The Savannah Jewish Federation (SJF) is hosting the fourth annual Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival February 26-March 13, 2025. All of the films are free of admission and open to the public. Donations for all events are welcome.

Kicking off the festival is a mid-week two-part lecture series led by renowned Historian Brendan Murphy about the history of anti-semitism and will emphasize the dangers of prejudice in society and the importance of Holocaust education. Murphy, from the Marist School in Atlanta states “Holocaust education is a humanizing endeavor, a journey through the past that helps us reconsider how we understand ourselves as human beings. It’s a subject that should engage the heart, help develop better judgment and teach empathy.”

On Sunday March 2nd, the Savannah premier screening of A Gathering of Strangers film is followed by a Q&A led by Jennifer Rich featuring director, Ted Hardin, and producer, Elizabeth Coffman.This evening is co-sponsored by the Savannah Chapter of Hadassah. Other festival films include Between the Temples, a comedy about a cantor (Jason Schwartzman) in a crisis of faith who finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher (Carol Kane) re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student; A Real Pain follows mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother; and the documentary feature Eva Hesse focuses on the life and times of this ground-breaking artist who was active in New York and Germany in the 1960's.

On Thursday March 6th from 5-7pm, the Montag Gallery will host an opening reception and benefit show called Love For La La Land: Benefit for California Creatives to support artists and organizations directly impacted by the California wildfires. The Los Angeles County Jewish community is the second largest in the U.S. and home to hundreds of museums, galleries, art centers, theaters, music venues, and tens of thousands of artists, art educators and skilled technicians who work in culturally related fields. Following the opening reception and art sale the film Who Are the Marcuses? about a mysterious couple whose generous gift inspires peace and climate action through water technology will start at 7:15pm.

Sunday March 9th at 2pm, pianist Daniel Weiser will join forces with Baltimore-based clarinetist Seth Kibel in a concert which highlights the interconnections between Klezmer music and early American Jazz. These two musical idioms collided in New York City in the early 20th century as one-third of the Jewish population left Eastern Europe at the same time as the Great Migration of African-Americans from the South brought Ragtime and Blues to the North. This is a show you won’t want to miss!

Israeli chef extraordinaire, Tzila Lemberger, will host a challah baking class on Tuesday March 4th and a hamantaschen cookie class for the Purim holiday on March 11th. The weekly SJF Food for Thought lunch series will include a special short film entitled The Tribe on Thursday March 13th which tells the history of both the Barbie doll and the Jewish people from Biblical times to the present.

Visit the SJF website for a full calendar of events and to reserve a spot. There, you have access to watch trailers of the films being offered and become a “Friend of the Festival” to help support the 2025 Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival and other local programs which highlight and promote Jewish heritage and culture in the Savannah community.

For additional information, please contact Sam Friedman, CEO at 912.355.8111, [email protected]