Nightcap: 1/8/18: NYJFF opens Wednesday, The First Look Fest continues, SATURDAY CHURCH opens Friday

Ai Weiwei takes selfies with audience members after the screening of his film HUMAN FLOW this past Thursday

The film year is just about to kick into high gear with the opening of the New York Jewish Film Festival which is always the first great festival of any calendar year. And I do mean great since there has not been a year since I started covering it that at least one or more of my Best of the Best list films has come from the festival.

Yea I know the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look Festival (see below) starts earlier and the twin punch of Sundance and Slamdance come later in the month, but NYJFF is the first of the fests to begin to reveal the goodies that everyone will be talking about later in the year. (First Look is often a bit too artsy while the Dances can be a bit too inde) In the past THE CONGRESS, BETTE MIDLER THE DIVINE MISS M, FELIX AND MEIRA and DELI MAN have all played here. This year there are any number of possibilities, but for certain the SAMMY DAVIS JR: I GOTTA BE ME is going to be making waves when it hits American Masters (it’s an incredible look at the man and his art).

I love this festival a great deal, and while I don’t wax as poetic about it, I do look forward to it every year. As the New York Film Festival winds down and the number of fest dwindles I start looking forward to the goodies that I’m going to get to sample.

Look for a good amount of coverage of this year’s fest. I’ve seen a bunch of films already and I have a good amount yet to go so keep checking back.

If you need recommendations I would say start with SAMMY DAVIS JR, THE MISSION OF RAOUL WALLENBERG,  TRACKING EDITH and LET YOURSELF GO. Also a great film is the short THE RED HOUSE. However everything they program is wonderful so just get tickets to everything.

The festival starts Wednesday and all the information on the films and the tickets can be found here.

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If you haven’t noticed we’ve started running coverage of this year’s First Look Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image. While our coverage hasn't been large scale, the every busy JB has found the time to quietly drop some reviews. For more information on the festival go here and to read about what JB has been seeing go here.

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The absolutely fantastic SATURDAY CHURCH opens Friday. I saw the film during this past years Tribeca Film Festival. But we didn't run a full review because everyone thought someone else was going to write it up. I'm going to try and get back into my notes and write it up for Friday's opening. Until I do so, and in case I don't - just know that you must see the film because it will end up being one of the best films you see this year

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If you didn't see the press release Friday night I want to impress upon you that if you love animation you must attend the French Institute: Alliance Francaise's Animation Festival February 2,3 and 4. I've seen most of the features and they are awesome. I will be rerunning the related reviews closer to te festival. We will also have lots of coverage of the special events.

For tickets and details go here.