The Trager Family Jewish Community Center will present the 28th annual Louisville Jewish Film Festival from Saturday, Feb. 7 through Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, offering a hybrid slate of in-person and virtual screenings.
Nine live films and six virtual selections (five features and one short) will be screened at the Trager Family JCC, Speed Museum Cinema, The Filson Historical Society, Cinemark Mall St. Matthews, and local Louisville locations this year.
Tickets for the lineup start at $12. All-access, live, and virtual passes can be purchased at jewishlouisville.org/filmfestival.
Opening night of the Jewish Film Festival
“Welcome to Yiddishland” will be screened live at the Trager Family JCC’s Shapira Foundation Auditorium on Saturday, February 7, to kick off the festival. At 7:30 p.m., there will be an opening night reception with light fare and live music by Lost Tribe. Tickets for opening night cost $22.
Film Synopses—Per Release
Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round
“To support the five Howard students arrested for sitting on the gilded horses of a whites-only carousel the summer of 1960, the white community near Glen Echo Amusement Park – many of them Jewish – joined protesting Black students and set up picket lines, creating an unprecedented collaboration. The pickets attracted Nazis, congressmen, and a press avalanche. Picketing together led to partying together and union organizers mentored student activists, ultimately producing ten 1961 Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael, and a Supreme Court case. With never-before-seen footage, and immersive storytelling by Emmy-award winning director Ilana Trachtman, four living protesters rescue this untold story, revealing the price, and the power, of heeding the impulse to activism. The film includes voiceover by noted actors Mandy Patinkin and Jeffrey Wright.”
Winner of Best Documentary at the DC Black Film Festival; Building Bridges Award at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival; Women in Film Award at the St. Louis International Film Festival, and Audience Award at the Boston Jewish Film Festival
Among Neighbors
“Combining magical realism and evocative hand-drawn animation with revelatory interviews, this film examines the story of a small, rural town where Polish Jews and Catholics lived side-by-side for centuries before World War II. The film brings the Polish response to the Holocaust to life through the last living eyewitnesses, revealing both love and betrayal as it zeroes in on one of the last living Holocaust survivors from the town, and an eyewitness who saw Jews murdered there – not by Nazis, but by her own Polish neighbors.”
Catalogue of Noses (short film)
“Catalogue of Noses tells the story of Emily, a Jewish teen actor on the day of her scheduled nose surgery, who faces off with her mother, a plastic surgeon, and the weight of her cultural identity. Through “Fiddler on the Roof” parody songs, we follow Emily’s emotional state as she navigates this decision and learns unsettling truths about the consequences of assimilation.”
Winner of Audience Award at the Road Theatre film festival, Winner of Best Director at the Jeonju International Film Festival.
Halisa
“A beautiful, emotionally complex Israeli drama unfolds as a nurse longing for her own child becomes entwined in a young mother’s crisis, leading to a risky decision with life-altering ramifications. In her 40s, single, and facing infertility, Sarah works at a health center in Halisa, a multiethnic, impoverished Haifa neighborhood. When she treats Anya, a young mother, an unexpected bond forms. As their bond grows, it becomes a healing force for Sarah’s emptiness, and it seems each woman may offer the other exactly what she needs.”
Winner of Jury Prize at the Haifa International Film Festival. Nominated for 5 films at the Israeli Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.
Malachi (virtual only)
“Young parents Efrat and Ofir abandoned their newborn son Malachi due to a medical condition. Bat Sheva, an Orthodox midwife at the birthing center, and her husband choose to become his foster parents, giving him a new life. Interviews with Malachi’s biological parents, foster parents and siblings, as well as the medical staff, combined with powerful animation, reveal the trauma of abandonment and its impact: the parents’ struggle with guilt while longing for forgiveness, Bat Sheva’s boundless love, and Malachi’s journey to understand himself and his past.”
