The San Diego Jewish Film Festival, one of the community’s most anticipated yearly events, will begin its 23rd season on Feb. 7. For 11 days, 47 films and shorts from 10 countries will draw more than 16,000 viewers to four venues. Featured films depict a wide range of topics, from human strife and struggle to the joys of new love, and from controversial issues to humorous adaptations of age-old stories. The festival, which runs through Feb. 17, will be showing films at Reading Cinemas 14 (4665 Clairemont Drive), City of Carlsbad — Dove Library (1775 Dove Lane), San Marcos Stadium 18 (1180 W. San Marcos Blvd.) and Garfield Theatre (4126 Executive Drive). For information, including ticket prices, show times and film trailers, visit www.sdcjc.org/sdjff/index.aspx or call (858) 362-1348. A sampling of films: ‘A Day in the Negev’ Examining life and events in San Diego’s sister city, the Sha’ar HaNegev, located in the southern region of Israel, the film exhibits more than 30 shorts created by students at Sapir College. (Guest Speaker: Negev’s visiting professor from Sapir College and graduate student of Sapir College) ‘Hitler’s Children’ Descendants of some of the most infamous names in human history — Himmler, Goering or Hoess, for example — have learned to strike a balance between the inclination to look-up to one’s parents and the horror at what they were capable of. ‘The First Fagin’ Isaac “Ikey” Solomon, the real-life inspiration for Charles Dicken’s Fagin (from “Oliver Twist”), is the focus of this docudrama, which delves into the details of Soloman’s life. Starting as a pickpocket, Solomon moved on to become one of the most infamous, yet “honorable” — he claimed to do everything for the sake of his wife — crooks of the Victorian Age. ‘Method to the Madness: Jerry Lewis’ Never-before-seen footage of the comic great abounds in this documentary that will bring you face-to-face with the charisma and show-business acumen of Jerry Lewis. On stage since the age of 5, his show-biz career spans more than eight decades. ‘Melting Away’ This heartbreaking drama centers on a family coming to terms with a transgender son. Kicked out of his home as a teenager, Anna (formerly Assaf) returns to the fold in near-secret as a nurse tending to her dying father. Forgiveness and acceptance are the central themes to this film about the bonds of family. ‘Battle for Brooklyn’ Not everyone was thrilled that the New Jersey Nets would relocate to become the Brooklyn Nets — because developing a basketball arena meant bulldozing many beloved buildings in Brooklyn’s historic Pros- pect Heights neigh-borhood. The fight against this demolition is the subject of this powerful documentary centered on a reluctant activist, Daniel Goldstein, a graphic designer whose apartment was in the line of fire. ‘B-Boy’ Eli is your typical Bar Mitzvah boy — a 13-year-old barely out of childhood — but put him on the competitive breakdance floor, and he’s E-Break, part of nationally recognized breakdancing crew.
