The Savannah Jewish Film Festival is proud to bring you festival favorites of years past that are available online FREE (with Amazon Prime Membership) or with a low-cost rental. Browse the films below to learn about each film, then click on the link (film image) and enjoy.

  • 1945

    AMAZON PRIME On a summer day in 1945, an Orthodox man and his son return to a village in Hungary while the villagers prepare for the wedding of the town clerk’s son. The townspeople – suspicious,, fearful, and cunning – expect the worst and behave accordingly. The town clerk fears the men may be heirs of the village’s deported Jews and expects them to demand their illegally acquired property back.

    Directed by Ferenc Török, Hungary, 2017, Hungarian (with English subtitles), 91 minutes

  • 24 Days

    AMAZON PRIME When Ilan Halimi is kidnapped for ransom because he’s Jewish and supposedly rich, his family and the police start a race against time to save him from the tortures of the “gang of barbarians”.

    Director: Alexandre Arcady, USA, 2015, French (with English subtitles), 108 minutes

  • Across the Waters

    AMAZON PRIME Unsure of whom they can trust, a Jewish musician and his family make a frantic escape from Nazi-occupied Denmark, in ACROSS THE WATERS, a gripping story of survival and rescue.

    Directed by Nicolo Donato, Starring David Dencik, Denmark, 2017, Danish (with English subtitles), Drama, 95 minutes

  • Aftermath

    AMAZON PRIME Franek and Jozek Kalina, sons of a poor farmer, are brothers from a small village in central Poland. Franek immigrated to the United States in the 80’s and cut all ties with his family. Only when Jozek’s wife arrives in the US, without explanation, does Franek finally return to his homeland.

    Directed by Władysław Pasikowskiatej, Poland, Holland, Russia, 2013, Polish (with English subtitles), 110 minutes

  • A Tale of Love and Darkness

    NETFLIX - Influenced by his mother's (Natalie Portman) stories and poetry readings, young Amos Oz (Amir Tessler) grows up in 1940s Jerusalem and becomes a famous writer.

    Directed by Natalie Portman, Drama, Hebrew w/subtitles, 2015, 99 minutes

  • Closed Season

    AMAZON PRIME A Jewish boy is fleeing Nazi persecution during WWII. Unable to cross the heavily patrolled Swiss border, he finds shelter with a farmer, Fritz (Hans-Jochen Wagner), and his wife Emma (Brigitte Hobmeier). The couple, who have been unable to conceive, propose an unusual arrangement and request Albert father a child with Emma in exchange for continued shelter and protection.

    Directed by Franziska Schlotterer, Germany, 2014, German (with English subtitles), Drama. 104 minutes

  • Defiance

    NETFLIX - In 1941, Nazi soldiers are slaughtering Eastern European Jews by the thousands. Three brothers, Tuvia, Zus and Asael, manage to escape and take refuge in the forest where they played in childhood. Seeking a way to avenge the deaths of their loved ones, the brothers turn their daily struggle for survival into a battle against the Nazis.

    Directed by Edward Zwick, Drama, German/Russian/English. 2008, 137 minutes

  • Dough

    AMAZON PRIME Widower Nat Dayan clings to his way of life as a Kosher bakery owner in London. Understaffed, Nat reluctantly enlists the help of teenager Ayyash (Jerome Holder), who has a secret side gig selling marijuana to help his mother make ends meet. When Ayyash accidentally drops his stash into the mixing dough, the challah starts flying off the shelves and an unlikely friendship forms between the old Jewish baker and his young Muslim apprentice.

    UK, 2016, Comedy, English, 94 minutes

  • Fanny's Journey

    AMAZON PRIME Fanny's Journey is the story of a daring young girl who will stop at nothing and fears no one. In 1943, Fanny and her sisters were sent from France to an Italian home for Jewish children. When the Nazis arrive, their caretakers organize the flight of the children to Switzerland. When they are left on their own, these 11 children do the impossible and reach the Swiss border to freedom.

    Directed by Lola Doillon, France/Belgium, 2016, French (with English subtitles), Drama, 94 minutes

  • Fiddler on the Roof

    NETFLIX - This film adaptation of the musical chronicles the trials of a Jewish peasant, his wife, and their three strong-willed daughters in pre-revolutionary Russia.