Winner of Best Israeli Documentary at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
Midas Man
“Set against the kaleidoscopic backdrop of Swinging Sixties London, this stylish musical biopic explores the genius and demons of the trailblazing Jewish manager hailed as the “fifth Beatle.” Amid the heady swirl of fame and ongoing cultural revolution, he navigated societal pressures, solitude, and the hidden struggles of life as a closeted gay man. Jacob Fortune-Lloyd delivers a raw, authentic performance, blending mod-inspired visuals, an evocative soundtrack, and a sensitive exploration of the seismic shifts Epstein ignited – and the toll they exacted on him.”
Winner of Birmingham Film Festival Bull Award.
Pink Lady
“In an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem, Bati appears to have the perfect life—happily married to Lazer with three beautiful children. But when Lazer is blackmailed by a gang and she discovers his secret affair, her world begins to unravel., Bati will stop at nothing to protect her family and save the man she loves, all while confronting her own hidden desires. Directed by one of Israel’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Nir Bergman (Cannes Official Selection Here We Are and writer of In Treatment)”
Winner of Best Narrative Feature Award at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and Best Director Prize at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
The Property
“Regina and her granddaughter Mika embark on a journey to Poland to reclaim family property seized during World War II. But their quest quickly unravels. Regina unexpectedly decides to abandon the mission entirely, leaving Mika lost and confused. To complicate matters further, an irritating distant relative keeps appearing at every turn. Just as Mika finds herself falling for a charming tour guide, Regina seizes the opportunity to pursue her own hidden agenda: finding her long-lost love, from whom she was separated seventy years ago. Based on the award-winning 2013 graphic novel by Rutu Modan.”
Winner of Micki Moore Award for Best Narrative Feature Film Directed by a Woman at the 2025 Toronto Jewish Film Festival. Nominated for 4 Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay.
The Sea
“Khaled, a 12-year-old boy from a Palestinian village, gets the chance to see the sea for the first time in his life on a school trip. But when they reach a military checkpoint, the soldiers claim his permit is invalid and send him back home, while his classmates continue their trip. Deeply disappointed, Khaled sets out to the sea on his own, even though he doesn’t know the way and doesn’t speak Hebrew. When his father, Ribhi, an undocumented laborer working in Israel, learns that his son is missing, he leaves his job in search for him—risking arrest and the loss of his livelihood.”
Ophir Awards from Israeli Film Academy for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Music, Israel’s official entry for the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category.
Tatami
“An intense political thriller inspired by real events,Tatami follows Iranian female judoka Leila and her coach Maryam, who travel to the World Judo Championships, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Championships, they receive a chilling ultimatum from the Islamic Republic: because there’s a good chance that an Israeli competitor will make it to the finals, Leila must fake an injury and lose, or be branded a traitor for her tacit acknowledgment that Israel deserves to compete. With her own safety and her family’s freedom on the line, Leila faces an impossible choice: submit to the Iranian regime, as her coach Maryam implores her to do, or fight on for the gold. TATAMI is the first feature film to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker.“
Welcome to Yiddishland
Welcome to the story of the revival of the Yiddish language, one that follows artists from around the world across numerous disciplines as they reignite the use of the ‘mother tongue’ in music, theatre, opera, and literature in this upbeat, witty, film. From behind-the-scenes with an acclaimed Yiddish-language version of Yentl, to enjoyably transgressive punk-Klezmer musicians, and Barrie Kosky’s latest trailblazing production in Berlin—the endangered Yiddish language is alive and well in this rousing documentary. Welcome to Yiddishland offers audiences a positive, nuanced, empowered, and inclusive depiction of “Jewishness.”
Nominated for Documentary Australia Award at the Sydney Film Festival
Winner of Audience Award at the Berkshire Film Festival, Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the San Francisco IndieFest, Audience Choice Award at the Austin Jewish Film Festival, and Jewish Film Institute Envision Award.
Individual tickets, virtual passes, in-person bundles, full festival passes, and opening night reception tickets are all on sale now at jewishlouisville.org/filmfestival.
This article appears in Jan 1-31, 2026.