Bucharest Jewish Film Festival, 15th edition, opens on November 3. For four days, until November 6, the audience will have the chance to take part in a diverse array of events: from film screenings to concerts and exhibitions, all at ARCUB | Sala Mare (Str. Lipscani 84–90). 

Under the theme “Humour as therapy”, the festival offers a refined selection of international films, short films, intelligent comedies and touching stories that explore how laughter, irony and self-irony can become authentic forms of survival and solidarity. Admission is free, subject to seat availability, and the day-by-day schedule as well as the registration form for screenings are available on the official website: www.semperculturalia.ro.

As every year, the festival aims to be more than just a series of film screenings — it seeks to be a platform for cultural dialogue, a meeting point between the audience, creators and universal themes:

“Laughter is not just a reaction; it’s a gesture of freedom. Through the selected films, we want to bring the audience closer to the Jewish spirit, where humour is a way to survive and to love the world, despite all its absurdities,” the organisers declared. 

Official selection – BJFF 2025

• Bad Shabbos (USA, 2025 – 84 min) – director: Daniel Robbins; screenplay: Zack Weiner & Daniel Robbins. Audience Award – Tribeca Film Festival 2024. A comedy about tradition, love and the chaos of a Shabbat dinner that goes completely out of control. A mixed couple brings their parents together for the first time — but an accidental death changes everything. Between family expectations and personal freedoms, unconditional love and constructive criticism, tradition and tolerance, Bad Shabbos is a dynamic, funny and surprising film drawing from the great classic comedies.
• Le Père, le Fils et le Rav Kalmenson (France, 2023 – 15 min) – dir. Dayan D. Oualid. A normal Saturday at the synagogue becomes a comic adventure about family, tradition and little spiritual mishaps. Can you light the lamp? Only God knows!
• The Property (Israel/Poland, 2025 – 108 min) – dir. Dana Modan; screenplay: Rutu Modan. Micki Moore Award – Toronto Jewish Film Festival 2025. Regina and Mika, grandmother and granddaughter, set off to Poland to reclaim a property confiscated during the war. A dramatic comedy about memory, identity and forgiveness, based on the eponymous graphic novel by Rutu Modan.
• No Name Restaurant (Nicht ganz koscher) (Germany, 2022 – 98 min) – dir. Peter Keller & Stefan Sarazin. A rabbi, a Bedouin and no way out. A Jew from Brooklyn and a Bedouin from Sinai embark on an unpredictable journey through the desert, attempting to save a tradition — and perhaps their own faith. A spiritual, humorous and meaningful adventure.
• The Last Cowboy in Salford (UK, 2023 – 15 min) – dir. Jake Lancaster. Jonny Richman, a Jewish teenager obsessed with westerns, dreams of becoming a cowboy — to his parents’ despair. A dark comedy about identity, belonging and the courage to be different.
• Love in Suspenders (Israel, 2019 – 98 min) – dir. Jorge Weller. Audience Award – Montreal Israeli Film Festival 2020. A delightful story about love, humour and second youth. Tammy and Beno, two septuagenarians, discover that love can be just as complicated — and funny — at any age.
• Checkout (Israel/Ukraine, 2023 – 97 min) – dir & script: Jonathan Dekel, Dr Shai Satran. A psychedelic comedy about a Mossad agent on the verge of retirement, who refuses to step down before finishing his mission. “A spy comedy in the style of Woody Allen.” – The Jerusalem Post.
• No Harm Done (France, 2023 – 18 min) – dir. Sarah Stern. A new mother faces the dilemmas of an ancient tradition: her son’s circumcision. A humour-filled and tender reflection on faith, family and freedom of choice.
• Masel Tov Cocktail (Germany, 2020 – 30 min) – dir. Arkadij Khaet & Mickey Paatzsch. Civis Media Prize 2020. A sharp short film about Jewish identity in today’s Europe, satirising stereotypes and inter-generational tensions. The film will be followed by a special discussion with Dr Lea Wohl von Haselberg (film & media scholar, expert in Jewish representation in post-war German cinema), Dr Felicia Waldman (lecturer, Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest) and Alexander Fuhrman, consultant.
• The festival programme also includes the exhibitions Vachement coquettes (curated by Lena Conta Vieru) and Sephardic Bucharest (curated by Felicia Waldman), as well as a concert by the Hungarian band Sefardito. 

The edition will close with a concert featuring Oana Berbec (soprano), Adina Cocargeanu (piano), Nicu Spătaru (saxophone) and Ethan Schmeisser (piano). 

Written by News.ro|