What to expect at this year’s Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival at Manship Theatre

Back for its 19th year, the Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival (BRJFF) is presenting a curated selection of films this week, depicting Jewish life through dramas, romances, documentaries, and more.  

Starting Wednesday, Jan. 14, the festival will show a film a day at the Manship Theatre, starting with what festival co-chair Ara Rubyan calls a “romantic dramedy.”  

Fantasy Life, playing at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, follows the life of a man who loses his job and becomes the babysitter of his psychiatrist’s granddaughters, then falls in love with the girls’ mother, kicking off the festival with a story of a romantic drama with a twist of comedy.  

Thursday, Jan. 15, brings a documentary about Nobel Prize Winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, playing at 7 p.m., tells the story of Wiesel’s life and his mark on history, narrated by Wiesel himself.  

“It’s not just a talking head documentary,” Rubyan says. “It’s got some very innovative and emotional animations that they use to tell his life story and how he navigates this part of his life.”  

The film festival will start the weekend on Saturday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m. with another documentary titled Holding Liat, which follows a family through the war in Gaza and their experiences as hostages.  

“People follow the news; they may know some things about it, but the film is an inside look at a very emotional and intense period of time for a family,” Rubyan says.  

Ending the festival on a lighter note, the last film will be a comedic documentary, a Sunday matinee at 3 p.m. titled Swedishkayt: YidLife Crisis in Stockholm. Created by two Canadian comedians, the film shows the audience the life of a Jewish community in Stockholm and how Yiddish became a protected language in Sweden.  

“It’s a documentary made by two comedians. It is bound to have a lot of humor,” Rubyan says. “It’s also a pretty good look at a slice of life in a part of the world where you didn’t expect to see it.”  

The Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival has not only become an event to check out a specific set of movies and themes, but it’s also become something of an occasion for many viewers

“It ends up partially being like a gathering or a reunion or a social occasion. People look forward to it,” Rubyan says. “Hanging out in the lobby before the show starts or hanging out in the lobby after it lets out, that’s a lot of fun. There are people you see there that you only see once a year.”  

However, this is the last year the Capitol Region will see the festival in its current format, as they have decided to evolve with the times, Rubyan says.  

“The audience has changed. With the advent and the rise of streaming, people don’t go to the theater like they used to,” Rubyan says. “It is what it is. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just the audience morphing and evolving.”  

That doesn’t mean the festival is going away forever, but instead of a weekend of movies, the festival will sponsor three or four movies a year for viewers to check out.  

“It’s something new for us after having done it this long, but nobody wants to be the last one left at the party,” Rubyan says.  “We know what our audience wants. Just to give you some perspective, we started the film festival the year the iPhone was released.”  

Each film will be played in the Manship Theatre at 100 Lafayette St. Tickets for each movie are $14.50, but a festival pass for all four movies can be purchased for $25.50. Find more information on the films and purchase tickets here.