Mandell JCC Hartford Jewish Film Festival Presents: AFTERMATH, PUTZEL and BETHLEHEM

AFTERMATH (Poland/Netherlands/Russia/Slovakia, 2012, 105 minutes, Polish with English subtitles)Director: Wladyslaw Pasikowski6:00 PM Hartford PremiereA tense and chilling fictional thriller, Aftermath tells the story of two Polish brothers who put aside longstanding quarrels to discover a terrible secret. After unearthing scores of uprooted Jewish tombstones scattered around their idyllic village, they are forced to revise perceptions of their father, their family and neighbors, and the history of their nation. Inspired by the real-life WWII massacre of Jedwabne’s Jewish community by their Polish neighbors, Aftermath touched a raw nerve when it was released in Poland 

PUTZEL (USA, 2012, 88 minutes, English) Director: Jason Chaet 8:15PM  Connecticut Premiere For Walter Himmelstein (Jack Carpenter) endearingly known as Putzel, life literally doesn’t go beyond his family’s smoked fish emporium on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. In this offbeat, heartwarming Jewish urban fairy tale, Walter’s aspirations of taking over soon-to-retire Uncle Sid’s (John Pankow) lox store are disrupted by the arrival of aspiring dancer Sally (Melanie Lynskey) sparking a complicated romantic triangle. With Sally’s help, a few good friends and the love of Aunt Gilda (Susie Essman), Walter confronts his fears and proves he is more than a PutzelScreens withGentledog (Israel, 2012, 10 minutes, Hebrew and Dog with English subtitles)Director: David ShadiThis witty short comedy about a talking dog, a desperate boyfriend and his beautiful date is a biting satire about the love life of today’s single men and women as seen through a dog’s eyes…..and unusual bark. So who’s the man and who’s the dog?

BETHLEHEM (Belgium/Israel/Germany/United Kingdom, 2013, 99 minutes, Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles)Director: Yuval Adler 8:15 PM Encore Screening This gripping spy thriller centers on the complex relationship between Razi, an Israeli Shin Bet (Secret Service) agent and Sanfur, his hot-headed teenage Palestinian informant, whose terrorist brother Ibrahim is on the run. When a suicide bombing puts their father-son relationship to a test, Sanfur struggles to navigate between Razi’s demands, loyalty to his brother and his own ambitions. Sanfur lies to both, leading to explosive consequences. Bethlehem is Israel’s entry in the 2013 foreign film Oscar race.