The Opening Gala of the 19th Warsaw Jewish Film Festival will take place at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, on November 15th at 7:30 pm.

It will feature the Polish premiere of the film NEIGHBOURS directed by Mano Khalil, Switzerland / France 2021, 124 min.

In its uplifting humanism and funny moments, Mano Khalil’s film elicits superb performances from its cast, with some drawn from refugee camps in Iraqi Kurdistan. The quiet dignity of the villagers in the face of oppressive tyranny and corrupt Syrian government officials and Turkish border guards is especially wonderfully portrayed.

Growing up in a Kurdish village in north-eastern Syria in the 1980s, Sero is about to enter the first grade. The teacher is determined to instil Ba’ath Arab nationalism and suppress any feelings of Kurdish cultural identity in his students. Sero and his uncle act as the “sabbath goy’im” for their Jewish next-door neighbours: an old couple and their spinster daughter, Hannah, who has feelings for Sero’s uncle. Growing state-sponsored antisemitism makes the Jewish family’s situation increasingly precarious; they have been stripped of their Syrian citizenship and are unable to leave the country. Years later, Sero is languishing with his family in an Iraqi refugee camp when somebody comes looking for him...

„Neighbours” was awarded by Film Critics Jury Prize at San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2021 and won Bern Film Award 2021 for THE BEST MOVIE 2021!

Partners of the Opening Film: Embassy of Switzerland in Poland and The French Institute in Warsaw!

NEIGHBOURS dir. Mano Khalil, Switzerland / France 2021, 124 min.

Tickets for Opening Gala and the movie are available! Check the program and reserved your tickets now: HERE!

In 2021, the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival will be held in person in Warsaw (November 15-21) and online Poland-wide (November 15-30).

The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is the main partner of the festival.

The event is co-financed and sponsored by the Capital City of Warsaw, the Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund, the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Mazovia.pl, Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture.

FB: Warsaw Jewish Film Festival

PROGRAM: https://wjff.pl/en/program-2/