Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival

Antisemetic rhetoric has been on the rise of late, and one way to combat that in places without large Jewish populations is creating humanizing empathy by actually interacting with Jewish culture. The annual Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival is a great way to do that. With in-person screenings at the Gonzaga Graduate School of Business (featuring remote filmmaker Q&As) and streamable offerings, there are multiple ways to take in the weekend fest. This year’s offerings include Charlotte (the animated memoir of Charlotte Salomon, whose artworks made while fleeing Nazis are considered the first graphic novel), Woman of Valor (a documentary about fighting for women’s rights in the ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jewish community), Tiger Within (a drama starring the late Ed Asner as a Holocaust survivor who befriends a young Holocaust denier punk girl), and seven other films spanning the Jewish experience.

Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival 2023 • Jan 28-30, times vary • $55 festival pass; $10 individual screenings • All ages • Gonzaga University • 502 E. Boone Ave. • sajfs.org/our-programs/sjcff