The Sonoma County JCC will screen three Israeli films in March at the Rialto Cinemas in Sebastopol for its inaugural spring Israeli Film Festival.
The JCC has long held a Jewish Film Festival — last fall marked its 20th season. But every year festival organizers found themselves excluding high-quality Israeli films in order to make room for films from different parts of the world, according to Ellen Blustein, the JCC’s executive director and director of the film festival.
So as a test this year, the Israeli Film Festival will screen films on three consecutive Tuesday evenings, starting on March 8 with “The Ballad of the Weeping Spring,” a 2013 release described as a Middle Eastern spaghetti Western. The other films are “Is That You?” an English-language film about an Israeli man who searches for a long-lost love in a car trip across the U.S. after losing his job (March 15) and “Partner with the Enemy,” about a Palestinian and Israeli who go into business together (March 22). All shows are at 7:30 p.m.
Blustein said that the spring festival may return next year if it’s a success, but the JCC could experiment with other themes beyond Israeli films, such as a food-themed film festival.
“It’s kind of like throwing the spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks,” she said.
Rialto Cinemas is located at 6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol. Tickets are $12; visit www.jccsoco.org/filmfestival/israeli-film-fest-2016. — drew himmelstein