2021 AJFF Preview: Together Through Film

To prepare you for 21st year of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, completely virtual-for-the-first time as you’ve never seen before, we bring you 21 previews spotlighting the breath of films offered for your home viewing. The films, which represent more than half of those in the AJFF lineup Feb. 17-28, include classics, intimate family dramas, upbeat comedy and historic documentaries. Sit back and relax as the AJFF brings us together through film.

Click the name of each film to read more.

200 Meters

This adventurous, and ultimately heart-warming, story reveals the humanity of a people who most often are presented in a totally negative light.

A Crime on the Bayou

The film weaves the unrest of the ’60s with contemporary issues such as Black Lives Matter, protests over the killing of Blacks, as well as the rise of anti-Semitism.

A Starry Sky Above the Roman Ghetto

Part detective story, part high school drama, part interfaith love story and part plea for religious tolerance, “Starry Sky” is a film for all ages.

Adventures of a Mathematician

Based on his autobiography of the same name, this warmhearted film tells the story of one of the brilliant minds behind the Manhattan Project.

Asia

Emotional, honest and touching, “Asia” may be the “must see” film of this year’s AJFF.

Breaking Bread

The documentary film “Breaking Bread” begins with a quote from the late Anthony Bourdain stating, “Food may not be the answer to world peace, … but it’s a start.”

Brighton Beach Memoirs

The story, based on a play by the same name by the prolific playwright Neil Simon, takes place during the Great Depression, just a few years before the beginning of World War II.

Howie Mandel: But Enough About Me

Lovingly directed by biography documentarian Barry Avrich, “But Enough About Me” is a touching look at a man who uses humor to cope with a world that terrifies him.

Love It Was Not

“Love It Was Not” tells the real-life story of Helena Zitron, an Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner who captured the heart of an SS officer.

Maverick Modigliani

Consider “Maverick Modigliani” as a virtual tour of Paris in the early 20th century.

On Broadway

This delightfully entertaining and enlightening documentary describes the rise, fall and resurgence of what became the most visited area in the United States.

Rain in Her Eyes

Dvora Omer, one of the most prolific and popular children’s writers in Israel’s history, is the subject of this very moving documentary film.

Shiva Baby

Not your everyday shiva. “Shiva Baby,” written and directed by Emma Seligman, is a satirical comedy filled with a cast of characters awkwardly interacting at a shiva.

Soros

Soros has long been blamed for leading a “globalist” takeover of the world.

Sublet

“Sublet” reminds the viewer that you’re never too old to go after what you want, and it is important to mend relationships with people that you don’t want to lose.

The Auschwitz Report

“The Auschwitz Report” reveals the determined and treacherous journey of the two escapees.

The Chosen

The film tells the story of how two young men navigating the road to maturity in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in the mid to late 1940s.

The Un-Word

Filled with gravity and irony, yet with light touches, the stellar acting throughout by both the tempestuous adults and squabbling teens make the film remarkably authentic.

The Vigil

How difficult can it be to just sit in the house with a dead body? What Yakov does not realize is that the man had been possessed by an evil spirit.

They Ain’t Ready for Me

“They Ain’t Ready for Me” introduces a charismatic woman, Tamar Manasseh, who leads the fight against the alarming trend of gun violence in the South side of Chicago.

Thou Shalt Not Hate

The story follows a renowned surgeon and son of a Holocaust survivor who uncovers a swastika tattooed on the chest of a patient he’s treating and neglects to save him.