20 | APRIL 25 • 2024 
J
N

T

he 23rd annual Ann 
Arbor Jewish Film 
Festival kicks off in 
early May and will consist of 19 
feature films, 16 of which are 
virtual films (three films will 
be offered in-person only) and 
seven in-person events. 
The festival starts Sunday, 
May 5, and runs through 
Sunday, May 26. 
The in-person opening 
event takes place May 5 at Ann 
Arbor’s State Theatre, where 
Remembering Gene Wilder, a 
special tribute documentary 
honoring actor and comedian 
Gene Wilder’s life and career, 
will be shown. 
Festival selections include 
an assortment of Israeli films, 
Holocaust films, documen-
taries (including one about 
former Israeli Prime Minister 
Golda Meir), biographies, com-
edy/drama films and two short 
film selections, one comedy 
and one variety. 
An important film being 
shown is Israeli documentary 
Supernova: The Music Festival 
Massacre. The film provides a 

retrospective of 24 hours at the 
Oct. 7 Nova festival in Re’im 
through the lens of young 
individuals who endured the 
horror. 
Another powerful film is 
Here Lived, a documentary 
about an artist’s singular vision 
for healing, which has become 
the world’s largest decentralized 
memorial to Nazi atrocities.
Other in-person events at 
the State Theatre include a 
May 7 in-person only showing 
of comedy/drama film Seven 
Blessings and a May 9 showing 
of The Death of Zygielbojm, 
a Holocaust biography film 
about the tragic fate of Jewish 
political activist Smierc 
Zygielbojma, who committed 
suicide as an act of protest 
against the world’s inaction 
in the face of the tragedy of 
the Holocaust. A discussion 
with Professor Emeritus Todd 
Endelman from the University 
of Michigan will take place at 
this event. 
On May 15, an in-person 
sponsor night at Washtenaw 
Community College will start 

with a sponsors-only dinner 
followed by a film that is open 
to the public. The documenta-
ry film being shown, Vishniac, 
spotlights photographer 
Roman Vishniac and his pho-
tographs of Eastern European 
Jews in the 1930s. The event 
includes a discussion with 
U-M professor Deborah Dash 
Moore. 
The in-person closing event 
on May 19 at the State Theatre 
will feature the only showing of 
comedy/drama film Running 
on Sand. 
Offerings this year include 
an All Virtual Festival Pass 
(includes all virtual films and 
shorts) for $150, a Pick-10 
Virtual Festival Pass for $80 
and a Pick-5 Virtual Festival 
Pass for $50. Individual tickets 
are $12 each. 
Sponsorship opportunities 
start at $180 and allow access 
to all of the virtual and in- 
person events. 
Complete information about 
the festival and how to become 
a sponsor are at jccannarbor.
org/film-festival. 

This year’s festival features 19 films and 
seven in-person events. 

Ann Arbor Jewish Film 
Festival Returns May 5

DANNY SCHWARTZ SENIOR STAFF REPORTER

OUR COMMUNITY

Festival 
Director 
Retiring

Noemi Herzig, the Ann 
Arbor JCC’s director of 
Jewish Cultural Arts and 
Adult Education who has 
been leading the charge 
on the film festival for 
five years now, will be 
retiring at the 
conclusion 
of this year’s 
festival. 
Herzig has 
been with the 
Ann Arbor 
JCC for five 
years and was with the 
West Bloomfield JCC for 
10 years before that. 
Herzig had never 
worked on anything like 
the festival before she 
started in her role, and 
the process of learning 
how to put it together 
wasn’t an easy one.
“I had to just do it 
and find out by myself 
because there was 
nobody to hold my 
hand and guide me. So 
that was a very inter-
esting process,” Herzig 
reflected. “But I love 
cinema, and, to me, 
the Ann Arbor Jewish 
Film Festival is really 
fun because you get to 
watch a lot of movies 
you wouldn’t normally 
see.
“The festival used to 
be a small festival of 
maybe 12 films. Now we 
are up to about 19-20 
films every year, which is 
a big festival for a small 
city like Ann Arbor, so I 
feel very proud.” 

Noemi 
Herzig

