Summer Jewish Film Festival: The Catskills

Falmouth Jewish Congregation’s 2024 Summer Jewish Film Festival returns and opens on Tuesday, July 9 at 7:30pm. The festival is open to everyone and brings to Cape Cod the best of Jewish films from the festival circuit, culling award-winners in both drama and documentary categories for a varied selection of entertaining and thought-provoking films.

The 2024 season will offer a single screening of each film at 7:30pm on five Tuesday evenings, from July 9 to August 6. Doors open at 7:00pm. Tickets ($13 for FJC members / $16 for general admission) and a discounted season pass ($60 FJC members / $75 general admission) are exclusively available in advance online and screenings include free popcorn and refreshments.

Following each film, Pamela Rothstein, festival director and Falmouth Jewish Congregation’s Director of Lifelong Learning, leads a discussion for those wishing to stay and exchange impressions. Films have a unique ability to open windows onto the world, providing entry into stories and perspectives that can change our own outlook in just a brief time. Join us for viewing and conversation.

Prepare yourself for an entertaining trip back in time with the festival opener, The Catskills. Director Lex Gillespie’s feature-length and high-spirited documentary chronicles the rise and fall of the Borscht Belt. With a trove of lost-and-found archival footage and a cast of characters endowed with the gift of gab, The Catskills journeys into the storied mountain getaway that served as refuge for Jewish immigrants fleeing poverty as well as a lavish playground for affluent Jewish families. The Catskills is a humorous and nostalgic tribute that keeps the stories coming and offers fresh insight into the socio-historical meaning of the time and place.

Through the lens of stand-up comedians delivering their finest routines and the reminiscences of former waiters, entertainers, and dance instructors, the film captures the essence of the family-run resorts and bungalows that served as the inspiration for iconic films like Dirty Dancing. By piecing together personal anecdotes, home videos, promotional images, postcards, and menus, this cinematic time capsule offers a comprehensive overview of Jewish immigration to New York. It’s a fascinating and joy-filled film that addresses the meaning of The Catskills for people from all backgrounds: working-class Jews seeking a respite from poverty in overcrowded New York City tenements, the affluent seeking a lavish summer playground, workers, entertainers and diverse guests, including politicians, athletes and Holocaust survivors, all of whom found refuge in the mountains. Perhaps most importantly, “the Sour Cream Sierras” became a place of resistance against antisemitic exclusion and a flourishing haven for Yiddishkeit.

We invite you to bring your own Catskills stories to share in the discussion following the screening.

Festival screenings include:

July 16: Seven Blessings (Israeli Drama); July 23 Less Than Kosher (Musical Drama); July 30: Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella (Documentary); August 6: Victory (Israeli Musical Drama).

All screenings are open to the public and take place in the congregation’s Blanche & Joel D. Seifer Community Center at 7 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth. Everyone is welcome and facilities and parking are accessible to all.

For further information about the film festival or this welcoming, Reform Jewish congregation, please visit www.falmouthjewish.org, like us on Facebook or call 508-540-0602.