WASHINGTON — He was born in Baltimore and studied at American University before directing “Diner” (1982), “The Natural” (1984), “Good Morning Vietnam” (1987) and “Rain Man” (1988), which won him an Oscar for Best Director.
This week, Barry Levinson headlines the 27th annual Washington Jewish Film Festival (May 17-28), bringing important films and insightful Q&As to the AFI Silver Theatre, Bethesda Row Cinema, E Street Cinema, National Gallery of Art and Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater at the Edlavitch DCJCC.
“If you’re a cinephile at all, if you’re interested in films that have been at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlin or Cannes, this is often your only chance — almost certainly your first chance — to see them in D.C.,” festival director Ilya Tovbis told WTOP. “It’s a rare and amazing opportunity to meet the filmmakers and artists behind [these movies], ask them some questions at the Q&As and participate in panels.”
Tovbis says he’s seen the festival grow considerably during his five-year tenure.
“We’ve grown nearly threefold over the last five years,” Tovbis said. “We consider nearly 1,200 films to whittle it down to 60 full-length [features] and 18 shorts. It absolutely runs the gamut. That’s what we want to do. We want to show the full diversity of the Jewish vision on screen and of independent cinema at its best. … It’s a great celebration of Jewish culture and it’s a great celebration of cinema.”
The festival kicks off Wednesday with the Israeli hit comedy “The Women’s Balcony” (2016), about women speaking truth to patriarchal power in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem.
“It’s the [Israeli] box office hit of the year,” Tovbis said. “It’s a light, warmhearted look [at] an accident in a balcony where women sit in a synagogue. [Then] it becomes this tear-pull-tug between genders, but [also] between modernity and conformity and to what degree you can be progressive within a religious context, which is an open question for both the Jewish experience and more broadly.”
Day Two on Thursday brings Levinson’s Visionary Award, presented with a screening of “Liberty Heights” (1999) at 7:15 p.m. at the AFI Silver. The film marks the final chapter of his semi-autobiographical “Baltimore Quartet” of “Diner” (1982), “Tin Men” (1987) and “Avalon” (1990).
“We’re thrilled to have him,” Tovbis said. “He’ll be doing an extensive Q&A about his career and his contribution to Jewish cinema. [‘Liberty Heights’] ties in perfectly because it has all these elements that we’re dealing with to this day. On the one hand, it’s important to look back at history, understand where we came from and, generationally, how assimilation has affected [immigrants]. Then, when you go beyond to look at our current moment with an increasing pace of divisive politics, understanding our identity [is] key not just for Jews but for anyone who considers themselves a proud American.”
Saturday brings the spotlight film “The History of Love” (2016), based on Nicole Krauss’ best-selling novel about an ardor facing merciless twists of fate, with an encore showing May 28.
“This one has quite the cast, with Elliott Gould leading the way,” Tovbis said. “This is an epic saga that takes place all around the world [over] decades of time and sort of captures the degree to which our history affects our present and [affects] not just a personal life — Elliott Gould plays an older man — but really the entire history of European Jews, European immigrants and what they’ve left behind.”
Sunday brings the Sundance gem “Menashe” (2017), set in New York’s Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community where a grocery store clerk struggles to provide for his son after his wife’s death. Filmmaker Joshua Z. Weinstein will appear for a Q&A at 7:45 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre.
“The filmmaker is coming and also the subject of the film, so we’re thrilled about that and we want to thank [distributor] A24,” Tovbis said. “The film deals with bereavement [and] a father’s attempt to shepherd his child in an Orthodox community in Brooklyn, to care for his child away from his mother.”
Sunday also brings a special 45th anniversary presentation of “Cabaret” (1972), starring Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey in a musical warning against Nazi Germany. The musical won eight Oscars, including Best Director for Bob Fosse, who upset Francis Ford Coppola for “The Godfather” (1972). If you miss the screening the first night, don’t worry: There’s an encore screening on Saturday, May 27.
“It’s one of my favorites,” Tovbis said. “Liza Minnelli doing an incredible turn, great singing, good story and, again, lots and lots of themes that are relevant to this day. … This ties into one of our series, ‘The Mechanism of Extremism,’ where you see in retrospect … these markers of oppressive societies. On the one hand, there’s lots of song and dance, but there’s [also] lots of portent about what’s to come.”
During the festival’s second week, check out the documentary “On the Map” (2016), chronicling the 1977 Maccabee Tel-Aviv basketball team, which upset the four-time defending European champion Soviet squad. Filmmaker Dani Menken will attend a pair of Q&As, first on Tuesday, May 23 at 7:15 p.m. at the EDCJCC, and again on Wednesday, May 24 at 6:15 p.m. at the Bethesda Row Cinema.
“This one’s an incredible pulled-from-real-life story,” Tovbis said. “On the one hand, the story should be attractive to any sports buff — and it’s important to note the key player, Tal Brody, is an American that decided to move to Israel rather than make his fortune in the NBA. … But if you dig down deeper, it has so much to do with the politics of the country in a moment where, between wars, there was an injury to the pride of Israelis, and this story really brings forth the heroism present in that country.”
Wednesday, May 24 brings the spotlight film “The Bloom of Yesterday” (2016), about the grandson of a Nazi war criminal who’s struggling with his family history. An encore showing arrives on May 27.
“The film takes a fanciful turn — or several — and is sort of a dark comedy centered on the Holocaust,” Tovbis said. “While there have been a few comedies famously made about the Holocaust, it’s still a pretty touchy subject, and I think this one definitely handles the subject matter [appropriately].”
On Thursday, May 25, get ready to party with “As If, A Clueless Night,” featuring a retro screening of “Clueless” (1995) and Q&A with director Amy Heckerling amid ’90s games, drinks and a photo booth.
“People might not remember, but it centers on Cher Horowitz, who is, of course, Jewish,” Tovbis said. “This is very much an assimilation tale, also loosely based on ‘Emma,’ so it has a lot of threads to pull. Amy Heckerling herself has an amazing Jewish background. She knows Yiddish fluently. She grew up the daughter of Holocaust survivors in a building of Holocaust survivors. She’s talked before about how some of the sensibility … winds its way into her films, so that’s something we’re eager to unpack.”
Saturday, May 27 brings a second Visionary Award salute to Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, who’ll screen her Oscar-nominated film “Angry Harvest” (1985) at 7 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre.
“We’re thrilled to have her,” Tovbis said. “She is a major force of European cinema. … She’s an incredible woman. She makes these moral tales and discusses the murkiness of the human condition, which might sound highfalutin and broad, but really, it’s what makes us warts-and-all human beings. She does an incredible job discussing that. On U.S. screens, people might be most familiar with her work with David Simon. She’s actually directed more episodes of ‘The Wire’ than any other director.”
It all builds to closing night on Sunday, May 28 with a screening of “Fanny’s Journey” (2016), about a resilient 12-year-old girl who leads a group of eight children across occupied France in 1943.
“This is completely based on a true story,” Tovbis said. “A little girl is forced not just to fend for herself — as many kids were during the Holocaust — but finds herself in charge of this small brigade of kids as they’re running through the countryside, running away from the Nazis. It shows the resourcefulness that kids have, but also shows the absolutely horrible circumstance that war forces our children into.”
Click here for the full slate. Listen to our full conversation with festival director Ilya Tovbis below:
