Hero or traitor? Rezso Kasztner, known as the Jewish Schindler, negotiated face to face with Adolf Eichmann, rescuing 1700 Jews on a train to Switzerland, and may have saved tens of thousands more lives. Yet Kasztner was condemned as a traitor in his adopted country of Israel; accused as a collab...

An expressive hybrid with roots in German, Hebrew, and Slavic languages, Yiddish has been shamed, banned, and nearly wiped out, but in fact it’s a vernacular with rich political, historical, religious, socio-economic and literary import. In Nurith Aviv’s unexpected, original documentary, seven yo...

Maurice Sendak, the award-winning author of “Where The Wild Things Are” reflects on his creative life, success, and frustrations, including interviews with his celebrity friends.

Directed by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze
United States, 2009
Documentary, Literature, Kids,, LGBT Stories, Jewish Cult...

This Emmy-nominated documentary is a hilarious portrait of an extraordinary, ordinary grandmother and a touching account of her grandson's search for his place in the world. Whether taking daily excursions to the grocery store to return under-ripe produce or sharing hard-won wisdom over blintzes ...

Sigmund Freud: revolutionary genius far ahead of his time, or greedy, devious, charlatan? Dead since 1939, yet still considered to be "more alive than dead", Freud and the highlights of his prolific legacy are analyzed in this eye-opening "animated" documentary from Israeli filmmaker Tzaki Schiff...

In January 2006, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke, leaving him unconscious for the rest of his life. Only six months earlier, he executed the Disengagement Plan, uprooting thousands of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. Sharon was the last person to expect such measures fro...

Filmmaker Rüdiger Suchsland suggests that the Third Reich was essentially an immersive movie starring the German nation, produced and directed by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Hitler’s Hollywood collages key films from the more than 1000 features the Nazis produced from 1933-1945: musicals...

Narrated by Peter Coyote - Featuring Music by the legendary John Cale! | Between 1933 and 1941, hundreds of thousands of Jewish children left Europe for the U.S. and Great Britain. Between 1941 and 1945, tens of thousands went back….all grown up, heavily armed, and ready to strike back. This comp...

The film portrays three Jewish-Orthodox singles – their matchmakers and their effort to stay loyal to a possibly outdated tradition. Torn between their commitment to Jewish culture and their dreams, these 30-somethings try to withstand the social pressure while staying true to themselves.

Direct...

Kutsher's Country Club was the last surviving Jewish resort in the Catskills. One of the legendary Borscht Belt hotels during its heyday, Kutsher's was family-owned and operated for over 100 years, until its sale and demolition in 2014. Exploring the full Dirty Dancing-era Catskills experience th...

'The Starfish' is the true story of a German-Jew, who at the age of 10, was taken in by a non-Jewish family in Sweden to escape Nazi persecution, and the events of his life that led him to return to Sweden 60 years later to try and reunite with that family.

Directed by Tyler Gildin
United States...

Academy Award Nominee - Best Documentary Feature (2013)! | An extraordinary work of both cinematic and political activism, 5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal, first-hand account of non-violent resistance in Bil'in, a West Bank village threatened by encroaching Israeli settlements. Shot almost ...

In honour of the Centennial year of Montreal's Federation CJA, Jamie and Eli of YidLife Crisis present a retrospective of '100 Years of Jewish Business in Montreal'.

By Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman
Canada, 2017
Yiddish (with English subtitles)
Documentary, Short Film, Canadian History, Jewish H...

In remote Sefwi Wiawso, Ghana, volunteer worker Gabrielle Zilkha made a stunning connection with a group of people who had practiced special rites, including circumcision and Kosher dietary laws, for centuries. Only recently had they discovered they were part of a worldwide religion with millions...

In this short film by pioneering neon animator Jack Feldstein, the Nobel Prize winning Yiddish writer Isaac B. Singer recounts his memories... which seem to have a mind of their own.

Directed by Jack Feldstein
United States, 2021
Animation, Documentary, Jewish History, Yiddish Culture
Yiddish (w...

BERLIN CALLING follows the daughter of a Holocaust survivor (Kastle Waserman) on a journey of discovery, as she opens the paperwork the Nazis kept on her family, and hears her father's firsthand account of being a child under Hitler's oppression. In her research, Kastle also makes a surprising di...

An intimate portrait of Holocaust survivor Helena Weinrauch, who movingly tells her story of resiliency and courage in the face of Nazi brutality. Despite the many horrors she endured, she never loses her joie de vivre or her desire to forgive those who brutalized her in the past. ​

Best Documen...

In a documentary exploring the life and career of Julius Shulman - widely regarded by experts as the greatest architectural photographer - director Eric Bricker reveals the man who was influential in bringing to light the architectural modernist movement. Shulman's work plays a significant role i...

Jamie Elman & Eli Batalion, the hilarious stars of the smash hit Yiddish comedy series YidLife Crisis, sit down with the learned and patient Rabbi Lisa Grushcow to answer all the questions you’ve ever asked about Hanukkah (and some you never have) in this insightful and entertaining short! #Khani...

As a director and Hollywood producer, Michał Waszyński made over 40 films and worked with major movie stars including Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale and Orson Welles. His true obsession, though, was 'The Dybbuk' or 'Between Two Worlds', directed by Waszyński in 1937 and based on an old Jewish le...

'The German Neighbor' follows the steps of Adolf Eichmann’s awkward and unusual life in Argentina and his remarkable defense at the trial in Jerusalem. Integrating impressive archive material, the film combines the exploration of Eichmann’s daily life during his exile in Argentina with images of ...

Holocaust survivors and Berlin residents, Regina (Oma) Karolinski and Bella Katz, have been inseparable friends for two generations. Creating food for the soul in their kitchen using traditional recipes, their love of these home-cooked dishes is the only remaining visceral link to a childhood cru...

Award-winning film director Philippe Mora and music legend Eric Clapton have joined forces to co-produce a very personal film - Three Days in Auschwitz - which details life and death in the Auschwitz concentration camp. As a Jew, born in 1949, Philippe Mora is a second-generation holocaust surviv...