Come Together

Published July 4, 2012

Jewish organizations unite to create film festival by Amy Christian The inaugural Augusta Jewish Film Festival starts Thursday, July 12, and begins with the powerful story of Nicholas Winton who, all told, may just be responsible for nearly 6,000 people being on the planet who might not have been had he not intervened. “Nicky’s Family” is the story of this Englishman who, at the outbreak of World War II, organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children and then didn’t speak of it again for about 50 years. This movie is a powerful way to begin what is the culmination of two years worth of work by several local organizations who felt the need to bring the community together. Representatives from Congregation Children of Israel Synagogue, Adas Yeshurun Synagogue, the Augusta Jewish Federation and the Augusta Jewish Community Center came together to form the Augusta Jewish Leadership Council. “About two years ago, the Jewish organizations in town decided to form a council to look at how we could all work together and work for the community,” said Dr. Nettie Albrecht, a local psychologist who is president of the Augusta Jewish Community Center. “We thought it was important to work together for the community.” And not just the Jewish community. So after batting around some ideas, one member suggested a film festival. “So we did some research and found that many communities had held film festivals that were very successful,” Albrecht said. “We thought it was about time that Augusta had one too. And we thought the community would support it because there are people who live here from all over the world.” The next step was deciding on the movies to show. The group contacted Jewish organizations in other cities to find out what films they had shown during their festivals, and then formed a subcommittee of those who would watch the movies and pare down the choices. “The committee decided that we wanted a wide variety of films, comedies and dramas,” she said. “And we wanted them to be successful films and ones that other communities had enjoyed.” The subcommittee narrowed it down to five. Along with “Nicky’s Family,” they include “A Matter of Size,” an Israeli comedy about four men who give up struggling with their weight and learn to accept themselves as they are… through sumo wrestling; The Yankles,” about a Jewish orthodox Yeshiva baseball team managed by Charlie Jones, a former major league ballplayer who agrees to help the team as part of his community service requirements; “Nora’s Will,” a family comedy in which the matriarch dies before implementing her plan to bring her family, including her ex-husband Jose, together for a Passover feast; and, finally, “The Matchmaker,” a love story set in the 1960s that has won numerous awards, and was nominated for seven Israeli Academy Awards, including best picture. The films will be shown at either the Augusta Jewish Community Center or the Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center at the Columbia County Library (see schedule below), and Albrecht says that the group is working on incorporating theme nights into some of the showings. “’The Yankles’ is a very family oriented baseball film, so we thought it would be great to have it at the Jewish Community Center because, if there are children there, they can play on the playgrounds,” she said. “And we’re going to try and have hot dogs and chips in keeping with the baseball theme.”

The Augusta Jewish Film Festival “Nicky’s Family” with opening night reception Augusta Jewish Community Center Thursday, July 12 7 p.m. $10 per film; $40 for five if purchased at once; opening reception tickets sold separately 706-228-3636 augustajcc.org

Other films in the series include: “A Matter of Size” Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center Thursday, July 19 7:30 p.m.