The Spokane Jewish Film Festival began last night, showcasing six feature films and several shorts over the next two weeks. The subject matter highlights many aspects of Jewish life through documentaries, dramas, comedies, a rom-com, and fun background info on the comeback of Yiddish. Every showtime will include guest speakers and Q&A discussions as well as a performance by a local Klezmer band. The films offer a unique perspective on Jewish life in America and around the world.
ELIE WIESEL: SOUL ON FIRE is a heartfelt, thought-provoking documentary about the iconic and prolific Elie Wiesel. It is well edited and fast-paced. It offers insightful moments that guide viewers through years of dark, harrowing, unimaginable days and nights, then whisks audiences back to the light, filled with courageous and inspirational conversations with Wiesel, his family, his students, and world leaders. It is exquisitely presented and will leave audiences in awe.
“When a person listens to a witness, you become a witness.”
This is what happened. Over 140 attendees were silent as the movie unfolded. There wasn’t a sound. We all breathed in unison and became one. Nobody moved when it ended. Then thunderous applause followed. It was a magical, phenomenal moment. The documentary gave everyone a gift for sifting through frightening years of history. It made sure we knew how imperative it is not to stand on the sidelines. Not choosing a side is choosing a side. Wiesel wanted the world to know that people cannot be neutral. These are immense concepts, but Wiesel’s movie cast a powerful, gentle strength through animation, historical clips, interviews, and stirring quotes from his best-selling book, NIGHT.
ELIE WIESEL: SOUL ON FIRE will stay within my soul forever. I will remember. I will see Wiesel’s haunted, kind eyes. I will hear his voice in my heart. This film has the potential to change the world, and it is truly extraordinary how lost our planet still is today without Eli Wiesel keeping us honest and loving to all humans.
It is available on PBS.