    Directed by Norman Jewison, Musical, 1971, 181 minutes

  • For the Love of Spock

    NETFLIX - The son of actor Leonard Nimoy directs this moving look as his father’s portrayal of Spock, the iconic Star Trek character he played for 50 years.

    Directed by Adam Nimoy, Documentary, 2016, 91 minutes

  • Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel

    AMAZON PRIME Heading Home charts the journey of Israel’s national baseball team competing in the World Baseball Classic. After years of defeat, the Team is eligible to compete. Their line-up included several Jewish American Major Leaguers. With their Mensch on the Bench by their side, the team laughs, cries and discovers the pride of representing Israel.

    Directed by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller and Jeremy Newberger, USA / Israel / Japan / South Korea, 2018, Documentary, English, 86 minutes

  • In Search of Israeli Cuisine

    In Search of Israeli Cuisine is a portrait of the Israeli people told through food. It puts a literal face on the culture of Israel. Profiling chefs, home cooks, farmers, vintners, and cheese makers drawn from the more than 100 cultures that make up Israel today – Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Druze a rich, complex and human story emerges.

    Directed by Roger Sherman, USA, 2016, English, Documentary, 94 minutes

  • Inside Hana's Suitcase

    AMAZON PRIME The delivery of a suitcase to Fumiko Ishioka at the Tokyo Holocaust Museum begins the true-life mystery that became the subject of Karen Levineʼs book Hanaʼs Suitcase. The suitcase came from the Auschwitz Museum and had Hana Bradyʼs name painted on it. The film follows Fumikoʼs search to discover the details of Hanaʼs life, which leads to the discovery of her brother George in Toronto.

    Directed by Larry Weinstein, Documentary, Canada, 2011, English, 90 minutes

  • La Rafle

    In Montmarte, three children wearing a yellow star play in the streets, oblivious to the darkness spreading over Nazi-occupied France. Hitler demands the French government round up its Jews and put them on trains for the camps in the East. Within a short time, 13,000 of Paris’s Jews, among them 4000 children, will be sent on a road with no return.

    Directed by Roselyne Bosch, France, 2012, French, German, Yiddish (with English subtitles), 124 minutes

  • Let Yourself Go

    AMAZON PRIME Elia is a Jewish psychoanalyst. Due to his austere, detached manner, he is known for generating awe in his patients. Elia lives alone in a flat on the same floor as his ex-wife Giovanna, with whom he is still secretly in love. After an illness, his doctor prescribes an iron-rich diet and physical activity. He meets Claudia, a personal trainer with the cult of physique but not of mind.

    Directed by Francesco Amato, Italy, 2017, Italian (with English subtitles), Comedy, 112 min.

  • Maktub

    NETFLIX - After surviving a bomb attach, two low-level mobsters in Jerusalem change their ways and set about making strangers’ Wailing Wall prayers come true.

    Directed by Oded Raz, Comedy. Hebrew w/subtitles, 2018, 95 minutes

  • Menashe

    NETFLIX - Deep in the heart of New York's notoriously secretive Hasidic Jewish community, Menashe, a good-hearted but somewhat hapless grocery store clerk, struggles against tradition to keep custody of his only son after his wife passes away.

    Directed by Joshua Weinstein, Drama, English/Yiddish, 2017, 82 minutes

  • Mr. Kaplan

    AMAZON PRIME Jacob fled Europe for South America because of World War II. But now turning 76, he’s become rather grumpy, fed up with his community and his family’s lack of interest in its heritage. One beach bar may provide him with an unexpected opportunity to recover his family’s respect in the community: its owner, an elderly German, raises Mr. Kaplan's suspicion of being a runaway Nazi.

    Directed by Álvaro Brechner, Uruguay, Spain, Germany, 2014, Spanish (with English subtitles), ...

  • Once in a Lifetime

    AMAZON PRIME A history teacher, Anne (Ariane Ascaride), is determined to give the best education she can to her inner-city pupils. Anne tests her students with a unique assignment: a national competition on the theme of child victims of the Nazi concentration camps. The project is met with resistance, until a face-to-face encounter with a Holocaust survivor changes the students’ attitudes.

    Directed by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, France, 2016. French, Drama, 105 min.

