10 movies we’re most excited to catch at the New York Jewish Film Festival

The New York Jewish Film Festival—an annual event spotlighting international films that explore themes tied to the Jewish experience—will take over Lincoln Center once again this year, kicking off on January 14 and running through January 28.

Presented by the Jewish Museum and Film at Lincoln Center, this year’s festivities will open with Once Upon My Mother, a 1960s-set drama about a Moroccan Jewish family living in the suburbs of Paris.

The festival’s closing film, Fantasy Life, is also worth a mention. The Matthew Shear comic drama stars Amanda Peet as a wealthy but depressed mom who bonds over shared neuroses with a newly unemployed man who’s babysitting three girls, according to an official synopsis.

In between the two New York premieres, attendees will be treated to a variety of other standout movies. Here are some of the ones we’re most excited about:

Along the River

Gerburg Rohde-Dahl’s documentary centers on a group of Israelis and Palestinians that attended a seminar in Germany to navigate the aftermath of the October 7 attack.

Frontier

Frontier is a historical thriller that tells the true story of a Spanish village during World War II, when a group of inhabitants helped save a number of Jews that were smuggled in from Nazi-occupied France.

The Last Spy

This documentary is about CIA spy Peter Sichel, known as the Jewish James Bond, based on an interview that he gave before he died at the age of 102 last year.

Maintenance Artist

Maintenance Artist turns the camera toward Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the New York City Sanitation Department’s official artist-in-residence since 1977. The documentary observes her innovative work and deep engagement with the rhythms of everyday life.

Mazel Tov

This warm, occasionally raucous narrative centers on a son returning to Argentina for his sister’s wedding only to learn of his estranged father’s death.

Orna and Ella

Set against the final days of beloved Tel Aviv restaurant Orna and Ella, this 60-minute documentary celebrates the women behind a culinary institution that became a hub of community and inclusion.

Real Estate

Exploring universal themes of anxiety, Real Estate is about a young couple in Tel Aviv who is priced out of their apartment as they’re planning to start a family.

Sapiro v. Ford: The Jew Who Sued Henry Ford

This documentary retells the remarkable courtroom battle in which Jewish farmer and lawyer Aaron Sapiro took on Henry Ford over antisemitic defamation in the 1920s. What begins as a legal fight becomes a broader commentary on prejudice and power in America.

Browse the full schedule here. Screenings will take place at the Walter Reade Theater at 165 West 65th Street.