Thank you for your interest in our 2025 Festival, which is a major activity and fundraiser for our Congregation. We appreciate your support and welcome your Sponsorship. Choose a level of support for complimentary film tickets and VIP receptions. Become a Sponsor Today!
Add your name or organization to the List of Festival Sponsors!
Please note: Each of the 7 Film Festival events requires a separate registration. The registration process allows you to order as many tickets for each film event as you wish.
If you have any issues signing up, please call the office at 831-624-2015 for assistance or email ShalomCBI@carmelbethisrael.org
Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door.
Sunday, November 2, 3:00 PM at Golden Bough Playhouse: NO NAME RESTAURANT
2:30pm Seating. 3:00-5:00pm Film
Followed by an Opt-In Dinner at Flaherty’s Restaurant in Carmel
In this spirited and absurdist culture-clash comedy, two men of different strict religious faiths - a lost and befuddled ultra-Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn and a dyspeptic but helpful Bedouin man - must work together to survive in the Sinai Desert. The lost and befuddled Ben missed his flight to Alexandria, where he is to help the ever-dwindling Jewish community in need of a 10th man for its Passover celebration. Adel, a Bedouin man driving a Renault 4, is trying to track down his runaway camel. After Adel’s car breaks down, the men travel on foot, giving their plans a chance to go increasingly haywire.
Comedy, 2 hours, Hebrew, Arabic, and English with English subtitles
PURCHASE TICKETS and find more information about dinner!
Thursday, November 6, 6:30 PM at CBI: THE OTHER
6:30 pm Light Snacks. 7:00pm Film
An award-winning documentary exploring the complex relationship of shared humanity, culture, and connection between Israelis & Palestinians - and the transformative journey that follows when they are faced with meeting ‘the other’. Filmed amidst the difficulty of the conflict and occupation. A profound work of art about people committed to peace in a land and life and circumstance where they are not the norm. The Other offers an extraordinary example of what we are all capable of as humans.
Documentary, 1:50
Saturday, November 8, 7:00 PM at Lighthouse Cinema: AIN'T NO BACK TO A MERRY GO ROUND
Join Us at the Newly Renovated Lighthouse Cinema
7:00pm
525 Lighthouse Ave, Pacific Grove
Five Howard students sat down on the gilded horses of a whites-only carousel at Glen Echo Amusement Park (MD) in1960. The white community nearby, mostly middle age
and mostly Jewish, joined the Black students en masse and set up picket lines--an unprecedented collaboration was born. Then the American Nazi party showed up.
Picketing together led to partying together. Union organizers mentored student activists, ultimately producing ten 1961 Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael, and a Supreme Court case. With never-before seen footage, and immersive storytelling by Emmy-award winning director Ilana Trachtman, four living protesters rescue this untold story, revealing the price, and the power, of heeding the impulse to activism.
Documentary 1:30
Website: https://www.aintnoback.com/
Sunday, November 9, 1:00 PM at Monterey Museum of Art: THE PLUNDERER: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A NAZI ART THIEF
Special Event at Monterey Museum of Art/La Mirada (720 Via Mirada, Monterey)
1 PM - VIP reception & art book sale ($10/bag; $20/box)
2 PM - film screening
4–5 PM - post-film discussion
Tickets: $50 includes film & VIP reception; limited seating. Priority given to CJFF sponsors.
About the film:
The riveting story of a Nazi art thief, looted masterpieces, and the struggle for restitution. The documentary exposes stolen heritage and the fight for justice.
Notes:
Post-film Discussion led by Corey Madden, Executive Director, MMA. Historian Jonathan Petropoulos who investigated the life of Bruno Lohse and his role in the Nazi looting operation, will join our event.
Documentary, 1:18
Thursday, November 13, 6:30 PM at SandBox: AN EVENING OF SHORTS
SandBox: https://sandboxsandcity.com
440 Ortiz Ave, Sand City
6:30pm Doors Open & Light Snacks; 7:00pm Films
"Iron Ladies" Documentary 51 minutes
This film by Irish director Aoife Kelleher tells the true story of "The 35s," a network of British and Irish Jewish women who organized daring protests and clandestine missions
during the Cold War to support persecuted Soviet "Refusenik" Jews seeking to emigrate to Israel. The film features interviews, archival footage, and insights from former Refuseniks and the former head of Nativ, an Israeli agency that supported the activists. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suy4XNah5Aw
"Paddling for Life" Documentary 18 mins. About the Pink Lionesses in Israel, a unique women sports group whose common goal is to recover and recuperate from breast
cancer. They paddle in Dragon Boats, on the Sea of Galilee and the Yarkon River, Israel. These women choose action, caring, and camaraderie despite their personal difficulties. Website: https://www.7thart.com/films/paddling-for-life/
"Fiddler on the Moon” Documentary 30 minutes
Fiddler answers the question that has plagued scientists, theologians and comedians for millennia: Will Judaism survive in space? Starring Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronauts
Jeffrey Hoffman and Jessica Meir and a quorum of rabbis and researchers.
Trailer: https://www.ironboundfilms.com/fiddleronthemoon
Website: https://www.ironboundfilms.com/fiddleronthemoon
Saturday, November 15, 7:00 PM in Partnership with the Center for Spiritual Awakening: SABBATH QUEEN
522 Central Avenue, Pacific Grove (diagonally opposite PG’s Museum of Natural
History)
6:30pm Light Snacks, 7:00pm Film, 8:30pm Post-Film Discussion
About the film
Filmed over 21 years, Sabbath Queen follows Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, heir to 38 rabbinic generations, who reinvents Jewish ritual as a drag queen, queer father, and founder of Lab/Shul. The film challenges tradition while redefining spirituality and inclusion for a new century.
Special Guest Speaker
Rabbi Eli Cohen, spiritual leader of Chadeish Yameinu, the Jewish Renewal Community of Santa Cruz, will join this screening for a post-film discussion.
Rabbi Cohen grew up in a Conservative Jewish home infused with Yiddish language and culture, attended a Jewish day school, and has always been actively involved in synagogue life. He came out at age 20 and became active in the gay rights movement. He is married to Akiva, who was born and raised in Europe, with family roots in West Africa.
Rabbi Cohen holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from SUNY Binghamton and a Juris Doctor from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He received smicha (ordination) in January 2005 from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and the Aleph Rabbinic Program in Boulder, Colo. In the lineage of his teachers, he brings a strong commitment to bridging religious and progressive values, and to carrying the depth and joy of Jewish spirituality and practice into the emerging paradigm.
Documentary: 1:45
Trailer: https://www.sabbathqueen.com
Website: https://www.sabbathqueen.com
Sunday, November 16, 2:00 PM at CBI: SWEDISHKAYT: YIDLIFE CRISIS IN STOCKHOLM
Canadian comedy duo Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman bravely step onto Swedish soil to unearth a hidden treasure trove of Jewish culture. Our heroes, like gefilte fish out of water, prepare for a big live show while unraveling the little-known history of Sweden’s Jewish community in their hilarious and heartfelt journey. Through meshugenah encounters and eye-opening revelations, they explore tales spanning 250 years, from the earliest Jewish immigrants to discovering how Yiddish, an almost forgotten language, became a protected government-recognized language in Sweden—yes, THAT Sweden! Along the way, they dive into a cultural revival that’s as unexpected as it is joyous.
Comedy 1:17
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