A rabbi walks into a bar

When the annual Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival returns this month to Manship Theatre for its sixth year, the often heavy-hearted affair will be a lot funnier. This year’s event will feature two stand-up comics: Omid Djalili, the comedic star of 2007’s The Infidel, a film that festival co-chair Ara Rubyan calls a “laugh-out-loud comedy,” and Adir Miller, who toplines in The Matchmaker, 2010’s dramatic and award-winning 1960s coming-of-age story.

The festival kicks off Jan. 21 with Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray, an historical excavation of the stories and the impact of American Jews who served in the Civil War for both the Union and the Confederacy. This is a film that should give even the most studious history buffs new revelations to explore.

Guests can expect to be entertained, inspired and educated by this diverse line-up of films. From the comedic to the dramatic, this year’s slate, also designed by co-chair Julie Hoffman, aims to provide a fun, engaging outing for the entire family.

Jan. 23 will see the Baton Rouge premiere of the Lebanon-set military drama Beaufort. The film follows a young soldier as his unit is on the verge of withdrawing from a foreign country.

“This is the first time we have shown an anti-war movie that also supports Israel at the same time,” Rubyan says.

Tickets are $8.50 and available at manshiptheatre.org. For a complete schedule of screenings and more information, visit brjff.com.