Dec. 2025
Helaine Ortmann
The Hamilton Jewish Federation is pleased to announce the return of the Hamilton Jewish Film Festival (HJFF) on Sunday, March 15 and Monday, March 16, 2026, to Peller Hall, Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre. Now in its sixth year, the Festival remains committed to its mission: to engage the Jewish community and foster understanding of Jewish culture, Israel, and Jewish history within the broader Hamilton community. While all four films selected for this year’s Festival feature the universal themes of hope, courage and resilience; to a one, the light they shine on family love, parenthood, and relationships between siblings is spellbinding. Film makers hit all the notes: drama to comedy, separation to reconciliation, chaos to order.
The Festival opens on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. with the 2025 Canadian documentary “The Road Between Us” (95 minutes). In the early morning moments of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack, locked in their safe room of their family home on Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the Gazan border, Amir calls the only person he could trust to help: his father Noam Tibon, retired Major-General of the Israeli army. With wife Gali by his side to drive their car, “911” (his family nickname) sets out on his “mission”: to save son Amir, his daughter-in-law, and two young granddaughters. In this riveting and suspenseful film, Noam retraces his steps on Oct. 7 and, with steely calm and focus, tells the true story (accompanied by archival footage) of his harrowing journey from Tel Aviv, south to Nahal Oz.
At its heart, “The Road Between Us” is a thrilling account of a man’s leadership (“this is what we need to do,” he says early on to Gali) and heroism —Noam rescues Nova survivors and wounded soldiers during the rescue, and organizes the safe evacuation of 400 people on his son’s Kibbutz reflecting, “ I didn’t leave anyone behind me.” Most indelible though is this film’s long-lasting and universal gift to viewers: the straight-forward and unadorned account of this parent’s love for his family — bold, courageous and steadfast.
An opening reception will take place between the afternoon and evening screenings, immediately following The Road Between Us and leading into the next film.
At 6:00 p.m., HJFF screens “Mazel Tov” (97 minutes); a 2025 Argentine comedy-drama that, in an emotional and exuberant way, unfolds the complex bond between four siblings (three brothers and their sister) against the backdrop of their father’s sudden death; the pregnant sister’s wedding and simultaneous labour/delivery of her baby boy; and a fraught Yom Kippur supper with the extended family. As the siblings spend a month together to grieve their father and reconnect, director Adrián Suar spends the film’s carefully crafted minutes teasing out the eccentricities and foibles of each of the adult children; ultimately bringing them together in a loving passionate embrace at the film’s conclusion. “Mazel Tov” is messy, touching and poignant; much like any family’s story. There will be a lively post-film program, moderated by Gustavo Rymberg, CEO of the Hamilton Jewish Foundation, to explore the history and current culture of Argentinian Jewry.
Two films will be screened on Monday, March 16. The first at 5 p.m. is “Ada, My Mother, the Architect;” a 2024 biographical film (81 minutes) directed by Yael Melamede about her mother, Ada Karmi-Melamede, a ground-breaking architect renowned for her design of public buildings in Israel such as the Supreme Court in Jerusalem which was a seven-year creative and business partnership with her brother Rami. Yael chronicles her mother’s early years as a pioneer encountering the challenges of working in a male-dominated industry; overcoming her lack of confidence when asked to teach at Columbia University, and stoically absorbing the personal “losses” resulting from her decision to pursue her career in Israel, full-time, living away from her husband and children in the United States. With love and admiration, Yael reviews her mother’s beautiful sketches and walks hand-in-hand with her through her bricks-and-mortar projects (before, during and upon completion). The film is a master class; with Ada giving poetic voice to how she creates with her pencil, experiences the centre and heart of physical form, and manages the relationships of light and shadow. So eloquent in both Hebrew and English when she describes her process, Ada turns taciturn, stubborn and remote when Yael seeks to probe her mother’s private life: her disconnect as an absentee mother and wife, and the loneliness and lack of support she endured throughout her career.
At 7 p.m., the Festival screens “Once Upon My Mother” (102 minutes). Set in France in the 1960s, this is a poignant film with both comedic and dramatic notes that tells the true story of lawyer, journalist and broadcaster Roland Perez, the sixth child in a Moroccan Jewish family who was born with a clubfoot; and his mother Esther, whose unconditional love and audacious determination secured him the “fabulous life” she promised him as a baby. As fierce and brave as her namesake in the Old Testament, Esther pleads, pushes, and prays her way through Roland’s childhood, adolescence and adulthood to create a miracle; never wavering in her dedication to save her son from a lesser life. Directed by French Canadian Ken Scott, this inspirational 2025 film showcases the power of a mother’s love as well as the healing power of music; in this instance through the compelling voice and presence of French singer and actress, Sylvie Vartan. An absorbing discussion and Q&A follows with Toronto-based Israeli psychologist Michal Gilboa-Hermel, who will explore the duelling psychological and cultural aspects of motherhood depicted in the two films.
Ticket price per film is $10 with a Festival pass at $36 and $30 for students. Administration fees apply.
For more information visit jewishhamilton.org or contact Jewish film festival coordinator Wendy Schneider at [email protected].
