Champaign-Urbana Jewish Film Festival is now an extension of the JCC Chicago Jewish Film Festival
For many years, the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Film Festival was held at the Art Theatre in downtown Champaign. Despite the closing of the Art at the end of 2019, CUJF was able to continue the festival – with a new location, but with the same quality films and opportunities to engage in conversation afterward.
All films will now be shown at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana. All are free and open to the public; no advance registration or reservations are needed.
The Spurlock Museum is located on the east side of the University of Illinois campus, across the street from Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
IF YOU GO: On Sundays, many meters as well as the surrounding parking lots are free. Don’t take our word for it: please read the signs!
Films
Sustainable Nation
Sunday, February 9 @ 5:00pm
A documentary from Imagination Productions follows three individuals who are doing their part to bring sustainable water solutions to an increasingly thirsty planet. Using solutions developed in water-poor Israel, they are working to change the status quo of a world where one in 10 people lacks access to safe drinking water.
- View Trailer
- Documentary
- English
- 60 minutes
Continue the conversation following the screening with Prof. Evan H. DeLucia from The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at UIUC and Liat Maggid Alon, Israel Institute Visiting Faculty, Jewish Studies and History.
Leona
Sunday, February 16 @ 5:00pm
Making the transition into adulthood, a young woman from Mexico City finds herself torn between her Syrian-Jewish family and a forbidden love, in this delicate, melancholic romance. The story is about the divide between generations and different cultures, but becomes a hopeful journey of self-discovery and female empowerment.
- View Trailer
- Drama, Family
- Spanish (with English subtitles)
- 97 minutes
Continue the conversation following the screening with Prof. Dara Goldman, Director of Jewish Studies, expert on Latin American communities.
Children of the Inquisition
Sunday, March 1 @ 5:00pm
Children of the Inquisition is a re-examination of history and identity. The film looks at what happened to families forced to convert to Catholicism or flee during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions, through the eyes of their contemporary descendants, many of whom are just discovering their often nuanced Jewish roots.
- View Trailer
- Documentary
- English
- 115 minutes
Continue the conversation following the screening via Skype with filmmaker, Joseph Lovett.
Love in Suspenders
Sunday, March 29 @ 5:00pm
Tammy, an absent-minded widow who constantly deals with the memory of her loving late husband, meets Beno, a 70-year-old sarcastic lone wolf widower – and the two fall in love. A charming romantic comedy for the young and young at heart.
- View Trailer
- Comedy | Romance
- 2019
- 102 minutes
Continue the conversation following the screening with Marganit Weinberger-Rotman, community member.