Organizers of the Saint John Jewish Film Festival are preparing for their eighth annual event next week.
A total of five films will be shown during the five-day festival, which is run by the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum.
Katherine Biggs-Craft, the museum’s executive director and curator, said they had been planning a hybrid in-person/virtual event, but COVID-19 changed their plans.
“We’ve moved the entire event onto a virtual format so that each person who has indicated an interest in attending will be doing this from the comfort of their home,” Biggs-Craft said in an interview.
It is the second year in a row that the event has gone all virtual. Biggs-Craft said most of the participants they surveyed after last year’s festival said they liked the virtual format.
Having the event held virtually instead of in-person offers some benefits, such as allowing the festival to reach beyond Greater Saint John, she said.
“We have to be careful that we don’t infringe on anyone else’s Jewish film festival, but we have people from Greater Saint John, we have some people from Moncton, I think we have somebody from Fredericton, so we’ve reached beyond our boundaries a little bit,” said Biggs-Craft.
Participants also have up to 24 hours to watch each movie, which will be released at 7 p.m. nightly.
- Sunday, Oct. 17: Plan A (thriller)
- Monday, Oct. 18: Kiss Me Kosher (romantic comedy)
- Tuesday, Oct. 19: Ben Gurion, Epilogue (documentary)
- Wednesday, Oct. 20: Thou Shalt Not Hate (drama)
- Thursday, Oct. 21: Three Mothers (drama)
“These are films that you’re not going to see otherwise. These are not going to turn up at the Cineplex or even at the Imperial [Theatre] on their movie nights,” said Biggs-Craft. “It’s a good opportunity to see some good Jewish-themed films.”
Tickets are $10 or $40 for all five movies, with the proceeds going to support the museum’s work to preserve Saint John’s Jewish history.
Payments can be accepted by cash, cheque or credit card. You can drop by 91 Leinster Street, phone 506-633-1833, or email sjjhm@nbnet.nb.ca.