The Winnipeg International Jewish Film Festival returns May 6 to May 23 with unforgettable stories on the big screen.

For 25 years, this festival has been about more than just films. It is about sitting together. It’s about laughing together. It’s about reflecting together. 

And it’s about experiencing stories that stay with you long after the credits roll.

This year’s lineup is filled with powerful documentaries, heartfelt dramas, and feel good comedies from around the world, along with special events that make every visit to the theatre something more.

All tickets must be purchased through the Rady JCC Digital Store by clicking here.

Writer-director Matthew Shear stars as Sam, an anxious law school dropout who stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist’s three granddaughters, and falls for the girls’ mother, Dianne, a once-promising actress in a rocky marriage. 

Sam agrees to babysit for the summer on Martha’s Vineyard, and he ends up in a house with the woman he pines for, her husband, the three kids, and all four grandparents, including his psychiatrist. 

In his directorial debut, Shear gives us a film that is both lighthearted and deeply real. An outstanding ensemble cast also includes Judd Hirsh, Amanda Peet, Bob Balaban, Jessica Harper, Holland Taylor, and Zosia Mamet.

Directors Matti Harari and Arik Lubetzki (Apples from the Desert) transform the beloved tales of Israeli writer Menahem Talmi into a cinematic mosaic pulsing with energy, wit, and nostalgia. This vibrant comedy focuses on the legendary Gang of Jaffa—unforgettable streetwise characters who talk fast, fight hard, and live by their own offbeat code. 

They may live on society’s edge, but their spirit, loyalty, and humour informs their lives, and it shines through every punchline and every heartbreak in the film. Jaffa Stories is a love letter to one of Israel’s most storied cities, and its people—a celebration of language, resilience, and the timeless art of storytelling.

In 2013 Israeli filmmaker Tom Shoval was casting for twins for his debut feature Youth. Among the auditionees was a pair of charismatic, non-professionals, identical twins Eitan and David Cunio, who won the lead roles.  Ten years later the Cunios were at their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz when Hamas terrorists infiltrated. David, his wife, toddlers, and younger brother Ariel were taken hostage along with many others from the kibbutz- the hardest hit on October 7th. 

A distraught Shoval crafted A Letter to David, a cinematic letter to his friend whose fate was then unknown. Shoval uses unedited, behind-the-scenes footage and audition tapes from Youth, archival footage of the kibbutz, and present-day interviews with the Cunio family who fought tirelessly for the brothers’ release, to build a multi-layered documentary that explores the inexplicable connections between life and cinema, memory and reality and fraternal connection. 

When the film was released last year, David and Ariel were still being held in Gaza, and Shoval called Letter an unfinished film. Following their release in October 2025, Shoval added a new, longed-for happy ending.  A Letter to David The Complete Version is a cinematic experience not to be missed.

Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog, The Brand New Testament) stars as Jean Chevalin, a bumbling trickster who accidentally deserts the army in 1940s France and must protect his family from the advancing Nazi threat. 

In a desperate bid for survival, he concocts a plan to pretend to be Jewish in order to receive help from smugglers to reach the free zone. 

This inane and misguided plan throws his family into the heart of the Resistance – and into a chaotic journey filled with danger, unexpected heroism, and personal transformation.  A surprising but hilarious and heartwarming new WWII comedy.

Throughout decades of prejudice hampering the integration of Jewish immigrants in America, the Borscht Belt in New York’s Catskills provided an oasis of belonging. Grossinger’s Resort was at the centre of it all, providing a physical and mental getaway where Jews—and others from marginalized communities—needing a break from the city could relax. 

Over the years this real-life inspiration for Dirty Dancing attracted a who’s who of comedy, as well as political and athletic figures.  

In her high spirited and comprehensive documentary, Eiselt resurrects this vanished world with an immersive warmth, while providing a timely reminder of the historic richness of Jewish culture and its immeasurable contributions to American life.

A must-see documentary that foregrounds one of history’s most influential, yet under-recognized, American-Jewish women.

This is the story of the visionary leader Henrietta Szold who founded Hadassah, established a healthcare system treating Arabs and Jews equally, and led Youth Aliyah, saving 11,000 children from the Nazis.

Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ginzberg brings to life the incredible story of a woman who reshaped history through personal setbacks, compassion and an unwavering belief in humanity.

Remember that time a bunch of scrappy, largely Jewish, largely Canadian performers and producers got together to put on a production of the hippie musical Godspell, and, in so doing, changed the world of comedy forever? 

This dazzling, fun-filled and touching documentary brings you behind the scenes of the Toronto production of Steven Schwarz’s Godspell, starring a young Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Paul Schaffer and Gilda Radner. 

Davis delves into how the hit production also became an incubator for modern humour and made Toronto in the 1970’s the place to be.  A cultural shift yet to be named was happening in real time resulting in SNL and SCTV, and everything these iconic shows spanned.

Paris, May 1968. A nine-year-old boy is thrilled to be staying with his grandparents for a few days while his left-y parents take part in France’s historic student protests. He is joined by two fun-loving uncles – a visual artist and an aspiring intellectual – and by his flamboyant great-grandmother from Odessa. As France is turned upside down by the strikes, the family is forced to confront its own past when an illustrious guest seeks refuge in their hideout. 

Lionel Baier’s buoyant comedy is based on the novel which Christophe Boltanski, nephew of the renowned French visual artist Christian Boltanski, wrote about his family. 

The film also gives us the poignant final performance of legendary French actor Michel Blanc before his 2024 passing.

Anat, a single mother and devoted primary schoolteacher whose world is shaped by poetry and language, awaits her son Ido’s army discharge. When a new war erupts and she learns he has volunteered to fight, their tight bond fractures.  

Oxygen is an intimate, politically charged drama about a mother confronting the emotional and moral cost of her son’s military service.

Winner, Best Feature: 2025 Jerusalem Film Festival

Set against the backdrop of the HIV epidemic of the 1980s and the era’s pop craze.  12-year-old Boaz (a mesmerizing Yair Mazo) is about to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. We get a sense of excitement with the opening scenes of him lip-syncing and performing a pop song. 

But after a swim at the local pool, he discovers a shattering secret about his beloved father, Meir (Assi Cohen; Hatufim), that threatens to tear his close family apart. 

This is a story told through Boaz’s eyes, trauma and blurry memory, and across the years, as we follow his journey to heal the wound, and restore the bond with the father he never stopped yearning for. Rosenthal (Karaoke) doesn’t shy away from the homophobia of that era in a film that also speaks to societal hysteria and ignorance.

When Reuben, an 80-year-old actuary who lives by statistics, loses both his wife and her insurance money at the swimming pool, he’s forced into a reluctant detective partnership with his free-spirited granddaughter. 

Their bumbling investigation of eccentric pool regulars turns into a classic caper à la Manhattan Murder Mystery.

Amichai Greenberg, who came to WIJFF in 2018 with his film Testament, this year treats us to a funny, heartfelt film proving that, while you can calculate almost anything, you can’t predict love or family.

The Sound Man is set at Brussels’ iconic Flagey radio station on the eve of the German invasion of Belgium in 1940. This deeply human tragicomic film centres on the crossed destinies of Berre, a youthful sound engineer, with an almost otherworldly ear, and Elza, a talented Jewish actress who is enchanted by the magic of radio drama.  

As tension mounts and Europe slides into war, the Flagey building pulses with voices and dreams. What’s unique about The Sound Man is its bold inversion of cinematic language. Rather than treating sound as a supporting element to image, Van Passel builds the film from sound outward. 

It’s a film that explores isolation, intimacy, and the ways people communicate beyond words.

A documentary exploring the cultural, religious, and personal significance of hair covering among Jewish women, particularly in Orthodox and Hasidic communities. The film reveals how wigs, scarves, and other coverings serve as self expressions of faith, marriage, identity, spirituality, and empowerment. 

At its core, SHEITEL: Beauty in the Hidden invites audiences to look beyond appearances and cultural divides. It also offers a rare look into the global wig industry, uncovering the artistry, symbolism, and emotional weight behind the choices women make. 

A deeply personal and emotionally resonant film with messages highly relevant to today’s conversations around identity, culture, and choice. 

A strange woman arrives in a lost village in northern Georgia. Marina, played by the wonderful Netta Riskin (Shtisel; Saving Netta), enters the first frame wearing a long red coat with embroidered flowers and a fur-trimmed hood framing her face like a lion.  A Georgian-born lawyer, now living in Israel, Marina has spent her life in denial about her past and its suffocating traditions. 

Now she’s returning to bring back an 11-year-old boy who was abandoned by his mother, Nino, as a baby. She meets Dato (Roland Okropiridze), Nino’s domineering brother, who has cared for the boy, and who bristles at her arrival. Despite adversity, he agrees to help, and as they spend time together, layers of the past, family, pain, and longing create a bond. 

Tsicko, along with the brilliant cinematographer Shai Goldman, creates a psychologically complex, powerful cinematic experience of breathtaking landscapes and where intimate character moments transform emotion into visual language. 

Winner, 2025 Ophir (Israel Film Academy) Awards: Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design 

Please note this film contains content of an adult nature.

This screening will be followed by a pre-recorded Q and A with director Eti Tsicko.

The long-awaited sequel to Erez Tadmor’s 2022 joyful, warm romantic comedy set against Ashkenazi and Sephardic cultural tensions, is here, and it’s even more joyful, with even more heart, and even more romantic entanglements than the first.

This time, the spotlight is on Baruch Auerbach (Maor Schwitzer; Valley of Tears, Shtisel). He’s a graduate student living in a small room at his yeshiva, and also now serves as the faithful assistant to the matchmaker Malchi (Irit Kaplan; The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem). While still longing for his soulmate, and finding ways to undermine himself, Baruch finds himself unexpectedly drawn to Shira, Malchi’s daughter. 

The film balances sharp dialogue and warm humor, with cultural insights, and is a fun romp in its own right even if you haven’t seen the first Matchmaking.

Marcelo, an Argentinian Israeli, is a frustrated and neurotic movie producer and screenwriter suffering from writer’s block. He’s also suffocating: Marcelo lives with his Israeli-born wife, his children, his son-in-law, his mother-in-law, his mother-in-law’s caretaker, and a crazy cat in a small apartment in a modest neighbourhood. 

Just when he thinks life couldn’t get more chaotic, his dysfunctional Argentinian family, who he hasn’t seen for ten years, arrives in Israel.  What follows is a whirlwind of hilarious, tense, and surprisingly moving moments that transform this family into a dysfunctional yet endearing team. 

Because when everything seems like a disaster, sometimes life gives you the perfect script: one you didn’t write, but that changes you forever.

Starring Florian Lukas (Good Bye Lenin!; The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Anatole Taubman (Quantum of Solace 007), this powerful and deeply human drama reveals the little-known backstory of Hans Rosenthal. Rosenthal was the fun-loving and effervescent host of a wildly popular 1970s German game show Dalli, Dalli. 

It was the number one show in a country eager only to look forward. But, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Rosenthal finds himself forced to confront his traumatic past as a Holocaust survivor – and the past of the country as a whole.

The Sea is a tender father–son odyssey. Khaled is a willful 12-year-old Palestinian boy who is granted the rare chance to see the sea for the first time on a school trip. But for reasons left unexplained, his permit is missing at the crossing, and he is told to leave the bus while the rest of the class continues on.  

Determined to fulfil his dream, he enters Israel on his own, speaking no Hebrew, with no money, and no idea how to get to the sea, but equipped with curiosity and determination. Alerted to his absence, Khaled’s father, an illegal laborer in Israel, ventures into the unknown to find him, risking arrest and the loss of his livelihood. 

At once tender, and wryly comic, The Sea is told with measures of courage, kindness, and hard truths; The film recalls Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thief. This is Carmeli Pollak’s debut feature. Shai Goldman, the renowned Israeli cinematographer whose beautiful work we also saw in Nandauri, brings the deeply humanist story alive with imagery.

