Spokane Jewish Film Festival 2025 Lineup
You can buy tickets to individual in-person or online screenings or purchase festival passes. Films available online have a screening window during which they can be viewed. Tickets are still required for online access and can be purchased separately from in-person screening tickets. Tickets to view the entire virtual film lineup are included in the festival pass package. Please note tickets to the screening of Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round, cohosted by the Spokane Jewish Film Festival and Spokane NAACP, are sold separately and not included in festival passes.
To see all the films below, purchase festival passes today.
FEATURE FILMS
Carla The Rescuer (West Coast premiere)
Jan. 25, 5:30 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. film, Magic Lantern
Embark on an extraordinary journey with Spokane’s Carla Peperzak, a courageous Jewish member of the Dutch resistance during WWII. As a teenager, Carla risked everything to aid fellow Jews. Growing up alongside Margot Frank, sister of Anne, Carla witnessed the harrowing realities of the Holocaust, enduring the loss of three-quarters of her extended family. Yet, from this unimaginable tragedy Carla emerged with a determination to speak out against injustice. SECOND SCREENING ADDED AT 4 P.M. Cocktail hour at 5:30 p.m. and remarks from Carla at 6:30 p.m.
Lyd (in person)
This sci-fi documentary shares multiple pasts, presents, and futures of the city of Lyd. Lyd is a creative and thoughtful approach to the Israel/Palestine conflict through the context and lens of the city herself, voiced by Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi. The viewer is guided through the lifespan of a 5,000-year-old city and its residents in this film co-directed by Jewish American filmmaker Sarah Ema Friedland and Palestinian filmmaker Rami Younis. Followed by a live audience discussion with both filmmakers moderated by Dr. Rob Sauders.
Jan. 26, 2 p.m., Magic Lantern
Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round (in person)
Jan. 30, 6 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. film, Magic Lantern
Special screening co-hosted with Spokane NAACP. Tickets are sold separately and not included in festival passes. Screening followed by Q&A.
When five Howard University students sat on a segregated Maryland carousel in 1960, the arrests made headlines. When the largely Jewish community near Glen Echo Amusement Park joined the Black students in picketing, the first organized interracial civil rights protest in U.S. history was born.
Shoshana (in person)
Feb. 1, 6 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. film, Magic Lantern
Shoshana is a political thriller from acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom that unfolds during the British Mandate in 1930s Tel Aviv. The film follows two British police officers, Thomas Wilkin and Geoffrey Morton, in their hunt for poet and Zionist activist Avraham Stern, who is plotting to evict British authorities.
Running on Sand (in person)
Aumari, a young Eritrean refugee living in Israel, is about to be deported back to his home country. After an escape attempt at the airport, he is mistaken for a newly acquired Nigerian striker for Israel's Maccabi Netanya soccer team who is supposed to arrive at the same time. Aumari seizes the opportunity and benefits from his change of identity. Despite the absence of soccer talent, Aumari tries to heal the divisions of his struggling team, while a tender bond with the charmingly unconventional daughter of the team owner is growing.
Feb. 2, 2 p.m., Magic Lantern
The Goldman Case (online)
In 1975, Pierre Goldman, a fiery and controversial figure of revolutionary left-wing activism, was put on trial in France. Accused of multiple crimes including two murders, Goldman proclaims his innocence. Considered to be the trial of the century, the Goldman case divided an entire country and reflects the political, ideological, and racial tensions that marked the 1970s in France and Europe and still remain relevant today.
Available online Jan. 28-31
Vishniac (online)
He was difficult and flamboyant, a shameless self-promoter, bender of the truth and master of reinvention. He was also one of the groundbreaking photographers of the 20th century. Though his pioneering microscopy transformed the nature of science photography, Roman Vishniac is best known for his iconic images of Jewish life in Eastern Europe from 1935 through 1938. Few predicted that less than a decade later, these communities would be wiped out, and Vishniac’s photographs would provide the last visual records of an entire world.
Available online Jan. 26-29
SHORT FILMS
Jack and Sam (in person)
Jan. 25, 7 p.m., Magic Lantern (with Carla the Rescuer)
Jack and Sam is a poignant documentary about two Holocaust survivors miraculously reunited after 80 years. Now in their late 90s, they are spending the precious time they have left rekindling their friendship and educating others about the dangers of hatred. Mixing documentary, archival, and breathtaking animation, this heartwarming story explores the enduring power of connection and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.
Liraz, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre, wields her tattoo needle as a weapon against pain. Her mission is profound: to immortalize the 364 souls who perished. Through fractal tattoos, she weaves their stories—tales of loss, fear, faith, love, and hope—into the very fabric of the skin. Each inked line becomes a thread of healing, stitching together the wounds left by the tragedy that unfolded on October 7th.
Available online Jan. 26-29 with Vishniac
Tattooed4Life (online)
We Should Eat (in person)
Feb. 2, 2 p.m., Magic Lantern (with Running on Sand)
We Should Eat humorously touches on age-old familial irritations: kvetching, the intricacies of raising preteen daughters, existential dread—and, of course, the perpetual struggle to figure out what to order for dinner.
Just the Tip (in person)
Feb. 2, 2 p.m., Magic Lantern (with Running on Sand)
As a female filmmaker, the topic of male circumcision is not something Jessie Kahnweiler ever thought she’d be interested in, and as a Jew, she just assumed she would circumcise her child if she had a boy. But then she fell in love with a guy who isn't Jewish, and the issue—well, it came up.