Welcome to the 19th Annual Portland Jewish Film Festival, produced by the Northwest Film Center and co-presented with the Institute for Judaic Studies. While the Festival specifically celebrates the diversity of Jewish history, culture, and identity, we hope that these films and the stories they tell resonate beyond their settings and speak to experiences and issues that confront our common humanity.

FESTIVAL PASSES are available online now. Click here to purchase yours today! A single pass admits one to all 15 film events in the Festival. The passes are $85, which is a $50 savings! All proceeds benefit the Institute for Judaic Studies. To purchase individual general admission tickets, see film listings below.

Special thanks to Cedar Sinai Park; the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco; J Street Portland; Jewish Family & Child Services; Portland Jewish Academy; Mittleman Jewish Community Center; Oregon Holocaust Resource Center; Portland Chapter of Hadassah; Jewish Federation of Greater Portland; Carolyn and Robin Weinstein, Realtors; Hal Nevis and Paul and Joan Sher; White Bird Dance for program support; and the Jewish Review for media sponsorship.

We opened this year’s Portland International Film Festival with François Ozon’s POTICHE, which featured another memorable performance from the iconic, ageless Catherine Deneuve. Over her five-decade career, working with such equally legendary directors as Roman Polanski, Jacques Demy, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Arnaud Desplechin, Raoul Ruiz, and Ozon, among others, Deneuve’s international stardom has come from magnificent performances in classic films, a mere dozen (of more than 100) of which we offer here in 35mm, big screen splendor. If you missed POTICHE, it opens here in Portland on April 22. If you’ve missed any of her great earlier collaborations, enjoy. “Acting is working with people who invite you into their dreams and trust you with their innermost being.”—Catherine Deneuve.

Special thanks to BAM Cinematheque, Music Box Films, Janus Films, Strand Releasing, Zeitgeist Films, The Film Desk, Miramax Films, Kino International, IFC Films, and the Alliance Française de Portland.

In addition to new work by Portland filmmakers, this spring’s Northwest Tracking program shines a beam on several Seattle directors whose past shorts have inspired audiences throughout the region. And if you missed last November’s 37th Northwest Film & Video Festival, catch up with our screening of THE BEST OF THE NORTHWEST FEST touring program, which stops by the Whitsell for three screenings in the middle of its tour across the region to such places as Juneau, Alaska; Great Falls, Mont.; and Bay City, Ore.