JFilm Fest will feature 20 movies and a concert with director/pianist
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Young circus performers from St. Louis and Israel set up on a pier in Tel Aviv in "Circus Kids," part of this year's JFilm festival. Admission to the film is free, thanks to underwriting from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
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A documentary celebrating the resilience of a concert pianist who survived seven years in Soviet prison camps in the 1940s and later overcame muscle atrophy and aches to play once more will be part of the 19th annual JFilm festival.
Director-producer Lincoln Mayorga, also a concert pianist, will speak and perform after the Pittsburgh premiere of "A Suitcase Full of Chocolate."
He tells the story of Latvian-born Sofia Cosma, who battled imprisonment, hunger, cold and hardship before eventually defecting from Romania to the United States in 1981. Her musical gifts and passions endured as she became a respected pianist and teacher before her death a year ago at age 96.
The documentary will be shown at 7 p.m. March 29 at the University of Pittsburgh's Frick Fine Arts Building. A long list of sponsors will grant free entry to Pitt students and faculty, with admission for others $10 each.
All tickets are free for "Circus Kids," a documentary about a spirited youth circus troupe from St. Louis that heads to Pittsburgh's sister city of Karmiel/Misgav in Israel to work with young Israelis and Arabs in the Galilee Circus. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is underwriting "Circus Kids" in honor of its centennial.
The movie, in Hebrew, Arabic and English with subtitles, will play at 1:30 p.m. April 1 at the SouthSide Works Cinema. Seating is limited, with reservations available through www.JFilmPgh.org or 412-992-5203.
The annual event formerly known as the Pittsburgh Jewish Israeli Film Festival will showcase 20 films, almost all Pittsburgh premieres. It will open at the SouthSide Works Cinema at 7 p.m. March 15 with "Prima Primavera," a road-trip movie about a middle-age man with the naivete of a child and a prostitute who go on the run after a botched robbery.
A dessert reception (dietary laws observed) will follow with Dennis Kurzawski on clarinet and Douglas Levine on keyboard.
Tickets for the opening night film and reception are $36 or $18, if 18 years old or younger, if purchased by noon March 7. After that date, admission will be $50.
Most other films: $9, general admission; $8 for those 65 and older or full-time college students with valid IDs; $7 for groups of 12 or more, purchased in advance; and $5 for 18 and younger.
The SouthSide Works Cinema will be the main home of the festival, but movies also will screen at the Galleria in Mt. Lebanon, Carnegie Mellon University's McConomy Auditorium, Cranberry Cinemas, Seton Hill University in Greensburg and Pitt's Frick Fine Arts Building.
First Published February 16, 2012 12:00 am