Winner, 2025 Ophir (Israeli Film Academy Awards): Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography

Emerging Filmmaker Award, 2026 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival

Critics Jury Prize, 2026 Miami Jewish Film Festival

UNravelling UNRWA

Tuesday, May 19 | 2:00 p.m. | Berney Theatre

Asper Jewish Community Campus

Documentary | Israel | 2025 | Director: Duki Dror | Hebrew, Arabic with English subtitles | 75 minutes
Film Trailer | Tickets

This insightful and revelatory documentary traces UNRWA’s 75-year evolution, from its post-1948 origins as a temporary relief organization for Palestinian refugees to its pivotal and often-controversial role amid the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Winner, Investigative Documentary Award, 2025 Haifa International Film Festival

‘Shorts on Sherbrook’

Tuesday, May 19 | 7:30 p.m. | $15

The Handsome Daughter | 61 Sherbrook Street

Short Film Mini Festival Passes

The days are getting longer but one day in our festival is getting “Short”er.  Join us for our ever-popular Shorts on Sherbrook. We’re taking over The Handsome Daughter to present a remarkable short film line-up with a break in between for snacks, drinks and socializing (all included in the ticket price). 

Get your tickets now. Seating is limited and this event sells out fast.

What does it mean to close down a business that has defined your identity most of your adult life? Orna and Ella, an iconic restaurant synonymous with the scene on Tel Aviv’s hip Sheinkin Blvd, is closing after twenty-six years. 

Award-winning director Tomer Heymann - who once worked at the restaurant - documents its last week, and reveals the complex relationship between the two groundbreaking owners, 

Orna Agmon and Ella Shine, through a spectrum of powerful emotions.  Questions of love, dependence, conflicting desires, fears, female friendship, self-fulfillment, the cost of freedom, and nostalgia for an era that will never return, are all explored in this deeply poignant film. 

Acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Isri Halpern brings us the fascinating story of the 17-year-old Jewish teenager who, they say, started it all. On November 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a Polish-born, German-raised, illegal resident in France, entered the German embassy in Paris and shot diplomat Ernst vom Rath. Less than 48 hours later, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels called on the German people to take revenge on all Jews. 

In what became known as Kristallnacht, more than a thousand synagogues were burned, hundreds of Jews were murdered or committed suicide, thousands of businesses were looted, and tens of thousands of men were sent to concentration camps. 

The film explores the circumstances that led to the assassination, and the dramatic sequence of events that followed, including why the Germans kept Grynszpan alive. It’s a story that culminates in a battle of wits between Goebbels, the second most powerful man in the Nazi regime, and the “proud Jewish boy.”

Winner:  Best Documentary Feature, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival

Winner: Best Israeli Documentary Award, Haifa International Film Festival

Tamara de Lempicka’s story and life is one of art-deco glamour and resilience.  She was the foremost portrait and fashion artist of her time whose work today is collected by art and entertainment world titans. This documentary offers a groundbreaking new perspective of the artist’s life and legacy by revealing, for the first time, her Jewish heritage – a powerful and previously untold aspect of her identity. 

By exploring her journey through a Jewish lens, the film not only celebrates her remarkable artistic achievements but also acknowledges the resilience she demonstrated in the face of antisemitism, and societal challenges. A film that brings a new understanding and deeper cultural and historical context to one of the 20th centuries most prominent.

Camp Daveed is Coming to Winnipeg! So make sure you wear your camp sweatshirts to this screening!

Freshly ousted from her rock band on the eve of a European tour, Nomi takes a last-resort job from her best friend Mara at their childhood Jewish summer camp. While camp director Mara deals with a busted septic system, she tasks Nomi with supervising a group of misfit teens called “The Floaters.” 

When a rival camp threatens their future, the group must band together to save the camp they love. Comedy icons Steve Guttenberg and Seth Green and Toronto’s Sarah Podemski add laughs to this warm-hearted, funny and bang-on depiction of Jewish summer camp culture. 

Framed through multigenerational perspectives, it’s a film that everyone will love.