Theater / Film
At Miami Jewish Film Festival, directors with local ties examine the gravity of Oct. 7 attacks
Director Jonathan Jakubowicz with Moran Zer Katzenstein, founder of Israeli women’s rights activist group Bonot Alternativa, in “Soul of a Nation,” which opens the 28th edition of the Miami Jewish Film Festival at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9 at the Miami Beach Bandshell. (Photo courtesy of Soul of a Nation)
When filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz went to Tel Aviv, he wanted to investigate the depths of the country’s polarization. He had been talking with his mother who has lived in Tel Aviv for almost two decades. “And then suddenly she started talking about the marches and the division and the end of democracy.”
His interest went deeper than his Jewish roots. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, what he calls a “failed state that broke apart in many ways because of polarization.” Then, while in Tel Aviv in 2023 working on his project, “Soul of a Nation,” Palestinian group Hamas launched the largest ever terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
“We had no idea Oct. 7 was going to happen when we started making the documentary.” “Soul of a Nation” has its world premiere kicking off the 28th edition of the Miami Jewish Film Festival (MJFF) at 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, Jan. 9 at the Miami Beach Bandshell.
A scene from Jonathan Jakubowicz’s documentary “Soul of a Nation,” which gets its world premiere opening the 28th edition of the Miami Jewish Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of Soul of a Nation)
Miami native Wendy Sachs’ documentary “OCTOBER H8TE” gets its southeast United States premiere at The Hub at Temple Beth Am, Pinecrest, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 12.
For both films, the filmmakers will be present to participate in question-and-answer sessions.
“I was born in South Miami and actually went to Temple Beth Am where the film is going to be screening. I grew up at the day school – from pre-school when I was four years old until I was in sixth grade,” Sachs fondly recalls. “It’s really a full circle moment.”
That is her origin story. Then there’s the origin story of how “OCTOBER H8TE” became a story that Sachs, a filmmaker, Emmy award-winning television producer and former Capitol Hill press secretary, felt she had to tell. Less than 24 hours after the Hamas massacre, anti-Israel demonstrations and support for Hamas swept across America and college campuses.
“On Oct. 7, I was visiting my daughter, Lexi, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” says Sachs. “Our phones started lighting up with messages and then we started to see the horrendous videos that were being put up on social media. And I think like so many in the Jewish community, we felt gutted.”
Documentary filmmaker and Miami native Wendy Sachs interviews IDF soldier Maya Bentwich at Kfar Aza, the site of the Hamas attacks, in southern Israel. (Photo courtesy of OCTOBER H8TE)
But it was the next day that Sachs says was the stunner. “There was a rally in Times Square celebrating Hamas as freedom fighters rather than terrorists. More than 30 student groups at Harvard signed a letter blaming Israel for the massacre. I knew that something had gone terribly wrong; it felt like the world had lost its mind.”
By the end of October 2023, Sachs put together a film treatment presenting the story she wanted to pitch to production companies. “(Places) where I had recently worked – NBC News and CNN. Everyone passed and I wasn’t surprised.”
She was determined to make the film and decided to move forward on her own.
“It needed to be documented, unpacked — what’s going on here and how we got to this moment,” says Sachs.
As is the case when creating a documentary and unlike a scripted film, events that happen in the midst of putting together the movie tend to shape the narrative.
Both filmmakers agree.
“The more time we spent in Israel and the more we spoke to people who participated and defined life there in the past, in the present, and who will define it in the future, the more evident it became that what was happening was the prelude for something truly horrific,” says Jakubowicz. “When we started the documentary, we had no idea what the third act was going to be.”
He points out one of the scenes in his film where Israeli reservists were hanging it up – no longer willing to fight for Israel. “When you heard it at the moment in Israel, you were like, well, that sounds risky, but when you see it in the documentary, and you realize that it had happened 77 days before Oct. 7 everything takes on a different meaning.”
Miami native Carlos Arroyo Jr., director of photography for “Soul of a Nation,” with Jonathan Jakubowicz on the streets of Tel Aviv. (Photo courtesy of Soul of a Nation)
Jakubowicz was able to shape his documentary with interviews with some of Israel’s key political figures – former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennet and Ehud Olmer, former President of the Supreme Court of Israel Dorit Beinisch, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, and former Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Israel Tzipi Livni and Shlomo Ben Ami, as well as peace activists, and Muslim leaders.
Sachs onboarded actress, producer and social justice and human rights activist, Jewish American Debra Messing as co-executive producer. Messing also appears in the film. “Debra was using her platform and her voice to speak out when so many other celebrities and high-profile people were just silent and remained silent. So many people are being shut down and canceled out for showing support for Israel even for the hostages. She was just fearless and courageous and I really wanted her to be a part of this project.”
Actress and political activist Debra Messing appears in the film “OCTOBER H8TE” and is also co-executive producer. (Photo courtesy of OCTOBER H8TE)
She says through social media she found that they had a mutual connection, and she was able to speak with Messing through Zoom. “I told her about the film, and I told her what I was looking to do and she said, “OK, I am in.”
The Palmetto High School graduate, who was a journalism major at Northwestern University, right out of college was the youngest press secretary on Capitol Hill working for U.S. Rep Peter Deutsch. Fast forward to the 2024 election cycle and the former Democratic congressman made headlines when he vocally supported Republican Donald Trump citing the security of Israel as his reason for stepping out of party lines.
It was the 2016 election that led Sachs to make her first independent film released in 2020. “Surge” followed three women running for Congress. After that, Sachs worked on other documentaries mostly for MSNBC and CNN.
