The East Bay International Jewish Film Festival’s 2026 lineup includes an award-winning Israeli documentary about a young man abandoned at birth, an indie comedy about a bar mitzvah boy and a “must see” Brazilian drama set in 1917.
In all, the festival will screen 22 films from eight countries, in theaters and online, in March.
The in-person screenings will take place at the Century 16 in Pleasant Hill from March 7 to 12, and at Vine Cinema in Livermore on March 22. Eleven films will be available online from March 15 to 25, including some that won’t be shown in theaters.
The festival kicks off with “The Ring.” This 2024 Israeli drama, based on writer and star Adir Miller’s own family’s Holocaust story, follows a man who travels from Israel to Budapest to find a gold ring that saved his mother’s life, as he seeks reconciliation with his estranged daughter along the way.
“More than ever, this year’s festival showcases a great diversity of films,” longtime festival director Riva Gambert said. “Much of this is due to our documentaries that portray the lives of Jewish individuals who have made a major impact on American life.”
Those documentaries include “Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause,” which follows the comedic actor’s advocacy to get wrongly convicted people out of prison; “Floyd Abrams,” about a First Amendment lawyer who helped define free speech through landmark cases, such as those related to the Pentagon Papers and the Citizens United case; and “A Man with Sole,” which paints a portrait of fashion mogul Kenneth Cole, who launched his shoe business in the 1980s and later committed himself to AIDS and LGBTQ activism.
Many of the festival’s films are themed around grappling with adversity and standing up to bigotry.
“Tatami,” an independent film co-directed by an Iranian woman and an Israeli man, is a drama about an Iranian judo athlete who finds herself in political danger when her government tells her to fake an injury rather than compete with an Israeli athlete. “Malachi” chronicles the life of a 19-year-old boy born with a rare genetic craniofacial disorder who was abandoned at birth by his parents and raised by a devoted foster mother. The 2025 Israeli film won best documentary at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
The festival also features the American premiere of “The Jewish Council,” a 2024 Dutch period drama that tells the story of professor David Cohen, a Jewish leader charged to work with the Nazis during World War II as co-president of Amsterdam’s Joodse Raad. The five-episode miniseries will be shown over two sessions on March 8 with a talk by professor Eran Kaplan of San Francisco State University.
For teens and tweens, Gambert recommends indie coming-of-age comedy “Ethan Bloom.” The film follows 13-year-old Ethan, who secretly decides he wants to convert to Catholicism while preparing for his bar mitzvah and navigating the loss of his mother.
For adults, she recommends “The Polish Women” as a “must-see” film at the festival this year. The 2023 Brazilian drama is set in 1917 Rio de Janeiro and centers on Rebecca, a Jewish immigrant fleeing famine and war in Poland to reunite with her husband and start a new life. However, upon arriving in Brazil, Rebecca discovers that her husband has died and ends up in a human trafficking network.
“It’s a very excellent film and something a bit different than we normally show,” Gambert said.