Mandell JCC Hartford Jewish Film Festival Presents: CUPCAKES, GENTLEDOG and WHEN DAY BREAKS

CUPCAKES (Israel, 2013, 90 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles)Director: Eytan Fox 6:00 PM New England Premiere A group of Tel Aviv friends and Universong fans commiserate about their lives and jokingly create a silly melody to cheer up the heartbroken Anat, a baker. One of them sends their cellphone recording to the judges. It goes viral and surprisingly becomes Israel’s entry to the international singing contest. The story of each Cupcakes character unfolds as the contest finale nears. This feel-good musical comedy is frosted with fun, dance, romance, happy endings and a bubbly soundtrack by Babydaddy of glam band Scissor Sisters.

Gentledog (Israel, 2012, 10 minutes, Hebrew and Dog with English subtitles)Director: David Shadi New England Premiere This 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 his unusual bark. So who’s the man and who’s the dog?

WHEN DAY BREAKS (Serbia, 2012, 90 minutes, Serbian with English subtitles) Director: Goran Paskaljević 8:15 PM New England Premiere Retired music professor Misha Brankov discovers his true Jewish origins when his life is turned upside down following the unearthing of a rusty iron box at the Old Fairgrounds in Belgrade. This was the site of the Judenlager Semlin Nazi concentration camp where 48,000 Serbian Jews and Gypsies perished. Inside is a photograph and an unfinished musical score composed by his real father, Jewish musician Isaac Weiss. The initial shock of his true identity and his family’s fate in Auschwitz gives way to determination to fulfill his father’s shattered dream, honor his parents and perform the long-lost symphony. The film, which represented Serbia in the 2012 Oscar foreign film entries, will be introduced by Kristina Pozenel, WHEN DAY BREAK’S film editor.