Narrative Feature
Spotlight
89 min
Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg returns to HIFF with his sophomore film as a writer/director, in which mismatched cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin, Succession) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old…
Directed By Jesse Eisenberg
Narrative Feature
Spotlight
84 min
Newly engaged couple David (Jon Bass) and Meg (Meghan Leathers) plan to introduce their parents for the first time over Shabbat dinner at David's parents’ Upper West Side apartment. As the finishing touches for the evening come together, a dead body throws a wrench into this high-stakes affair. This day of rest is anything but,…
Directed By Daniel Robbins
Documentary Feature
World Cinema Documentary
88 min
World Premiere
"Sometimes I'm afraid the tale might be forgotten. Sometimes I'm afraid it is forgotten already." Told primarily through his own eloquent words, ELIE WIESEL: SOUL ON FIRE seeks to understand the man behind the searing and widely read memoir Night. Penetrating at the heart of the known and unknown, the film dives into the…
Directed By Oren Rudavsky
Documentary Feature
World Cinema Documentary
105 min
Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is torn between rejecting and embracing his destiny—he is the dynastic heir of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis, including the Chief Rabbis of Israel, but also a drag-queen rebel and founder of Lab/Shul, an everybody-friendly, artist-driven, experimental congregation. When he decides to return to…
Directed By Sandi DuBowski
Documentary Feature
World Cinema Documentary
97 min
New York Premiere
Shaped by her Jewish upbringing in the heart of Motown, award-winning songwriter/artist Allee Willis’s offbeat individuality made her an icon of 1980s Los Angeles, from star-studded parties at her real-life Pee-Wee’s Playhouse to her prolific career penning some of the most iconic pop songs of our time. But beneath the…
Directed By Alexis Spraic