A New York Times “Critic’s Pick”, Rosenwald is the stirring story of Julius Rosenwald, a son of German-Jewish immigrants who never finished high school but rose to become the president of Sears, Roebuck. Inspired by the Jewish ideals of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world), deeply concerned about racial inequality in America, and influenced by the writings of Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald joined forces with African-American communities in the Jim Crow South to build over 5,300 schools for African-American children.Rosenwald’s foundation also awarded grants to promising African-Americans including such future notables as poet Langston Hughes, Nobel Laureate Ralph Bunche, singer Marian Anderson, and photographer Gordon Parks. Closer to home, he established Chicago’s exceptional Museum of Science and Industry. Because of his modesty, though, Rosenwald’s philanthropy and social activism are not well known today.

Guggenheim, one of the art world's most colorful characters, had a bohemian flair and remarkable eye for the emerging avant-garde artist. Among those she championed were Jackson Pollock, Max Ernst (whom she briefly married), Georges Braque, and Wassily Kandinsky. Reported to have as many lovers as she did works of art, Guggenheim led a whirlwind life that took her from New York to London, Paris and Venice where she eventually settled. Venice’s Peggy Guggenheim Museum now houses her extraordinary art collection.Peggy was the child of two prominent Jewish German immigrant families, the Seligmans and the Guggenheims. The Seligmans made their fortune in banking. While the Guggenheim name today is mostly remembered for the eponymous museum founded by Peggy’s uncle Solomon, the family fortune was made in mining. Peggy’s father died aboard the Titanic when she was only 13, leaving her an inheritance that later helped fund her prodigious appetite for art.

Son of Saul, this year’s Grand Prix winner at Cannes and Oscar contender for Best Foreign Picture, is a film told from the perspective of Saul Auslander, a prisoner and member of the Sonderkommandos at Auschwitz. Seen solely through his eyes, the viewer is immersed in a palpable reality that bares the moral dilemma Saul faces. It is a searing film that for some, may be difficult to watch, but will remain unforgettable. Son of Saul is the debut feature film of Hungarian director, Laszlo Nemes. It is rare for a first feature to be selected for competition at Cannes, and it’s appearance attests to the film’s power. In addition to winning the Grand Prix, Son of Saul won the FIPRESCI (Critics) award and two other honors at Cannes and was nominated for the Palme d’Or and Camera d’Or.

Movies and Chinese food have long been a ‘ritual’ for Jews on Christmas. Flix & ChopStix brings this tradition to all Santa Feans who don’t observe the Christmas holiday. This year we’re showing Arab Labor, Israel’s groundbreaking sitcom that's been described as a cross between All in the Family and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Closer to home, we’re screening Barry Levinson’s Academy Award nominated classic, Avalon. Capping off the double feature bill is a special Chinese dinner. Christmas falls on Friday this year, and sundown on Friday is the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. This year’s dinner will be a Chinese Shabbat dinner with guest host Rabbi Jack Shlachter. Rabbi Shlachter is no stranger to the Chinese-Jewish connection. For the past two years he has officiated at High Holiday and Shabbat services in Beijing, China. Closer to home, he serves as rabbi, along with founding rabbi Malka Drucker, at HaMakom, one of Santa Fe’s synagogues. And if his assorted rabbinic responsibilities weren’t enough, Rabbi Shlachter is also a full-time Ph.D. physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he is the Deputy Division Leader of the Theoretical Division. As he describes it, he offers “Judaism for the nuclear family”. Special double feature packages are available, in addition to tickets to the individual films. The Chinese Shabbat dinner is open to those who have purchased a ticket to one or more of the films.

Movies and Chinese food have long been a ‘ritual’ for Jews on Christmas. Flix & ChopStix brings this tradition to all Santa Feans who don’t observe the Christmas holiday. This year we’re showing Arab Labor, Israel’s groundbreaking sitcom that's been described as a cross between All in the Family and Curb Your Enthusiasm. From this side of the globe, we’re screening Barry Levinson’s Academy Award nominated classic, Avalon. Capping off the double feature bill is a special Chinese dinner. Christmas falls on Friday this year, and sundown on Friday is the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. This year’s dinner will be a Chinese Shabbat dinner with guest host Rabbi Jack Shlachter. Rabbi Shlachter is no stranger to the Chinese-Jewish connection. For the past two years he has officiated at High Holiday and Shabbat services in Beijing, China. Closer to home, he serves as rabbi, along with founding rabbi Malka Drucker, at HaMakom, one of Santa Fe’s synagogues. And if his assorted rabbinic responsibilities weren’t enough, Rabbi Shlachter is also a full-time Ph.D. physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he is the Deputy Division Leader of the Theoretical Division. As he describes it, he offers “Judaism for the nuclear family”. Special double feature packages are available, in addition to tickets to the individual films. The Chinese Shabbat dinner is open to those who have purchased a ticket to one or more of the films.

Arab Labor, which has been described as a cross between All in the Family and Curb Your Enthusiasm, is a big but controversial hit in Israel. Created by Sayed Kashua, an Israeli-born Palestinian journalist, Arab Labor is a valiant, consistently hilarious attempt to explore the tensions and contradictions of everyday life through the eyes of an Israeli Muslim Arab. On one hand Kashua has managed to barge through cultural barriers and bring an Arab point of view - mostly expressed in colloquial Arabic - into the mainstream of Israeli entertainment. On the other, Arab Labor reflects a society still grappling with fundamental issues of identity and belonging in a Jewish state that, Kashua says, still largely relates to its Arab minority as "a fifth column or a demographic problem. "I want to bring likable Arabs into the average Israeli living room," he said. The Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival will screen three episodes. It’s a unique opportunity for Santa Feans to look at Israeli life through a very different prism.

Mountain, a Danish Israeli co-production, opens the new year for the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival on January 24. Making it’s initial debut at the Venice Film Festival and snagging a nomination for Best Film in the Horizons section, Mountain is the story of the sexual awakening of an Orthodox woman who lives with her family in the cemetery on the Mount of Olives. Shot in a muted palette, it features Shani Klein in what has been described as a “breakthrough performance”. Mountain was written and directed by Yaelle Kayam and the film reflects Ms. Kayam’s interest in geographic and cultural landscapes. The setting of the Mount of Olives figures significantly in Orthodox belief about the age of redemption. Those buried on the Mount of Olives are believed to be the first to be resurrected. Ms. Kayam notes that “the tension between a mountain that is a graveyard and a mountain that symbolizes salvation” inspired the film, in addition to a Talmudic story about a rabbi who loses interest in his wife.

A post-film discussion follows the screening with Doris Francis, Ron Duncan Hart, Gloria Abella Ballen, and Linda La Bove. Plan to stay for an exploration of the themes and questions raised by this enigmatic film.

MORGENTHAU tells the epic story of one American family whose careers brought them to the forefront of some of the most dramatic events of the last hundred years. The dynamic arcs of their exemplary public service – Henry Morgenthau Senior as United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire; Henry Morgenthau Junior as United States Secretary of Treasury under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; and Robert M. Morgenthau as District Attorney of New York County for over 30 years – reveal new perspectives on the social and political shifts in twentieth century history. From fighting for international action against the genocide of Armenians on the cusp of WWI, through the efforts to rescue Jews during the Holocaust despite American political obstruction, and on to the struggle to reduce street crime and pioneer the prosecution of white collar corruption in the financial capital of the world, New York City, the trajectory of the three Morgenthau generations epitomizes the American experience and the continual fight for justice.