J-Flix is an initiative of the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation showcasing the rich legacy of films from Canada’s leading presenter of Jewish-content film for 27+ years. Currently, over 135+ curated titles are available for streaming (for free!) including documentaries, feature length narratives, shorts, along with beloved archival films, all of which represent the global flavour of TJFF programming.
This fall, TJFF has added a selection of films from Israel, France and Canada exploring food culture, Jewish stories and community. These films are free to watch from the comfort of your living room, so grab your favourite snack and enjoy!
Register for J-Flix for free on j-flix.com
FIVE HOURS FROM PARIS
88 mins | Israel | 2009
Director: Leonid Prudovsky
Languages: Hebrew, Russian
Sometimes the most powerful love hides beneath the surface of the most ordinary people. When divorced cab driver Yigal drops his son off at school, he meets Lina, a married woman on the brink of leaving Israel to join her husband in Canada. Neither is looking for romance, but somehow they find themselves drawn to each other, and their conventional lives are radically transformed. With a stunning performance by Dror Keren (Adam Resurrected and Aviva, My Love), the film reveals the beauty and ache of awakening romance. An extremely strong feature debut for director Leonid Prudovsky, Five Hours from Paris marks the beginning of a new voice in film. Watch it now!
PRAISE THE LARD
57 mins | Israel | 2016
Director: Chen Shelach
Language: Hebrew
Filmmaker Chen Shelach (Partner with the Enemy) takes a look at Israeli food, culture, religion and politics through the lens of one of the biggest taboos in the Jewish religion: the pig. This film explores the ongoing friction between traditional, religious Jews with their observant laws, and secular Israelis, who desire freedom of choice over orthodoxy. The story of the pork industry in Israel has provoked ethnic tensions and heated struggles between religious and secular groups from the State’s founding until today. Watch it now!
TAAM, A TASTE OF RUE DES ROSIERS
56 mins | France | 2016
Director: Sophie Bramly
Language: French
The Parisian neighbourhood of Le Marais is universally famous for being the gay and Jewish village of Paris. Before becoming the headquarters of the gay community, this quarter, and especially the Rue des Rosiers, was always Europe’s most Jewish street. Despite rising anti-Semitism in France, it remains a peaceful and protected bubble where the gay and Orthodox communities co-exist. Interviewing members of the neighbourhood’s Jewish community, filmmaker Sophie Bramly captures the life of the street—its restaurants, shops, synagogues—which remains a safe haven for two oppressed communities. Watch it now!
WELCOME AND…OUR CONDOLENCES
27 mins | Israel | 2012
Director: Leon Prudovsky
Genre: Shorts
Language: Hebrew
In this award-winning comedy from filmmaker Leon Prudovsky (Five Hours from Paris), a Russian Jewish family’s already traumatic immigration experience is heightened to absurd proportions when their old aunt dies on the plane just before they reach Israel. Watch it now!
OUTDOORS
79 mins | Israel | 2017
Director: Asaf Saban
Language: Hebrew
Frustrated with the fast pace of urban life, aspiring playwright Gili and his wife Yaara (Noa Koler from The Wedding Plan) undertake the building of their dream home in the Galilee countryside. As the walls of their new home go up, the foundation of their marriage begins to crack. Asaf Saban’s feature debut lays bare the challenges that can threaten any relationship. While the themes of the film are universal, Saban’s innovative use of the landscape marks the film as uniquely Israeli. “Outdoors eschews simple marital melodrama for a more wide-ranging generational portrait.” (Screen Daily) Watch it now!
SPADINA
57 mins | Canada | 1985
Director: David Troster
Language: English
The late David Troster’s 1984 chronicle of the rise and decline of downtown Spadina’s Jewish community. Produced at a time when there were plenty of remnants of this now-lost community, Troster’s film remains a well-made piece of filmmaking and historiography as well as a very precious document. Watch it now!
SUKKAH CITY
68 mins | United States | 2014
Director: Jason Hutt
Genre: Documentaries
Language: English
With only 5% of Jewish American families erecting sukkahs, author Joshua Foer wants to find a way to reclaim the festival and have it speak to a new generation. The result is “Sukkah City,” an annual design competition which invites architects and designers to engage with the rules outlined in the Tractate Sukkah and create their structure. Filmmaker Jason Hutt (Orthodox Stance) gives us unique insight into how these eclectic competitors work, from conceptualization to creation. The twelve finalists stand in New York City’s Union Square and are judged by the public. Which of these unbelievably creative Sukkahs will win? Watch it now.
SUKKOT IN WARSAW
22 mins | United States, Poland | 2014
Director: Dmitriy Khavin
Genre: Shorts
Languages: Polish, Russian
Sukkot in Warsaw portrays members of the Jewish community living in today’s Warsaw. In the district of Muranow, located at the site of the Warsaw Ghetto, the second generation Jews, children of Holocaust survivors, celebrate Sukkot as they remember their parents who miraculously lived against all odds. At the Jewish youth organization Moishe House, college students speak about what it means to be Jewish in 21st century Poland as they build a Sukkah out of branches and twigs. As one of the Jewish residents of Warsaw poignantly emphasizes “this was our country, the wild strawberries are our wild strawberries, the kasha is our kasha, pierogies are our pierogies…” Watch it now.
