Atlanta Jewish Film Festival has faith in cinema of substance

The "Man of Steel" will return this year to your local megaplex, as will Jennifer Lawrence's stronger-than-Kryptonite cheekbones in a "Hunger Games" follow-up. Wolverine is back too, as are Hobbits, Jack Ryan, Iron Man, the crew from "Monsters, Inc.," Will Ferrell's ultra-dense anchorman Ron Burgundy and — hi-ho, sequels, away! — even the Lone Ranger.

In Hollywood, successful franchises “Die Hard” (yep, yet another returnee).

We who like popcorn flicks almost as much as we like popcorn don’t mean to sound dismissive. Yet there are times when mature viewers hunger for something more substantial — movies whose plot complications can’t be covered in a 140-character tweet.

That’s where the 13th Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, a three-week screening extravaganza at multiple metro theaters starting Jan. 30, comes in.

It’s an international and independent festival of substantial films that, as executive director Kenny Blank has said, just happen to be Jewish.

The city’s largest film gathering, which drew a record 30,000 last year (up 15 percent from 2011), will debut 71 titles in 124 screenings from 24 countries in what might be considered its Bar Mitzvah edition.

Indeed, many of the films are themselves only loosely Judaic in theme, which helps draw non-Jewish cinema fans. A quarter of the audience at the country’s second-largest Jewish film festival (after San Francisco’s) is non-Jewish, according to AJFF audience surveys.

That’s gratifying to leaders of the festival and its sponsor, the American Jewish Committee, since the AJFF’s mission is to inspire bridge-building across cultural divides.

The cross-section of films varies each year, depending on the 400-plus entries submitted for consideration by filmmakers.

“Every year, it’s a whole ‘nother mix, taking us to new countries, new experiences, new stories, new biographies,” Blank said. “Every year, people say, ‘This one was the best year ever.’ This year may truly be (that) just in terms of the diversity of the subject matter.”

The 2013 lineup is particularly strong in music and arts-related titles, biographies, gay-themed films and coming-of-age stories.

“I think there (have been) off years, where maybe we have too many films on the Holocaust, or too many on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or any one particular area,” Blank added. “But this year covers light to dark, the profound to the sublimely ridiculous and everything in between.”

The opening-night feature, the American-made documentary “Hava Nagila (The Movie),” showing Jan. 30 at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (the fest’s only new venue), is one on the lighter side. It captures the almost worldwide ubiquity of the Hebrew folk song.

A note of warning for those who have never attended an AJFF screening, often featuring post-screening Q&As with a filmmaker or star or introduced by a noteworthy Atlantan: Sellouts are common, and advance ticket purchase is advised to ensure you have a seat.

Other AJFF highlights:

Oscar bait, foreign edition: The Israeli dramedy "The World Is Funny," which blends fantasy and reality as three estranged siblings with abandonment issues face adult challenges that lead to catharsis, received 15 Ophir nominations, that country's equivalent of the Academy Awards. Also: Nominated for 13 Guldbagge Awards, Sweden's version of the Oscars, "Simon and the Oaks" is about family secrets that entangle two boys from different backgrounds growing up in coastal Gothenburg around World War II.

Rom-coms: "Paris-Manhattan" is a French romantic comedy about a loveless 30-something's obsession with Woody Allen movies and the dashing Frenchman who may represent her own happy ending. Also: "A Bottle in the Gaza Sea," in which an email romance blooms after a 17-year-old French-Israeli student tosses a bottle with a message into the Mediterranean after a Tel Aviv suicide bombing and it's recovered on a Gaza beach by a 20-year-old Palestinian man.

On the randy side: "My Awkward Sexual Adventure," a Canadian sex comedy about a schlubby accountant who seeks help from a disarrayed stripper to win back his sexually unfulfilled girlfriend, is the fest's "Gen-Y Night" special feature (Feb. 7 at Atlantic Station Stadium 16, with an encore screening at Lefont Sandy Springs on Feb. 14).

Music: "A.K.A. Doc Pomus," about the disabled songwriter behind "Save the Last Dance for Me" and many other hits. Also: "El Gusto," about Chaabi, an Algerian musical form uniting Spanish rhythms and Arabic vocals; "Orchestra of Exiles," about the roots of the Israeli Philharmonic; and "Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy."

Coming-of-age dramas: "Tiger Eyes," a first-time adaptation of a Judy Blume novel, is about a teen grappling with the sudden, violent loss of her Jewish father (with the author appearing at one screening and her director-son Lawrence Blume appearing at two). Also: In "The Dandelions," a French-Jewish girl seeks escape from the smothering love of her Tunisian mom, Holocaust-obsessed father and the grandmother with whom she shares a bedroom.

Documentaries: In "The Last White Knight," filmmaker Paul Saltzman, a former civil rights worker and 1960s activist, returns to Mississippi to encounter the man who once assaulted him, KKK member Byron "Delay" De La Beckwith Jr., son of the man convicted of killing civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Also: "The First Fagin" links the infamous "Oliver Twist" character to a 19th-century Jewish convict.

Homage (of a sort): Based on Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" and its Hollywood remake "The Magnificent Seven," "The Ballad of the Weeping Spring" features anti-heroes who play instruments instead of enjoying gunplay. It's a Western-styled Israeli fairy tale about a Mizrahi band with a reclusive leader that reunites to grant a friend's dying wish.

Biographies: In the documentary "Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir," the Polish-French filmmaker shares raw recollections of tragic real-life episodes that haunt his directorial career. Also: "Lunch," a fly-on-the-wall documentary that captures funnymen including Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner and Monty Hall as they nosh twice monthly at a deli in Sherman Oaks, Calif.; "Joe Papp in Five Acts"; and "Koch," about former New York Mayor Ed Koch.

Gay themes: "Out in the Dark" is a drama of forbidden love between a Palestinian psychology student (Nicholas Jacob) and a Jewish Tel Aviv lawyer (Michael Aloni). Also: the documentary "Undressing Israel: Gay Men in the Promised Land."

3-D: "The Rabbi's Cat," a French animated film based on Joann Sfar's best-selling graphic novel about a rabbi and his "kosher" kitty, will mark the fest's first 3-D screening.

Revivals: "Crossing Delancey," the sweet rom-com that examined class differences in New York, gets a 25th anniversary showing (with star Peter Riegert doing a post-screening Q&A). Also: The newly restored Yiddish musical "The Singing Blacksmith" receives a 75th anniversary showing.