Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival: Fliers, food, fortitude

Love of literature. Lust for food. The history of the Israeli Air Force.

These are just some of the themes that will come together in the 34th annual Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, which will screen 16 feature films and seven shorts at area venues, including the Gershman Y and the National Museum of American Jewish History, from Saturday through Nov. 16.

This year, there is a notable profusion of "personal stories about individuals who are searching for their roots," said festival director Olivia Antsis. "I think what ties them together is that so many of the films are about the theme of identity."

A sample of motifs and films:

Anywhere Else. Israeli writer-director Ester Amrami's feature debut explores the intimate connection between language and identity. It stars Neta Riskin as a student from Tel Aviv who is in Berlin to work on her master's thesis about a dictionary of untranslatable words.

Hanna's Journey. Adapted from the Theresa Bäuerlein novel, the Julia von Heinz drama is about a German student (Karoline Schuch) who spends her summer volunteering in Israel with disabled youths. She is first incensed, then fascinated when a handsome Israeli social worker (Doron Amit) flirts with her by mocking all things German.

Run Boy Run. In German director Pepe Danquart's harrowing true-life drama, an 8-year-old boy (Kamil Tkacz) manages to escape the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 and live by his own wits in the Polish countryside.

Screenwriter Heinrich Hadding, who will speak at the screening, said Run Boy Run is part of a wave of films about World War II by a new generation of German filmmakers born decades after the war ended. "I think the amount of guilt involved [for Germans] is so great that you need a couple of generations to get a clearer view . . . of that history," he said.

Hadding, 42, said younger Germans have a different relationship to WWII films. "You'd be amazed at how Germans my age love American WWII films [such as] Saving Private Ryan. And when we watch them, we identify with the good guys, the Americans."

Joachim Prinz: I Shall Not Be Silent. A rabbi, celebrated orator, and author, Prinz openly criticized the Nazis early in their reign. Kicked out of the country in 1937, Prinz settled in Newark, N.J. Codirected by Mount Airy's Rachel Eskin Fisher, the docu focuses on Prinz's role in the civil rights movement.

"When we researched [Prinz's life]," Fisher said, "we realized what a significant role he had played in the movement spearheaded by Martin Luther King Jr.," including the planning of the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington.

Regarding Susan Sontag. A literary critic, philosopher, activist, filmmaker, and best-selling novelist, Sontag (1933-2004) is profiled in this docu by accomplished indie filmmaker Nancy Kates (Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin).

Etgar Keret: What Animal Are You? Gur Bentwich examines the life and work of Israeli author Etgar Keret, known around the world for his short stories - including "Kneller's Happy Campers," adapted for film in 2006 under the title Wristcutters: A Love Story - as well as his graphic novels and film scripts.

Keret will read from his work after the screening.

What Do We Have in Our Pockets? A series of four short films based on Keret's stories will screen a day after the docu.

The Sturgeon Queens. Eat lox and herring at a luncheon before watching this docu about the Russ family, which founded the famous New York lox and herring emporium Russ & Daughters 100 years ago.

"We have a Yiddish mantra in my family," said Mark Russ Federman, third-generation Russ eatery owner-manager. "From where do we take our living . . . meaning how do we survive."

Federman recently retired after 32 years at the helm. "We all have this existential responsibility to keep the store open," he said. "It's in the blood. Now my daughter and my nephew run it."

Famous Nathan. Lloyd Handwerker, grandson of the famed "Famous Nathan" who founded Nathan's Famous Frankfurters nearly 100 ago, looks at the history of the New York eatery and the millions who have noshed there.

Above and Beyond. How do you create a national air force from scratch - especially with an arms embargo on your country? That's the situation the fledgling nation of Israel faced in 1947 and 1948 as it tried to shore up its defenses against an all-out assault by several Arab armies. That's also the question addressed by this fascinating docu directed by Roberta Grossman.

Producer Nancy Spielberg said she pounced on the idea in 2011 when she read Al Schwimmer's obituary. "He was an American, a TWA engineer who was involved in a crazy clandestine operation to smuggle airplanes to Israel and recruit pilots," she said.

"I don't listen to advice from my brother often" - her brother being filmmaker Steven Spielberg - "but I remember listening to him talk about how visual testimonial is critical for a good documentary."

So the filmmakers interviewed every person they could track down who had been associated with Schwimmer's secret, exclusive group - including Israeli president Shimon Peres.

"Stories about clandestine operations and the spy world," Spielberg said, "don't get crazier than this one."

215-854-2736

The 34th Annual Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival

Saturday through Nov. 16 at various locations in Center City, University City, Jenkintown, and Bryn Mawr. Information: 215-545-4400 or http://pjff.org