The upcoming St. Louis Jewish Film Festival highlights both tragedies and triumphs that the Jewish community has faced. The festival will show 13 films in 6 days over a 2-week period consisting of dramas, comedies, documentaries, and Holocaust features.
“All the films deal with universal topics that strike both the heart and the funny bone, irrespective of religious affiliation,” says John Wilson, director of cultural arts for the event.
The festival will be from March 30 to April 8 at the B&B Theatres in Creve Coeur. The first week, films will be played from 3 to 7 PM on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. In the second week, films will be shown from 3 to 7 PM on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
“This will be the film festival’s 30th anniversary. It’s been a mainstay of St. Louis for a number of decades and gives our Jewish and non-Jewish lovers of cinema to come out and watch some of the best filmmaking from across the globe,” John says. “Every feature is incredibly acted, many with recognizable, named stars, and the documentaries are A-list quality in their research and presentation. This festival is for everyone who loves the experience of going to the movies and experiencing the transformative power of excellent storytelling.”
Some of the films that will be played:
- Fiddler on the Moon: If Jews were part of a human colony on Mars, which has longer days and longer years, how would they keep the High Holidays in sync with their Earthbound Jewish brethren? How do Jewish astronauts observe the Sabbath in space? Who are some of the famous Jews who helped in the space race and journeyed into the heavens? This documentary will answer questions you didn’t even know to ask! It’s a retrospective and future-thinking film about Judaism that knows no bounds!
- Names, Not Numbers: Guided by local journalists, Ellen Futterman (Editor-in-Chief, St. Louis Jewish Light) and Shula Neuman (former Executive Editor at St. Louis Public Radio), a group of students from Epstein Hebrew Academy takes on what seems like a simple project: interviewing Holocaust Survivors in this 2024 documentary film Names, Not Numbers®. But as they listen to firsthand stories of resilience and survival, the project becomes something more – something deeply personal and transforming. Following the film, guests will have the opportunity to engage in powerful discussion with Tova Fish-Rosenberg, the project’s creator, the film’s director, Michael Puro, and world-renowned Holocaust Museum curator, author, and professor, Michael Berenbaum, along with several of the film’s participants from Epstein Hebrew Academy.
- One Life: You won’t want to miss Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Lena Olin, and Johnny Flynn in this cinematic true story about Nicholas Winton, the young London broker who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued over 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.
- Fighters: We have all heard the stories and seen the difficult photos and newsclips from the horrifying events of October 7, 2023. JFF 2025 honors the memory of the victims, the hostages, the collective consciousness of Israel, and Jewry worldwide, by showing episode one of the powerful docuseries, Fighters. The stories of the IDF heroes who went into Gaza after 10/7 are brought to life by their exclusive body camera footage, bringing the viewers into the depths of the soldiers’ experiences. Fighters captures their struggles and triumphs, revealing the profound impact their missions had on their lives and those of their families and friends.
For a full movie list and to purchase tickets to the festival, click here.
All images courtesy of the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival.
For more Missouri events, visit the Missouri Life events page by clicking here.
