bed, put on some clothes, get in their car, and schlep to the Enzian or the Science Center to watch a couple of movies – so it better be worth it,” David says with a smile. “We want every one of these movies to make you feel enlightened and entertained by Jewish and Israeli culture... and make you feel good about having to put on pants.”
Celebrating its 25th year, the Central Florida Jewish Film Festival is a labor of love for volunteer committee members Harriet Weiss, Dolores Indek, Randa Marder, David Greenberg, Louis Birney, and Leah Radetsky (not pictured).
This story was originally published in print in Fall 2023.