EVENT PREVIEW
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
Through Feb. 20 at Regal Cinemas North Point Market 8, Georgia Theatre Company Merchants Walk, Lefont Sandy Springs, United Artists Tara Cinemas 4, Regal Cinemas Atlantic Station Stadium 18, Westside Cultural Arts Center (Creative Loafing Art Party on Feb. 8 only) and Woodruff Arts Center's Rich Auditorium (closing day/night only). Tickets: $11; ages 65 and older, students with ID and ages 12 and under, $9; weekday matinees (until 4 p.m.), $8. 1-866-214-2072, www.ajff.org.
To help keep tickets available closer to the time of its screenings, organizers of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival made several adjustments this year.
With advance sellouts routine at the city’s largest film event, which attracted a record 32,000 last year, planners increased the number of screenings (152, which is 28 more than in 2013) while decreasing the number of films and extended the fest by a day. They also added either screens or days or took over bigger auditoriums at three of its returning venues scattered around the metro area, and even booked a seventh site, the Woodruff Arts Center’s Rich Auditorium.
Increasing capacity by 20 percent, the moves seemed astute. But as the fest enters its first full weekend Friday, the AJFF again confronts the happy problem of having multiple screenings of certain titles sell out well in advance.
For instance, at press time, tickets were gone for four of the five screenings of “Hunting Elephants,” an Israeli caper film starring Patrick Stewart, as well as for the Israeli cliffhanger “Bethlehem.” (Tickets still available for “Elephants” at 11:50 a.m. Feb. 3 at Tara; and for “Bethlehem” at 6:15 p.m. Feb. 3 at Tara.)
Even tickets for two of the three screenings of a short film double-bill have sold out. Its hot-ticket status was no doubt assured after one of the movies, “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life,” scored an Oscar nomination for best documentary short. (Tickets still available for showing at 11:25 a.m. Feb. 2 at Merchants Walk.)
So, if you've thought about attending the AJFF but haven't purchased seats in advance, be forewarned to check availability (at www.ajff.org) before heading to the cinema.
All that said, the opening weekend still offers a varied selection of films with tickets still available. Here are highlights, with sellouts noted as of press time:
"Like Brothers" is a bittersweet French road movie in which a mismatched trio of French guys fulfill the dying wishes of a young woman. (2 p.m. Jan. 31, Tara; Feb. 4 sold out; 9:45 p.m. Feb. 8, Lefont Sandy Springs; 1:25 p.m. Feb. 14, Lefont Sandy Springs; 2:15 p.m. Feb. 18, Atlantic Station)
"It Happened in Saint-Tropez" is a French situational comedy mixing romance and pratfalls. (11:30 a.m. Jan. 31, Tara; noon Feb. 14, Lefont Sandy Springs; 2:35 p.m. Feb. 17, Atlantic Station; 8:50 p.m. Feb. 19, Lefont Sandy Springs)
"Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love" is an affectionate documentary about the music man. (7:30 p.m. Feb. 1, Tara; 9:15 p.m. Feb. 5, Merchants Walk; Feb. 8 sold out; 2:45 p.m. Feb. 14, Atlantic Station; 3 p.m. Feb. 20, Woodruff Arts Center)
"Kidon" is a heaping scoop of popcorn entertainment in which matters unravel after the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai. (Feb. 1 sold out; 2:40 p.m. Feb. 4, Tara; Feb. 9 sold out; 2 p.m. Feb. 13, Atlantic Station; Feb. 16 sold out)
"The Wonders" is an offbeat Israeli comedy in which Jerusalem becomes a central character. (8:20 p.m. Feb. 1, Merchants Walk; 1:05 p.m. Feb. 2, Tara; 11:50 a.m. Feb. 14, Atlantic Station; 11:50 a.m. Feb. 17, Lefont Sandy Springs)
"Quality Balls: The David Steinberg Story" is a documentary about one of Johnny Carson's favorite comics. (Feb. 1 sold out; 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8, North Point; 10:10 p.m. Feb. 15, Lefont Sandy Springs; 3:30 p.m. Feb. 16, Atlantic Station)
"Cupcakes" is a kitschy musical about Israeli underdogs in an international singing contest. (9:45 p.m. Feb. 1, Tara; 12:20 p.m. Feb. 5, Merchants Walk; Feb. 9 sold out; 2:15 p.m. Feb. 11, Lefont Sandy Springs; 10 p.m. Feb. 15, Atlantic Station)
"The Real Inglorious Bastards" is a documentary that explores the story Quentin Tarantino dramatized in his hit film, about Jewish recruits striking back at the Nazis. (11 a.m. Feb. 2, Tara; Feb. 3 sold out; 12:35 p.m. Feb. 13, Lefont Sandy Springs; 2:30 p.m. Feb. 14, Lefont Sandy Springs)
"Aftermath" is a Polish mystery-thriller based on the real-life cover-up of Jewish deaths at the hands of Catholic Poles. (7:50 p.m. Feb. 3, Merchants Walk; noon Feb. 4, Tara; Feb. 16, 17, 18 sold out)
"The German Doctor" is an Argentine drama that forms a meditation on why Latin American countries harbored Nazi elite after the war. (Feb. 3 sold out; 8:50 p.m. Feb. 4, Merchants Walk)
"In Hiding" is a drama about an obsessive relationship between a young Polish woman and the Jewish refugee she is sheltering. (2:15 p.m. Feb. 3, Merchants Walk; 8:30 p.m. Feb. 17, Lefont Sandy Springs; 8 p.m. Feb. 18, Atlantic Station)
