AJFF Opens with Big Donation & Comedy

The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival celebrated 25 years of accomplishment as a major showcase of Jewish artistic and cultural achievement during a strong and impressive opening night program, Feb. 19, at the Cobb Energy Centre.

Highlighting the return to the 2,700-seat venue after a five-year absence due in large part to the effect of the COVID pandemic was a surprise announcement by the Coca-Cola Foundation of a gift of $250,000 to help fund the festival’s new capital campaign.

The gift from the Atlanta-based corporation was seen as a strong vote of confidence in the future of the festival. To emphasize that partnership, a 25th anniversary bottle honoring the AJFF was given away at the opening night gala.

In announcing the gift, Carlos Pagaoga, Coca-Cola’s Vice President of Global Community Affairs and President of the Coca-Cola Foundation, stressed the festival’s broad reach.

Regardless of your faith, ethnicity or generation,” Pagaoga said, “the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival offers something remarkable for everyone, Mazel Tov, to everyone who made this level a beacon of culture, dialog and inspiration, and here’s to many more years of cinematic brilliance.”

The gift from the company, which has served as presenting sponsor of the festival since its founding in 2000, gave a strong boost to the AJFF’s new capital campaign, the Kenny Blank Vision Initiative, which aims to raise $2.5 million to expand the festival’s education programs and give it a stronger year-round identity. The organization recently hired a director of education and has programmed at this year’s festival a special educational field trip for local students of the documentary, “Elie Weisel: Soul On Fire.”

“Bad Shabbos,” the AJFF opening night film, is a crowd pleaser.

In acknowledging the festival’s strong impact on the local community, Coca-Cola’s Ingrid Saunders Jones, who was head of the Coca-Cola Foundation for 31 years before her retirement in 2013, cited the strong impact the festival has had on the community as one of the reasons for the company’s strong support over the years.

“When I think back 25 years what we looked for was relevance. We looked for organizations and programs that were relevant to the community, either through direct service or enhancing the quality of life in our communities.”

The opening night program launched a festival that includes 50 feature films and documentaries from 22 countries, including 19 films from Israel. The festival’s executive and artistic director, Kenny Blank, joined the festival as a volunteer during its second year and became its full-time executive three years later. In his comments before the opening night audience, he credited the festival’s strong local roots for its success over the years.

“This festival is embraced by the community, because this festival is the community,” Blank pointed out. “It has been built by this community, and that gives the community a sense of ownership. This is your Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.”

The opening night film was “Bad Shabbos,” a black comedy set in New York City’s Upper West Side. The film, which was a crowd-pleasing opener for the festival, tells a tale of mishaps and mayhem when a young couple, about to be married, attend a Friday night Shabbat dinner at the home of the groom’s Jewish parents.

What takes place probably won’t win any plaudits from moralists or Talmudic authorities on ethical conduct, but it kept the audience laughing. A lively Q&A program immediately after the film featured a half-dozen cast members and the director and the producer. The large number of guests was not unusual for the AJFF, which has scheduled personal appearances with over a half-dozen filmmakers and special guests, everyone from the comedian Jerry Lewis to Janis Ian, the singer and songwriter from several decades back.

The AJFF opener, “Bad Shabbos,” also opened the Jewish film festival in Tampa, Fla., just one night before the Atlanta screening. It was also the opening night feature of the Miami Jewish Film Festival. It is currently running in a half-dozen theaters in South Florida, where it’s been a solid draw.

The film’s distributor, Neil Friedman, who runs Menemsha Films, has 10 offerings in this year’s festival. He attended the AJFF screening to gauge the local reaction of the production in the large Cobb Centre venue. An emphasis on theatrical showings has been part of the film’s marketing strategy.

“We do not plan to show ‘Bad Shabbos’ virtually,” Friedman says. “We are only showing it in-person in the theater, because laughter is contagious. And that’s the beauty of this film.”

The AJFF festival screenings in local theaters run until March 5. More than a week of virtual showings begin March 7.