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One of the world’s leading cantorial masters departs the bema, prompting questions about the fading tradition of Jewish sacred music. With an outsized Brooklyn persona and phenomenal voice, Cantor Jack Mendelson utterly leaps off the screen. But after 29 years, his synagogue prefers a younger cantor. With emotion, Mendelson and other experts explain a centuries-long art form, and what its loss represents.

In this DocAviv best film winner, a controversial Jewish lawyer pushes Israeli courts to the limit in an unwavering defense of Palestinian rights. For nearly 50 years, Lea Tsemel has represented Palestinian prisoners in what she views as a rigged legal system. High-profile court cases are juxtaposed with flashbacks to her leftist awakening and attempts to raise a family, as this outspoken anti-establishment figure is astutely examined.

Justin Long leads an all-star cast in this edgy, Big Apple dysfunctional family dramedy about a 30-something college professor forced to defend his reputation. Josh is also beset with multiple family issues—divorcing parents and bickering siblings, among them—in this millennial urban tale that tackles changing social attitudes with humor, candor and compassion. With Lynn Cohen, Fran Drescher and Richard Schiff.

In this eulogy to a brilliant life tragically cut short, Hollywood remembers the visionary behind many of the 20th century’s most provocative films, including All the President’s Men, Sophie’s Choice and To Kill a Mockingbird. Of Polish-Jewish descent, Pakula’s ethos is manifest in stories of heart and suspense, and themes of moral malfeasance. Interviews with cinema luminaries, and copious movie clips, confirm his exceptional reputation and give the reclusive filmmaker his due.

Three generations seek to reconcile on a hasty trip to Brazil, in this heartfelt dramedy. Divorced, his business failing, Roberto—a Brazilian expat in Israel—takes his anxious son and impetuous father to Rio to watch Brazil’s World Cup quest. While mending their fraught relationships, the trio’s rocky journey reveals vital life lessons and long-buried secrets.

In a deft blend of dark comedy and quirky romance, a loveless, neurotic schlemiel finds emotional healing while gigging as a Jerusalem tour guide. When not caring for his doddering father, Ronen copes by offering free tours of famous terror attack sites along Jaffa Road…until he meets high-spirited Asia, an architecture student. Suddenly more alive, Ronen faces a worrying choice, in this droll take on the absurdity of everyday life in Israel.

A famous conductor assembling an orchestra of Israeli and Palestinian youth for a Mideast peace summit, finds a tempest of deep discord. Corralling the young artists, sworn enemies from the Arab-Israeli divide, is easier said than done, in this potent drama, with an amazing cast of non-actors, led by veteran Peter Simonischek.

The birth of modern Israel gets the big-budget, Hollywood treatment in this exhilarating epic featuring an all-star ensemble. Paul Newman is Israeli resistance leader Ari Ben Canaan, who defies a British blockade to smuggle Jewish refugees to Palestine. Once ashore, he falls for an American nurse, Kitty (Eva Marie Saint), as they risk their lives for the Zionist cause. Otto Preminger’s lavish production includes standout supporting performances from Lee J. Cobb and Sal Mineo, as well as Ernest Gold’s Academy Award-winning score.

Israel’s only female prime minister defends her clouded legacy in this engrossing portrait backboned by a surprisingly candid, unaired TV interview buttressed by testimonials from devotees and detractors alike, which charts Golda’s trailblazing rise to power and her tragic demise.

The Catholic Church’s response to the Holocaust is examined via historic film, rare documents and current interviews, revealing a failure of moral authority. Pope Pius XI overtly decried the anti-Semitism of 1938 Germany, but his successor took a starkly different stance. What more might the Church have done to halt the Final Solution and help Europe’s Jews? As the Vatican prepares to open its secret WWII archives in March 2020, this timely exposé examines all sides of a hotly debated topic.

After 50 years amassing random items in his Lower Manhattan mansion, revered photographer Jay Maisel plans to depart his Bowery nest. His iconic work includes magazine and album covers, advertising, and street photography. A compulsive collector, he crammed every corner of “The Bank”—his 72-room dwelling—with copious miscellany. But as it’s emptied, a melancholy Maisel waxes philosophical, resulting in an affectionate ode to a noteworthy life, the attritions of age, and the end of an era.

In this fond farewell to a community fixture, a favorite West Hollywood diner serves its final meals. Since 1947, an eclectic mix of folks ate at Ed’s Coffee Shop, an old-school breakfast and lunch nook, first owned by Ed Blumstein and then his daughter. But after nearly 60 years, it’s closing, a victim of shifting demographics and competition. Hit hard by the news, close-knit staff and loyal customers share memories over last servings of classic comfort food. Former Ed’s regulars, Oscar nominees Lawrence Kasdan and wife Meg, direct this intimate passion project.