  • One of Us

    NETFLIX - In the wake of trauma and abuse, three Hasidic Jews face ostracism, anxiety, and danger as they attempt to leave their ultra-Orthodox community.

    Directed by Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, Documentary, English, 2017, 95 minutes

  • Playing for Time

    NETFLIX - Captured by Nazis and sent to Auschwitz, a Jewish musician is assigned to soothe other prisoners marching to their deaths in the gas chambers.

    Directed by Daniel Mann & Joseph Sargent, drama, English, 1980, 148 minutes

  • Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz

    NETFLIX - A gripping profile of Ben Ferencz, the last surviving lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials whose lifelong desire for justice altered the rule of law.

    Directed by Barry Avrich, Documentary, 2019, 82 minutes

  • Rabin in His Own Words

    AMAZON PRIME Through a combination of archival footage and private letters, Rabin's personal and professional dramas unfold – from his childhood as the son of a labor leader, through a change of view that turned him from a farmer into an army man, through his later years where he served as Prime Minister and made moves that enraged a large portion of the public, until the horrific moment when his life was brought to an end.

    Directed by Erez Laufer, Israel, 2016, Hebrew, Documentary, 100 min.

  • Restoration

    AMAZON PRIME 70-year-old Yaakov Fidelman hangs on with all his might to the antique restoration workshop which has been his life’s work. After his business partner passes away, Fidelman rejects his son Noah’s idea to close the business and build an apartment complex. He believes that with the help of his new apprentice Anton, he’ll find a way to save his workshop, his world and his solitary way of life.

    Directed by Joseph Madmoney, Israel, 2012, Hebrew (with English subtitles), 105 min.

  • Run Boy Run

    Run Boy Run tells the true story of a Polish boy’s struggle to outlast the Nazi occupation and maintain his Jewish faith through his intrepid will and the kindness of others. Escaping the Warsaw ghetto, nine-year-old Srulik flees to the woods. He learns to hide from SS patrols and scour for food, until loneliness and the onset of winter drive him back to civilization.

    Directed by Pepe Danquart, Germany, 2014, Polish, German, Russian, Yiddish (with English subtitles), Drama, 107 min.

  • Sand Storm

    NETFLIX - In Southern Israel, a teen's (Lamis Ammar) forbidden love affair challenges the traditions of her Bedouin mother and father.

    Directed by Elite Zexer, Drama, Arabic and Hebrew w. subtitles, 2016, 97 minutes

  • Sarah's Key

    NETFLIX - Paris, 1942: To protect her brother from the police arresting Jewish families, a young girl hides him away, promising to come back for him.

    Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, Drama, English/French/German/Italian/Yiddish, 2011, 92 minutes

  • A Serious Man

    NETFLIX - With every aspect of his life unraveling, a Jewish physics professor seeks out three rabbis for spiritual guidance.

    Directed by Ethan & Joel Coen, Comedy/Drama, English, 2009, 105 minutes

  • Shalom Bollywood

    AMAZON PRIME Shalom Bollywood is the story of the 2000-year-old Indian Jewish community and its place in shaping the film industry. At the advent of Indian cinema , it was taboo for Hindu and Islamic women to perform on-screen. Jewish women took the female roles and continued to do so for decades. Using stage names, the women weren’t obviously identified as Jewish, and were commonly thought to be Christian or Muslim.

    Directed by Danny Ben-Moshe, Australia, 2018, English, Documentary, 85 min.

  • Shelter

    AMAZON PRIME Naomi, an Israeli Mossad agent (Neta Riskin) is sent to Germany to protect Mona (Golshifteh Farahani), a Lebanese informant recovering from plastic surgery to assume her new identity. Together for two weeks in an apartment in Hamburg, the relationship that develops between the two women is soon exposed to the threat of terror that is engulfing the world today.

    A Film by Eran Riklis, Israel, 2018, English, Hebrew and Arabic, Thriller, Drama, 93 min.

  • Streit's: Matzo and the American Dream

    AMAZON PRIME For over 90 years, the Streit’s matzo factory sat on Manhattan’s Lower Eastside. While other matzo companies modernized, Streit’s remained a piece of living history, churning out 40% of the unleavened bread on pre-War machinery. In a neighborhood where the Jewish immigrant moved on, where manufacturing has left the cities, where family businesses are bought out, filmmaker Michael Levine captures the Streit’s saga.

