Festival supporters Peach and Cynthia Reynolds model this year’s AJFF T-shirts at the closing reception on November 9 at the Dell JCC.  Credit: David Finkel Photography

Contributed by David Finkel 

The 23rd Austin Jewish Film Festival (AJFF) shone brightly, celebrating Jewish and Israeli cinema. The 2025 festival was a resounding success, featuring thirteen well-attended in-person programs over five days in the recently renovated Gloria & Harvey Evans Performance Center at the Dell Jewish Community Center. For those who couldn’t attend in person, the festival also included a virtual section that ran from November 14–23.

This year’s event was dedicated to the memory of two significant community members: Carol Rubin z”l (wife of AJFF Board Member Jay Rubin) and Gloria Evans z”l (mother of Mitch Evans and a generous AJFF benefactor), who passed away shortly before the festival.

Audience Favorites and Award Winners

Audience enthusiasm was high, with films earning an exceptional average rating of more than 4.5 out of 5. Three films achieved a near-perfect score of 4.9, jointly securing the prestigious 2025 AJFF Audience Choice Award:

“Among Neighbors”: Yoav Potash’s new documentary investigates the story of a small, rural Polish town where the longstanding peace between Jewish and Polish neighbors was shattered during World War II. The film focuses on one of the last living Holocaust survivors from the town and an aging eyewitness who saw Jews murdered there—six months after the Nazis were defeated. The screening included an AJFF interview with director Potash.

“The Road Between Us”: This was the closing night movie, telling the incredible rescue story of the Tibon family from kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023. Canadian film director Barry Avrich traveled to Austin to conduct a post-movie Q&A.

“Nina is an Athlete”: This documentary feature focused on an Israeli paralympic badminton player and her conflict between striving for the top level of her sport and trying to expand her family. Israeli filmmaker Ravit Markus traveled to Austin to present the film and conduct a Q&A.

Other Notable Festival Highlights

The program featured several other notable and diverse films:

“Once Upon My Mother”: This crowd-pleasing French comedy drama opened the festival, hilariously showcasing the extraordinary lengths a mother will go to for her child.

“The Sea”: This powerful drama won five Israeli Academy Awards and is Israel’s official submission for the 2026 Oscars. It tells the story of a Palestinian schoolboy living in the West Bank who is prevented from traveling into Israel to visit the sea with his classmates because his permit is not in order. Israeli director Shai Carmelli Pollak was featured in an AJFF interview about the film.

“Centered: Joe Lieberman”: A documentary about the former US Senator. His long-time Chief of Staff in the US Senate, Clarine Nardi Riddle, traveled to Austin for a Q&A after the film, interviewed by former White House correspondent Ken Herman.

“New Shorts from Sapir College”: This screening highlighted new works from the Israeli film school. The school’s head of distribution, Hen Gimelfarb, traveled from Israel to speak to our audience.

“The Floaters”: A comedy about a Jewish summer camp, featuring A-list actors. Co-producer and story originator Shai Korman conducted a post-film Q&A.

Events and Partnerships

The opening and closing night events were preceded by enjoyable receptions, which featured live music, drinks, and kosher food from Shevet Café, the festival’s new concessions partner.

Festival Director David Finkel expressed his appreciation: “We’re so glad for the support of all our business sponsors and individual supporters who help provide the resources for us to run such a great festival. It is such a joy to collaborate with Shalom Austin, our closest partner. We also really appreciate all the other community partners who helped make this our best festival yet!”.

Beyond the Festival

The AJFF continues to engage the community with its year-round AJFF365 monthly programs. The next program will be a screening of “Midas Man”—a drama about Brian Epstein, the longtime manager of the Beatles —on Thursday, December 18, at the Dell JCC.