In this sorrow-tinged romantic comedy, Parisian newlyweds travel to Poland, their honeymoon awkwardly doubling as a bid to reconnect with their Jewish heritage and homeland. Unable to bridge past and present in this strange yet familiar land, the eye-opening journey doesn’t go as planned. Awash with offbeat characters and absurd vignettes, this life-affirming charmer, a Moscow Film Festival FIPRESCI Critics prizewinner, movingly conveys the void sometimes experienced by third-generation survivors.

A daring Israeli underwater photographer spends 40 years taking stunning close-ups of aquatic wildlife, but one fearsome challenge eludes him: swimming beside a polar bear while filming the encounter. This breathtaking portrait reveals a fervent artist and activist risking life and limb in pursuit of singular beauty.

An inseparable pair of sprightly Holocaust survivors brings their tuneful call for peace and healing from assisted living facilities in Florida to the world stage, in this uniquely uplifting tribute to the human spirit. Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentarian Tod Lending expertly weaves comedy and tragedy in this charming, poignant and, above all, affirmative cinematic celebration.

The crucial historical lessons of Black-Jewish cooperation are revisited and revived in this utterly fascinating, urgent call to action. Pivotal events come alive through a treasure trove of archival materials, narrated by eyewitnesses, activists, Holocaust survivors, and leaders of the movement, including prominent Atlantans such as Congressman John Lewis, Amb. Andrew Young, Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, Rabbi Peter S. Berg, Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., members of the King family, and many others.

In this sweetly funny romance-dramedy, a 30-something Israeli couple has baby fever, putting their marriage to the test in a frenzy to get pregnant. The biological clock ticks as they begin protracted fertility treatments, a physical and emotional rollercoaster of medical procedures and regimented lovemaking. It’s soon clear the road to parenthood is not easy, in this frank portrayal of modern pregnancy.

An iconic home (the stunning Villa Tugendhat) takes center stage as secret affairs and history’s shifting tides shatter a Czech marriage, in this mesmerizing, erotic wartime saga. A wealthy Jewish industrialist and his gentile wife see their dream house become home to passionate, dark desires as 1930s idealism gives way to Hitler. Based on Simon Mawer’s hit novel.

A successful but stifled Russian-Jewish comedian cracks under the mounting pressure of personal insecurities and state censorship, in this smart, decidedly non-comedic social satire. After failing as a writer, Boris succeeds doing stand-up, but his creativity is stifled under mid-‘80s Soviet repression. Summoned like a court jester by the KGB, and finally pushed to the edge by the decadence and despotism of the ruling elite, events culminate in a revenge-soaked twist worthy of Shakespeare.

Jewish soul and Cuban song mesh on the dance floor in this wistful look at the mambo mania that swept the nation in the ‘50s. Jewish Americans fell for Havana’s hot mix of sultry Latin and Afro-Cuban rhythms in neon-splashed New York, Miami’s art deco hotels, and the Catskills resorts. Against a big band soundtrack, the free-spirited mamboniks colorfully recall their love affair with the Cuban dance craze.

Diane Kruger is an undercover Israeli spy in this complex espionage thriller about a Westerner-turned-rogue Mossad agent caught in international conspiracy. When she vanishes, Thomas (Martin Freeman), a British Jew, retraces her steps: Will her transgressive affair undermine a plot to sabotage Iran’s nuclear plan? This authentic portrayal of modern spy craft is based on the Israeli novel The English Teacher.

On their community’s behalf, two young Ethiopian men rally support for immigration to Israel. Roughly 9,000 Ethiopian Jews observe religious customs, yet Israel still denies their birthright return. Desperate to be heard, Demoz and Gezi go to America to find advocates for their cause, confronting homesickness, culture shock, and the frustrations of a grassroots effort. Their journey reveals the thorny politics of Ethiopian Jewry and the Zionist ideal.

Two emotionally fragile Holocaust survivors form a tenuous bond in this exquisitely crafted Hungarian drama. Having lost his family, a middle-aged doctor’s haunted survival is upended by a precocious patient, a needy teenage girl, who forms a proxy relationship with him. As a new Stalinist threat takes shape, these unlikely soulmates discover in each other a reason to go on.

A German-Jewish girl takes uneasy steps into adulthood, as world events intrude on her carefree life. When her father suddenly vanishes, and her family hurries from Germany, Anna begins to realize things will never be the same, in this superbly rendered historical family drama.