The 5th Boulder Jewish Film Festival opened Thursday night with a gem of a documentary: “On the Map,” the story of Tal Brody and the Maccabi Tel-Aviv basketball team that won Israel’s first European Basketball Championship in 1977.  The title comes from a statement that Tal made when Macabbi Tel-Aviv beat CKVD-Moscow, the dreaded Red Army team, on the way to the Championship: “This win puts Israel on the map. In sports, and in everything.”  Coming as it did less than four years after the Yom Kippur war, the victory started to re-build Israeli’s confidence in themselves on the international stage after the Munich massacre of 1972, the warin ’73, and Entebbe a year earlier, in ’76.

Ace at the J was able to secure appearances from both Tal Brody, the principle American-born star from the team and its icon, as well as the film’s director, Oscar-winner Dani Menkin, and the two were interviewed by Festival Director Kathryn Bernheimer.

The Boulder Jewish Film Festival runs through March 19th with most remaining shows at the Dairy Arts Center.  More information here and here.