Jewish Delis: Something to Kvell About!

Philoxenia

March 2021 •English

Philoxenia is a short documentary highlighting the synergy between the Greek notion of philoxenia ("friend of the stranger") and Southern hospitality, as expressed through Birmingham, Alabama's Greek-owned restaurants. The film features six local favorite restaurants, two historians and, of course, a lot of mouthwatering dishes.

The Automat

September 2021 •English

The 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, the inspiration for Starbucks, where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. From the perspective of former customers, we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America.

À nos terres : Autonomia paisana

March 2024 •French

Eight Nights

December 2020 •English

After years as a struggling actor, Daniel was cast to play a part in Conan O'Brien's "human-centipede-menorah." His bizarre experience evolved from one of shame into a deepening connection with his personal heritage, a reckoning with the choices he'd made, and ultimately a desire to tell the story of EIGHT NIGHTS. This is a film about our deep connection to the people we love. At a time when we couldn’t see some of those whom we love most, the making of this film felt even more poignant.

Soul Food Junkies

January 2012 •English

To many African Americans, soul food is sacrament, ritual, and a key expression of cultural identity. But does this traditional cuisine do more harm to health than it soothes the soul?

The Pizza City You've Never Heard Of

August 2021 •English

Disturbed that his hometown is typically overlooked on lists of the top pizza cities in the world, George Kalivas sets out on a road-trip exploring Windsor's most well-established pizza places. He's on a mission talking with suppliers, pizza joint owners and pizza enthusiasts about the essential characteristics that define and distinguish a true Windsor pie.

Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food

June 2023 •English

Through revealing interviews with experts and victims' families, this gripping documentary examines the problem of deadly foodborne illness in the US.

Belmondo, l'Italie en héritage

May 2024 •French

The Cantor's Last Cantata

January 2021 •English

Documentary about the final performance of the "Brooklyn Baseball Cantata" led by Cantor Suzanne Bernstein in a small local reform synagogue.

Absolutely No Spitting

January 2021 •English

Documentarian Judith Helfand adopts z daughter at the age of 50.

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas

November 2017 •English

An offbeat, irreverent musical documentary that tells the story of a group of Jewish songwriters, including Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks, who wrote the soundtrack to Christianity’s most musical holiday. It’s an amazing tale of immigrant outsiders who became irreplaceable players in pop culture’s mainstream – a generation of songwriters who found in Christmas the perfect holiday in which to imagine a better world, and for at least one day a year, make us believe.

Commie Camp

August 2013 •English

The history of Camp Kinderland, founded in the 1920s to provide Jewish children an escape from the hot New York City summers.

Outremont et les Hassidim

April 2019 •English

OUTREMONT AND THE HASIDIM reveals the challenges of accommodating the “Hasidim” – or ultra-Orthodox Jews – in the affluent Montréal borough of Outremont.​Some 7,000 Hasidim live in or near this choice neighbourhood of Québec’s Francophone elite. After settling there more than 70 years ago, the Hasidim are a rapidly growing minority group which today represents about 23% of Outremont’s population.​Thanks to unprecedented access to this self-isolated community, the film lifts the veil on its practices, traditions, music and life as they had never before been seen on Canadian television, without ignoring the community’s expectations, fears. and hopes.

Zorro’s Bar Mitzvah

March 2006 •German

Four 12-year-olds—Sharon, Tom, Moishy, and Sophie—prepare for their bar or bat mitzvot.

Warsaw: A City Divided

May 2019 •Polish

The history of the Warsaw Ghetto (1940-43) as seen from both sides of the wall, its legacy and its memory: new light on a tragic era of division, destruction and mass murder thanks to the testimony of survivors and the discovery of a ten-minute film shot by Polish amateur filmmaker Alfons Ziółkowski in 1941.

The Paper Brigade

March 2018 •French

Lithuania, 1941, during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of texts on Jewish culture, stolen by the Germans, are gathered in Vilnius to be classified, either to be stored or to be destroyed. A group of Jewish scholars and writers, commissioned by the invaders to carry out the sorting operations, but reluctant to collaborate and determined to save their legacy, hide many books in the ghetto where they are confined. This is the epic story of the Paper Brigade.

People of the Graphic Novel

July 2012 •English

"People of the Graphic Novel" is a playful introduction to the history of an art form: from the first "funny pages" to seminal artists including Will Eisner and Art Spiegelman.

A Seat at the Table

Invalid date •English

Food, health, and nutrition divide two sides of town in Gainesville, Florida - how the movement to bring Black culture, history, and knowledge back to the table is healing the community.

When Comedy Went to School

July 2013 •English

The birth of modern stand-up comedy began in the Catskill Mountains - a boot camp for the greatest generation of Jewish-American Comedians.

The Perfect Meal

September 2023 •Greek

A food-loving and scientific tribute to the Mediterranean diet and, not least, the liquid gold: olive oil.