June
14
The 2021 Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF)
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF) is delighted to reveal the winners of the Micki Moore Award, David A. Stein Memorial Award and the NextGen Award for Best Short Film. TJFF is also excited to welcome special guests virtually for live Zoom Q&As. Streamed Ontario-wide from June 3 to 13, TJFF2021 offered a curated programme of 60+ films showcasing the best in Jewish-content film from Canada and around the world. For more information, www.tjff.com.
Maya Tiberman and Kineret Hay-Gillor, directors of ALONE TOGETHER, received the David A. Stein Memorial Award, a $5,000 prize to the director of the best documentary making its Canadian Premiere at TJFF.
The NextGen Award for Best Short Film goes to GOLDEN GYM by Tamir Aharoni & Gil McNeil, with a special mention going to The Immersion by Yulya Bexugli. A jury composed of ten students in York University’s Department of Cinema awarded the $500 prize.
“The jury found Lune to be exceptionally brave, not only in its narrative, but also in its cinematic and directorial choices. The film’s nuanced attention to the historical intricacies of Jewishness, race, and global political power, offer a unique perspective and position Armour-Ostroff as an important, emerging voice in the Canadian film landscape,” commented the jury for the Micki Moore Award.
“We were unanimously moved and impressed by Maya Tiberman and Kineret Hay-Gillor’s Alone Together. They created an incredibly intimate portrait of Ravit. We feel it is important to tell stories of people like Ravit who truly give of themselves and make a small corner of the world a better place,” added the jury for the David A. Stein Memorial Award.
“Golden Gym, directed by Tamir Aharon and Gil McNeil, showcases a high degree of technical skill in its delightful stop-motion animation. Within a short span of time, the directors created a delicate piece of art, revealing a complexity of emotions and a unique perspective. Creative, poignant, and quirky, this piece captured the attention of everyone on the jury,” commented the jury for the NextGen Award.
Narrative Films:
Lune
Co-director, co-writer and star Aviva Armour-Ostroff, co-director and co-producer, Arturo Pérez Torres with actors Chloe Van Landschoot and Vlad Alexis
*Centrepiece Film
**Micki Moore Award Winner
The Specials
Real-life protagonists Stephane Benhamou and Daoud Tatou
*Closing Film
Summer of ‘85 (Été 85)
Writer and author Aidan Chambers (Dance on My Grave)
Tiger Within
Director Rafal Zielinski, star Ed Asner, and screenwriter Gina Wendkos
Documentary Films:
The Adventures of Saul Bellow
Director Asaf Galay with Janis Bellow and Professor Ruth Wisse
Alone Together
Directors Kineret Hay-Gillor and Maya Tiberman and film subject Ravit Raichman
**David A. Stein Memorial Award Winner
Becoming Nakuset
Director Victoria Anderson-Gardner and Nakuset
High Maintenance
Director Barak Heymann
Labyrinth of Peace
Series Creator and writer Petra Volpe, director Mike Schaerer and star Annina Walt
Lebanon – Borders of Blood
Director Duki Dror
Love It Was Not
Director Maya Sarfaty
Marry Me However
Motti Salzberg, a clinical social worker; Yocheved Grunberger Lindenbaum, an Orthodox Jewish educator and hospice chaplain; Yitchak (Yitzi) Lindenbaum, a youth counsellor for religious teens at Jerusalem Open House
Mighty Ira
Co-director Nico Perrino, with former executive director of the ACLU, Ira Glasser and Danielle McLaughlin of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Raymonde El Bibaoia
Director Yael Abecassis
Shelter
Director Ron Chapman
*Opening Film
UnReined
Directors Marcia Rock and Naomi Guttman-Bass, with film subject Nancy Zeitlin and participant Khaled Efranji
Archival Programme:
Crossing Delancey
Actors Amy Irving, Peter Rieger, and Deborah Offner, with filmmaker and author of upcoming book Joan Micklin Silver: From Hester to Hollywood, Daniel Kremer
The Dick Van Dyke Show: Now in Living Color & Ten From Your Show of Shows
Painter, photographer and filmmaker Lucas Reiner and Emmy Award-winning writer, director, producer, Bill Persky
Lies My Father Told Me, Love on The Nose, & Ted Allan: Minstrel Boy of the 20th Century
Daughter Julie Allan and granddaughter Gabrielle Allan Greenberg with actors Saul Rubinek and Marilyn Lightstone
