The J’s St. Louis Jewish Film Festival showcases national and international cinema that explores universal issues through traditional Jewish values, opposing viewpoints and new perspectives. The Jewish Film Festival now offers year-round opportunities to experience Jewish films from around the world. In 2023, we return to an in-person experience at Marcus Des Peres Cinema!

Beginning February 1, updated information, trailers and complete film lineup and details, including ticket sales info will be available at stljewishfilmfestival.org.

Highlights include:

Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen
50 years and going strong…Follow director Norman Jewison in his quest to re-create the lost world of Jewish life in tsarist Russia and reimagine the beloved stage musical Fiddler on the Roof as a wide-screen film epic. This documentary features behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Jewison, Topol, composer John Williams, production designer Robert F. Boyle, film critic Kenneth Turan, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and actresses Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, and Neva Small (Tevye's daughters) and original interviews with the Fiddler on the Roof cast and crew. Jeff Goldblum narrates.

Persian Lessons
A powerful, gut-wrenching story of survival…Nazi-occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by the SS alongside fellow Jews and sent to a concentration camp. He narrowly avoids execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but then he is assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to the officer in charge of the camp's kitchen. As the relationship between the two men begins to incite jealousy and suspicion, Gilles realizes that one false move could expose his swindle. Inspired by true events.

Bernstein's Wall
Epic and intimate…Leonard Bernstein was one of the 20th century’s towering icons, known for his work as a conductor, pianist, educator, author, and humanitarian, and most popularly, as the composer of West Side Story. The film highlights his struggle to balance his complex personal life with his career. It tells the story of the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant who became a superstar as the visionary and exuberant conductor of the New York Philharmonic and the face of classical music for the nation. Bernstein joyfully responded to the clamorous adulation of the times, matching his passion for music with an unyielding commitment to political engagement while wrestling with what he called “the demons” of his hidden sexuality.