Tickets for the first annual Boulder Jewish Film Festival, sponsored by the Millstone Evans Group of Raymond James, are now on sale through the Dairy Center for the Art’s website.

The festival, to be held March 10-17 at the Dairy Center for the Arts, is presenting a diverse collection of 16 Boulder premieres – transformative feature films and documentaries celebrating the healing power of nature, love, friendship and music. There will be a talkback after each film.

The mission of the Boulder Jewish Film Festival is to explore the human experience through film, to provide audiences with insight into the Jewish experience, and offer opportunities for community connection as we showcase inspiring films that have relevance to modern life.

Filmmaker Marcia Jarmel, who grew up in Boulder, will appear in person at the opening night sneak preview of “Got Balz?” on Sunday, March 10 at 7 pm. The opening night film and discussion will be in the Dairy Center’s Performance Hall, a 250-seat auditorium, followed by a gala reception in the Dairy’s lobby featuring a Cuban band and food.

Closing night is also in the Performance Hall, on Sunday, March 17 at 6:30 pm, with a party in the lobby after the screening of “Hava Nagila (The Movie)”, with live music by the Boulder Klezmer Consort, and an old-style Bar Mitzvah buffet.

The Denver Jewish Film Festival, which takes place in February at the Denver JCC, is opening with “Hava Nagila,” which has become a huge hit on the film festival circuit. Four other films will be screened at both festivals: “AKA Doc Pomus,” “Let My People Go,” “Orchestra of Exiles,” and “Beyond the Boundaries.” The New York Film Festival, which just ended, also included “Hava Nagila” and “AKA Doc Pomus.”

All other films will be screened in the Boedecker Theater, a state of the art cinema that seats 75. Given audience demand, special “spill-over” screenings will be held at the Boulder JCC and at the Boe. If tickets sell out, ticket buyers will be invited to add their name to a waiting list in case additional screenings are scheduled.

Full descriptions of the films below, including screening times, sponsors and guest speakers, can be found on the JCC’s website: www.boulderjcc.org.

Opening Night Gala – With live Cuban music and food

Special Sneak Preview with director Marcia Jarmel in person

Got Balz?

A charming coming of age story about a baseball-crazy Bar Mitzvah boy whose project involves a trip to Cuba with his grandfather, who lived there during the Holocaust

Sunday, March 10, 7 pm @ Dairy Performance Hall

 

Closing Night Film and Party – With the Klezmer Consort

Hava Nagila (The Movie)

The stirring story behind the song that symbolizes the resilient spirit of the Jewish people

Sunday, March 17, 6:30 pm @ Dairy Performance Hall

 

AKA Doc Pomus
Monday March 11, 7 pm & Saturday, March 16, 8:30 pm @ the BoeThe great untold music story of the most unlikely of rock & roll icons, Doc Pomus, who created its greatest hits

 

Beyond the Boundaries

Injured IDF soldiers find healing on the slopes of Aspen

Sunday, March 17, 1:45 pm @ the Boe

 

Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy

Showcasing the Jewish Broadway luminaries who created the modern American musical

Wednesday, March 13, 4 pm @ the Boe

 

Dolphin Boy

Dolphin therapy in Eilat heals a traumatized Arab Israeli youth

Sunday, March 17, 3:30 pm @ the Boe

 

A Fire in the Forest

Local filmmakers explore the mystique of the Bal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism

Sunday, March 17, noon @ the Boe

 

Foreign Letters

A bittersweet coming-of-age film about two immigrant teens and the healing power of friendship

Sunday, March 10, 1 pm @ the Boe

 

From Shtetl to Swing

How the wail of the cantor and the klezmer clarinet influenced American music

Friday, March 15, 5:15 @ the Boe

 

In Heaven, Underground

An enchanting journey that celebrates life and the immortality of memories

Monday, March 11, 4 pm @ the Boe

 

La Rafle (The Roundup)

A sensitive exploration of a shameful French action against the Jews of Paris during the Holocaust

Tuesday, March 12, 7 pm @ the Boe

 

Let My People Go

A sweet, hilarious fusion of gay romantic comedy, Jewish family drama and French bedroom farce

Wednesday, March 13, 6:15 pm @ the Boe

 

My Australia

Two Polish boys, raised as Christians, discover they are Jewish and move to Israel to start a new life

Tuesday, March 14, 4 pm @the Boe

 

Orchestra of Exiles

Violinist Bronislaw Huberman saved close to 1,000 Jews – along with the musical heritage of Europe

Sunday, March 10, 4 pm @ the Boe

 

Precious Life

A Palestinian child’s life is saved by Israeli doctors as they struggle to overcome the cultural divide

Thursday, March 14, 6:15 pm @ the Boe

 

Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom

An intimate tribute to one of the first American teen idols and one of our last real movie stars

Friday, March 15, 3 pm @ the Boe