Victoria International Jewish Film Festival

Captivating Cultural  Cinema
Movies, Music, Nosh, & More! 
Vic Theatre, 808 Douglas Street
October 17-22, 2023

more info!

9th Annual VIJFF

The 2023 VIJFF will be held at the Vic Theatre and online from October 17th to 22nd.  Each Film Event—all free of charge—will be a special cinema experience with live music and nosh!

Community engaging events include a Sunday afternoon Family Program and a 60-Second Short Film Competition.

Early Sunday evening, at the Bengal Room at the Empress Hotel, the VIJFF will hold its Closing Reception—for festival attendees ($10/ticket) and donors to the VIJFF of $150+ (complimentary).

VIJFF Program

graphic of star of david

AMERICA

Watch The Trailer
Date: Tuesday, October 17
Doors/Music: 6:30pm
Film: 7:15pm
Music: Georgiy Matviyiv, bandura
Nosh: Black Forest Parfait from La Roux Patisserie

America, a poignant German-Israeli co-production in which the lives of three people intersect with sudden brief intensity.

Exodus 91

Watch The Trailer
Date: Wednesday, October 18
Doors/Music: 6:30pm
Film: 7:15pm
Music: Dana Sipos Trio
Nosh: Cardamom Knot from Fry’s Bakery

Exodus 91 examines Operation Solomon, the airlift of 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel using historical footage, interviews, and reimaginations.

A kaddish movie

March ’68

Watch The Trailer
Date: Thursday, October 19
Doors/Music: 6:30pm
Film: 7:15pm
Music: Jazz with Elliot Freedman (baritone guitar), Nick Apivor (vibraphone), and Ryan Oliver (sax & flute)
Nosh: Polish-style Paczki Donut from Yonni’s Doughnuts

Inspired by a moment in time that shaped the social consciousness of Polish director Krzysztof Lang, the film depicts the momentous collision of history and romance.

Where life begins

Watch The Trailer
Date: Saturday, October 21
Doors/Music: 7:15pm
Film: 8:00pm
Music: Cascadia Strings, violin & cello duo
Nosh: Italian Cookie Duo from The Italian Bakery

The relationship between and the learnings of two lost souls, the French daughter of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi and the Calabrian farmer who hosts the family’s citron picking.

Matchmaking

Watch The Trailer
Date: Sunday, October 22
Doors/Music: 2:30pm
Film: 3:00pm
Music: Avram McCagherty Trio
Nosh: Chocolate Babka from Mensch Catering

An amusing romantic comedy with an ultra-Orthodox twist on tolerance and love to the Romeo and Juliet tale.

sHTTL 

Watch The Trailer
Start Date: Tuesday, October 17
End Date: Sunday, October 22

The story of the inhabitants of a Yiddish-speaking Ukrainian village on the border with Poland, 24 hours before the Nazi invasion, portraying conflict between the secular and modern and the religious and traditional.

silent

Watch The Trailer
Start Date: Tuesday, October 17
End Date: Sunday, October 22

A film about a controversial TV host back from suspension in the height of the Israeli, prime ministerial election campaign, caught in the whirlwind of silence, and on a path to his own reckoning.

Egypt A love song

Watch The Trailer
Start Date: Tuesday, October 17
End Date: Sunday, October 22

Director Iris Zaki embarks on a journey with her father, exploring the story of her legendary, Egyptian singer grandmother Souad Zaki, and brings her story to life in a project that crosses cultures, religions and cinematic form.

Songs for a lost pod

Watch The Trailer
Start Date: Tuesday, October 17
End Date: Sunday, October 22

This film uses music, storytelling, and shadow puppetry to juxtapose cetacean histories with one Jewish family’s experience of surviving the Holocaust.

Special Events

Matinee screening

FArewell Mr. Haffmann

Watch The Trailer
Venue: Vic Theatre, 808 Douglas Street
Date: Friday, October 20
Doors: 1:30pm
Film: 2:00pm

Farewell Mr. Haffmann, with moral twists and turns set in 1941 Nazi-occupied Paris, is a deftly crafted tale of complex contradictions at the edge of the Holocaust.

Family Event

The TaTtooed Torah

Venue: Vic Theatre, 808 Douglas Street
Date: Sunday, October 22
Doors: 1:00pm
Music: Avram McCagherty
Nosh: Popcorn & Juice Box

Families will enjoy a short, animated film (The Tattooed Torah, the true story, narrated by actor Ed Asner, of the discovery and restoration of a small Torah in Brno), with storyteller Shoshana Litman, and with a musical program by Avram McCagherty.

Closing Reception

VIJFF Film Goer Mixer

Venue: Bengal Room, Empress Hotel
Date: Sunday, October 22
Doors: 4:30pm

Mingle and nosh with fellow VIJFF supporters! Re-connect with community! Talk amongst yourselves—about VIJFF-screened films, upcoming JCCV events, and any & all things Jewish and/or adjacent. Passed canapés, cash bar, and casual conversation! ($10/ticket).

Principles

01

INTER-CULTURAL CONNECTIONS
To build connections among cultures and communities through the universality of cinema, by presenting films featuring Jewish and Jewish-adjacent themes that are less broadly available.

02

DIVERSITY AND ITS INTERSECTIONS
To broaden awareness of cultural diversity and its intersections with Jewish culture, by programming films that transcend particular people, places, and politics by conveying universal themes, shared values, and common ground.

03

CINEMA AESTHETICS
To enhance an appreciation of film artistry and cinematic communication, by celebrating films, their creators, and their diversity of genres and viewpoints on complex subject matter.
Thanks!
victoria foundation logo
jewish federation logo
city of victoria logo
CRD logo
decter & poole logo
decter & poole logo
jcc victoria logo
vic theatre logo
israel consulate general logo
decter & poole logo
decter & poole logo
jcc victoria logo
vic theatre logo
israel consulate general logo
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Donate to the VIJFF!

Donations support the VIJFF beyond the few grants it receives. Donors of $36 or more receive a charitable tax receipt. VIJFF movie lovers our, super-appreciated donors of $150 or more, receive VIP access to films and to food, folks, and fun at at the Sunday Closing Reception–‘Film Goer Mixer’.

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