    Directed by Michael Levine, USA, 2016, English, Documenta...

  • Tel Aviv on Fire

    AMAZON PRIME Salam, a Palestinian living in Jerusalem, works on a popular soap opera. He gets ideas for the show from the commander at the check point he passes through each day, and his career takes off.

    Directed by Sameh Zoabi, Drama/Satire, Hebrew/Arabic w subtitles, 2019, 90 minutes

  • The Accountant of Auschwitz

    NETFLIX - Decades after WWII, a former SS officer stands trial in his native Germany after being charged for his complicity in the murder of Jews at Auschwitz.

    Directed by Matthew Shoychet, Documentary, English, 2018, 80 minutes

  • The Angel

    NETFLIX - As his country prepares for war, top Egyptian official Ashraf Marwan makes contact with Israel and wades into a shadowy game of high-stakes espionage.

    Directed by Ariel Vromen, Drama, Hebrew w/ subtitles, 2018, 114 minutes

  • The Art Dealer

    AMAZON PRIME This drama from renowned French director François Margolin, follows a Jewish woman who embarks on a journey to recover family paintings stolen by the Nazis. During her investigation she discovers some family secrets are best kept hidden. Anna Sigalevitch, gives another captivating performance as a desperate woman searching for the truth in a past shrouded in mystery.

    Directed by François Margolin, France, 2015, French (with English subtitles), 95 min.

  • The Exception

    NETFLIX - During World War II, a Nazi officer charged with protecting an exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II from spies begins a steamy affair with a secretive Dutch maid.

    Directed by David Leveaux, Drama, 2016 107 minutes

  • The Golem

    NETFLIX - During an outbreak of a deadly plague, a mystical woman must save her tight-knit Jewish community from foreign invaders -- but the entity she conjures to protect them is a far greater evil.

    Directed by Yoav and Doron Paz, Drama/Horror, English, 2018, 95 minutes

  • The Interpreter

    AMAZON PRIME An 80-year-old translator, finds a book by an SS officer recounting his war experiences in Slovakia. Ali realizes that one chapter may describe his parents’ execution. He sets off to Vienna to look for the SS man and take his revenge. The only person he finds is the man’s 70-year-old son, a former teacher who has spent his life avoiding his father.

    Directed by Martin Šulík, Slovak Republic/Czech Republic/Austria, 2018, Drama/Comedy, German/Slovakian (English subtitles), 11...

  • The Last Resort

    NETFLIX - In the waning days of the 70s, two young photographers document the Jewish retirees who dominated the sunny shores of South Beach.

    Directed by Dennis Scholl, Kareem Tabsch, Documentary, English, 2018, 70 minutes

  • The Light of Hope

    AMAZON PRIME In the early 1940’s, refugees seek shelter in southwestern France, escaping persecution from the Nazis and from Franco’s regime. A Red Cross nurse transforms an old villa into a birth clinic where she saves the lives of mothers and children. The villa becomes a haven. Authorities in Nazi-occupied France demand that she hand over all Jewish refugees and their children.

    Directed by Silvia Quer, Spain, 2018, Drama, Spanish, Catalan, French (with English subtitles), 96 min.

  • The Matchmaker

    AMAZON PRIME Arik, a teenage boy in Haifa in 1968, gets a job working for Yankele Bride, a matchmaker. Yankele, a Holocaust survivor, has an office in back of a movie theater that shows only love stories. As Arik begins to learn the mysteries of the human heart through his work, he falls in love with Tamara. Tamara has just returned from America and is full of talk of women’s rights, free love and rock and roll.

    Directed by Avi Nesher, Israel, 2012, Hebrew (with English subtitles), 112 min.

  • The Outrageous Sophie Tucker

    AMAZON PRIME The rags to riches story of Sophie Tucker, an superstar who ruled the worlds of vaudeville, Broadway, radio, television, and Hollywood throughout the 20th century. Sophie was the first woman to infatuate her audiences with a bold, bawdy and brassy style. Using all of “The Last of the Red Hot Mamas,” (rediscovered scrapbooks) you are taken you on a journey retracing Tucker’s career in show business.

