WILLIAMSBURG — A unique pair of films will be showcased at the Williamsburg Regional Library (WRL) Theatre in November as part of the 22nd Annual Virginia Peninsula Jewish Film Festival.
The event runs Nov. 5-6, with one film scheduled to play on each day. The November weekend series of events is sponsored by Temple Beth El of Williamsburg, which also will be sponsoring additional film events in December and January.
“We have a committee of volunteers,” Temple Beth El member and event organizer Helene Goldsman said in an interview with WYDaily. “What we’ve done is preview about 20-25 films and then we pick the five that we think will be of the broadest interest and will have an impact in terms of our understanding of issues, not only in the Jewish community but as it interacts with the world. We try not to have one genre. We try to have comedy, documentary, and history.”
The two films that are scheduled for November are:
- “One More Story” — Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.: According to a press announcement, “One More Story” is a romantic comedy set in Israel, “An ambitious young female journalist with some reservations about love for herself, attempts to launch her career through exploitation of her best friend, a man who is a hopeless romantic, and also hopeless with women, to gather material for a story about the online dating scene. Her secondary goal: to allow her friend to find true love. The shy and retiring friend agrees to go on 30 dates in 30 days with a different woman each evening. What could go wrong? Or right?” The film is in Hebrew with English subtitles.
- “Berenshtein” — Nov. 6 at 2 p.m.: According to the announcement, “Berenshtein” is a true-life thriller narrated by the last surviving great partisan leader from World War II, “This captivating film tells the story of Leonid Berenshtein who led his partly Jewish band of guerrillas in fierce struggles in Ukraine and elsewhere to sabotage German train transports and, critically, pinpoint the site of Hitler’s V-2 doomsday missiles, the “wonder weapon”, for allied bombers. His actions are said to have altered the trajectory of WWII. Some events are reenacted, and the narrator is filmed revisiting today’s places where he fought. But the struggle was also personal: showing how despite tragedy and atrocities he was able to retain his values as a human being.” The film is in German, Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian, with English subtitles.
There is no charge to attend, and light desserts and beverages will be provided following the films. Attendees are encouraged to wear a face mask and maintain social distancing.
The WRL theatre is located at 515 Scotland St., Williamsburg.
For more information on the upcoming November event, check out WRL’s website.