“And then, well Oct. 7 happened, and I just felt like I needed to tell this story.”
Jakubowicz lives in Los Angeles but says Miami is his second home. Miami New Drama co-founder Moises Kaufman turned Jakubowicz’s best-selling first novel, “Las Aventuras de Juan Planchard,” into an original stage play that had its world premiere in Miami Beach at the Colony Theatre in 2023. “When I am here and I stay in Aventura, I can’t tell you how many former classmates from Caracas I run into when I am walking through Aventura Mall that are living in South Florida.”
Ashager Araro, an Ethiopian-Israeli activist, in a scene from Wendy Sachs’ documentary “OCTOBER H8TE” showing as part of the Miami Jewish Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of OCTOBER H8TE)
The filmmaker’s voice is the narrative throughout “Soul of a Nation,” something Jakubowicz hadn’t planned. “The reality is that the journey was personal from the beginning. I’m Venezuelan. I’m also the grandson of Holocaust survivors so Israel matters to me because if it had existed during the war, my family would have been saved. This isn’t about a foreign county on the other side of the world.”
Jakubowicz acknowledges that his film feels eerily prophetic in light of what is happening around the world. In his voice, the end of the narrative of “Soul of a Nation” is this:
“I started this journey because the nation where I was born was bleeding too. A similar affliction has impacted almost every society in the world. I don’t know what the future holds for humanity, but I have now seen two nations face their darkest hours as a result of polarization, so I invite you to ask yourself: ‘Is your neighbor as bad as you claim or are you being manipulated into intolerance?’ ”
OTHER FILMS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Films by South Florida directors and others about inhabitants of the Sunshine State and beyond are a few of the many don’t misses at the 28th edition of the Miami Jewish Film Festival.
Miami-based filmmaker Leslie Gelrubin Benitah takes a deep dive into the impact of Oct. 7 on Kibbutz Be’eri, a community once known for its peace and coexistence just a few miles from Gaza. Benitah is the creator of the online project called “The Last Ones,” a series of interviews with some of the last living Holocaust survivors and shares the stories with younger generations. Born and raised in Paris, she is a third-generation Holocaust Survivor and received her PhD in journalism from Sorbonne Université, now living in Miami. In her new documentary, Benitah talks to residents and uses archival footage and real-time accounts to tell the story of the kibbutz movement and the aftermath. Benitah will introduce the film and participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening.6:30 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 19, Michael-Ann Russell JCC.
The once thriving Miami Garment District is chronicled in the film “Miami Schmatta” from South Florida filmmakers Aaron Glickman and Grace Arts Center founder Clare Vickery. (Photo courtesy of Miami Jewish Film Festival)
South Florida director Aaron Glickman teamed with Grace Arts Center founder Clare Vickery as co-director for a look back at what Wynwood was before it was the Wynwood of today – Miami’s garment district that flourished. The film, which is getting its world premiere at MJFF, follows the rise of the post World War II garment industry that thrived in Miami. Despite challenges and labor shortages, a scaled-down garment industry endures in Miami. The directors will introduce the film and participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening. 7:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 13, Michael-Ann Russell JCC.
Actress Linda Lavin, who passed away on Dec. 30, best known for her role in the 1970s sitcom “Alice,” appears in one of her last film roles in “One Big Happy Family.” Lisa Brenner, wrote, produced and co-stars in the film about a woman whose life takes an unexpected turn on her 40th birthday when a DNA test reveals a surprising result. Lavin plays her mother who accompanies her on a journey of self-discovery. The movie gets its world premiere at the MJFF with Brenner appearing who will introduce the film and participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening. 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11, Temple Beth Am; 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12 and 8 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 21, Miami Theater Center.
Grammy Award-winning musician Janis Ian became a Florida resident in 2018 after moving to Anna Maria Island on the coast of Manatee County. Ian has a musical career that spans five decades and known for hits such as “At Seventeen” and the trailblazing “Society’s Child.” The documentary chronicles the singer’s life beginning with her Jewish childhood raised on a chicken farm in New Jersey to her release of the album “Breaking Silence,” which she leveraged to come out publicly about her relationship with wife, Pat Snyder. Ian will introduce the film and participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening. 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18, O Cinema Miami Beach.
Amichai Lau-Lavie, the subject of the documentary “Sabbath Queen.” (Photo courtesy of Miami Jewish Film Festival)
Amichai Lau-Lavie was born in the suburbs of Tel Aviv to a family that spanned 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis. The feature documentary, directed and produced by Sandi DuBowski, was filmed over 21 years following Lau-Lavie’s epic journey – he was ordained as a rabbi in 2016. The Israel-born gay man has spent his life’s journey breaking norms with part of the journey performing Jewish rituals in drag. Lau Lavie and DuBowski will introduce the film and participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening. 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 16, Miami Beach Botanical Garden.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: The 28th edition of the Miami Jewish Film Festival
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 9 through Thursday, Jan. 23
WHERE: Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; Michael-Ann Russell JCC, 18900 NE 25th Ave., North Miami Beach; Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach Botanical Garden, 2000 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach JCC, 4221 Pine Tree Drive, O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; Miami Theater Center, 9806 NE 2nd Ave., Miami Shores; The Hub at Temple Beth Am, 5950 N. Kendall Drive, Pinecrest.
COST: $54, opening night; $36 closing night; $15 general admission for all other films, $14 seniors 65 plus and students with ID; $325 for all access.
INFORMATION: 305-503-5182 or miamijewishfilmfestival.org/
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