Acclaimed Sephardic musician Flory Jagoda will perform in concert following a documentary about her music on March 12 as part of the sixth annual Carmel Jewish Film Festival.
The festival runs March 5-20.
A native of Sarajevo, the 91-year-old Jagoda is a performer and composer who has devoted her career to preserving the Ladino music she grew up with. The film “Flory’s Flame” tells her life story and includes excerpts from a 2013 concert she performed at the U.S. Library of Congress. The film is one among eight selections from five countries that will light up screens on the Monterey Peninsula over two weeks in March for the film festival.
The lineup is a mix of documentaries and feature films from different genres, meant to appeal to a broad audience both inside and outside of the Jewish community, according to festival co-chair Susan Greenbaum.
“We’re looking at the message that the films send, and we want to help educate people and show them a different perspective than they hear in the media,” she said.
“The Green Prince,” for instance, is a documentary about the son of a Hamas leader who became an informant for Israel and his handler within the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency. “A lot of people don’t know that story,” Greenbaum said. “[The informant] talks about why he did it. It’s a very powerful film.”
The festival is a volunteer effort organized by members of Carmel’s Congregation Beth Israel. Screenings will be held at four different venues, including at the synagogue, as well as in Monterey and Pacific Grove.
Though many of the films have already been shown (or soon will be shown) at Bay Area Jewish film festivals, the Carmel festival is reaching out to Bay Area audiences this year and expects to attract those looking for a weekend getaway, Greenbaum said.
Jagoda will perform with her daughter, Betty Jagoda Murphy, and musicians Howard Bass and Susan Gaeta, following the screening of “Flory’s Flame” at the Golden Bough Playhouse in Carmel.
Other special events during the festival include a Q&A with Aimee Ginsburg Bikel following the March 17 screening of “Theodore Bikel: In The Shoes of Sholom Aleichem,” about her late husband; and a panel discussion with Iraqi Jews after the March 19 screening of “The Dove Flyer,” set in Baghdad in the 1940s and ‘50s.
Carmel Jewish Film Festival, March 5-20, various locations. $12-$40. www.carmeljff.org