    Directed by William Gazecki, USA, Documentary, 2015, English, 96 min.

  • The Rape of Europa

    AMAZON PRIME An epic journey through seven countries, into the violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. For years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in history. But art historians and curators from America and across Europe fought back with a campaign to rescue and return the lost, hidden and stolen treasures.

    Directed by Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham, Bonni Cohen, USA, 2006, English, 117 min.

  • The Red Sea Diving Resort

    NETFLIX - Undercover agents open up a fake hotel to real tourists as a cove to help smuggle thousands of Ethiopian refugees safely to Israel. Inspired by true events.

    Directed by Gideon Raff, Drama, 2019, 129 minutes

  • The Resistance Banker

    NETFLIX - Risking his family and future, a banker in occupied Amsterdam slows the Nazi war machine by creating an underground bank to fund the resistance.

    Directed by Jorem Lursen, Drama, Dutch with subtitles, 2018, 123 minutes

  • The Testament

    AMAZON PRIME Yoel, a meticulous historian leading a significant debate against holocaust deniers, discovers that his mother carries a false identity. A mystery about a man who is willing to risk everything to discover the truth.

    A Film by Amichai Greenberg, Israel, 2017, Hebrew, German (with English subtitles), Drama, 96 minutes

  • The Waldheim Waltz

    AMAZON PRIME A documentary uncovering former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim’s wartime past. It shows the swift succession of new allegations by the World Jewish Congress during his Austrian presidential campaign, the denial by the Austrian political class, the outbreak of anti-Semitism and patriotism, which finally led to his election.

    Austria, 2018, Documentary, German, French and English (with English subtitles), 94 min.

  • The Women's Balcony

    AMAZON PRIME When the women’s balcony in a synagogue collapses, leaving the rabbi’s wife in a coma and the rabbi in shock, the congregation falls into crisis. Charismatic young Rabbi David appears to be a savior after the accident, but slowly starts pushing his fundamentalist ways and tries to take control. This tests the women’s friendships and creates a rift between the women and men.

    Shlomit Nehama and Emil Ben-Shimon, Israel, 2016, Hebrew (with English subtitles), Comedy, Drama, 96...

  • They Are Everywhere

    NETFLIX - In counseling sessions with his therapist, preoccupied Yvan shares stories of anti-Semitism and what it’s like to live as a Jew in modern France.

    Directed by Yvan Attal, Dark Comedy, French w/subtitles, 2016, 111 minutes

  • The Zigzag Kid

    AMAZON PRIME Nono longs to be a detective like his father; but his wild nature gets him into trouble. His father sends him to his uncle’s. On the train, Nono meets Felix Glick with whom he travels to the French Rivera and enters a world of intrigue and pursuits, crossing paths with the famous singer Lola Ciperola (Isabella Rossellini) and the mysterious Zohara whose secrets will change his life forever.

    Directed by Vincent Bal, Belgium, Netherlands, 2015, Dutch, English, French, 95 min.

  • To Each, Her Own

    NETFLIX - Just as Simone works up the courage to tell her conservative Jewish family she’s a lesbian, she finds herself attracted to a male Senegalese chef.

    Directed by Myriam Azizi, Comedy, French w/subtitles, 2018, 95 minutes

  • To Life!

    AMAZON PRIME Fate introduces the aging cabaret singer Ruth (played by Hannelore Elsner, the Grande Dame of German cinema) and the confused Jonas (dashing German actor Max Riemelt). Ruth is running from her past and Jonas from his future but the two of them together manage to reaffirm life for each other in this moving drama.

    Directed by Uwe Janson, Germany, 2016, German (with English subtitles), Drama, 86 minutes

  • Welcome to Kutsher's: The Last Catskills Resort

    AMAZON PRIME Kutsher’s Country Club was the last Jewish resort in the Catskills. One of the Borscht Belt hotels during its heyday, it was family-owned for over 100 years. Exploring the full Dirty Dancing-era Catskills experience— and how it changed American pop culture in the comedy, sports and vacation industries— this award-winning film captures a last glimpse of a lost world.

    Directed by Caroline Laskow and Ian Rosenberg. USA, Documentary, 2015, English, 73 min.