Five Must-See Films at the 2017 Jewish International Film Festival

When it comes to Australia's annual collection of Jewish cinema, variety isn't simply the spice of life — it's the festival's guiding principle. Showcasing the breadth and depth of Jewish culture and storytelling is this event's aim, and it has the range to match. In fact, 2017's Jewish International Film Festival lineup boasts 65 films from 26 countries, including Danish dramas, Aussie docos, Israeli love stories, restored Polish classics, Russian projects and everything in between.

A heartbreaking array of factual efforts? Tick. The sounds of Yiddish? Tick again. Explorations of famous Jewish filmmakers? A Sundance-like range of US indies? Multiple perspectives on Israeli life? Just keep ticking. With the fest making its way around the country between October 25 and November 22, we've chosen our five must-see movies from this year's program.

MENASHE

If you only see one Yiddish-language movie this year, make it Menashe, which has been earning ample praise since it premiered at Sundance back in January. Loosely based on the real life of its Hasidic first-time actor and star Menashe Lustig, writer-director-producer-cinematographer Joshua Weinstein's debut full-length film unravels the story of a grocery store worker desperate to keep custody of his son after his wife's death — but beholden to strict religious tradition that dictates otherwise unless he remarries. For extra authenticity, the film was reportedly shot in secret within New York's ultra-orthodox community.

Screening in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

IN BETWEEN

Three female friends cope with life, love and navigating society's standards in In Between, a film that sounds oh-so-familiar — until it comes to its setting and cultural perspective. Screens big and small are filled with similar stories, but this isn't just Girls set in Tel Aviv. Rather, first-time feature filmmaker Maysaloun Hamoud delves into the difficulties confronting her trio of Palestinian protagonists as they try to wade through several layers of oppression, refuse to conform to expectation, and — crucially — fight to be themselves in a world of rules, tradition and control.

Screening in Sydney and Melbourne.

REBEL IN THE RYE

For a famous recluse who shunned the spotlight for the bulk of his adult life, the late JD Salinger is rarely far from public attention. Writing one of the most iconic novels of the twentieth century will do that. While Salinger refused to let anyone turn The Catcher in the Rye into a film (not that it stopped the likes of Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio trying), the author's own tale keeps popping up on screen. Documentary Salinger stepped through his story back in 2013, and now Rebel in the Rye dramatises his early years — with Nicholas Hoult as the scribe and Mad Men actor turned writer-director Danny Strong behind the camera.

Screening in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

SCARRED HEARTS

After helming the nineteenth century-set Romanian art-western Aferim!, filmmaker Radu Jude once again opts for something far from ordinary with Scarred Hearts. Based on autobiographical writings by Jewish Romanian author Max Blecher, the film tells the story of a twenty-something man's bedridden state as he recovers from bone tuberculosis, falls in love with a recovering former patient, and endeavours to reach beyond his confined state. A tale of living, resting, trying to find small joys, and coping with both illness and Facism, suffice it to say that this isn't the type of film you see every day.

Screening in Sydney and Melbourne.

BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY

She amassed 35 acting credits to her name in both Europe and the US, and starred alongside everyone from Judy Garland to Spencer Tracy to the Marx brothers in her '40s and '50s heyday. That's only part of Hedy Lamarr's considerable true tale, however. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story steps through the smarts behind the screen persona, with the Austrian-born talent not only an actress but an accomplished inventor. Self-taught, she devised a frequency-hopping signal that was used by the Allies during the Second World War, as this Diane Kruger-narrated documentary explores.

Screening in Sydney and Melbourne.

The 2017 Jewish Film Festival screens at Sydney's Event Cinemas Bondi Junction and Hayden Orpheum from October 26 to November 22, Melbourne's Classic Cinemas and Lido Cinemas from October 25 to November 22, and Brisbane's New Farm Cinemas from October 26 to November 1. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.