New Jersey Jewish Film Fest screening of "bye bye Germany"

Film fest to show ‘Bye Bye Germany,’ postwar dramedy

“BYE BYE GERMANY” — a drama leavened with comedy about Holocaust survivors in postwar Berlin — will be screened as a New Jersey Jewish Film Festival “Extra” on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 8 p.m. at JCC MetroWest, 760 Northfield Ave., West Orange.

The film will be preceded by a dessert reception at 7 p.m. marking the opening of “Creativity and Continuity: A Celebration of 140 Years of JCC Arts Programming,” an exhibit that will be on view through Dec. 28 in the JCC’s Gaelen Gallery East.

The 18th anniversary NJ Jewish Film Festival will be held March 15-25, 2018.

"Bye Bye Germany" recounts the escapades of smooth-talking businessman David Bermann and his five friends — all Jewish survivors of the camps — who have chosen to stay in battle-scarred Berlin as they embark on a scheme to secure the funds to emigrate to America. Business flourishes and a bright future emerges, but questions about Bermann’s past catch up with him. A tale of re-assimilation and rebirth, the film combines drama and humor in an unusual and ironic look at postwar Germany.

Since its release last February, the film has been shown at film festivals around the world; critics have called it “a bittersweet yarn,” “an entertaining portrayal of a little-known chapter of German-Jewish postwar history,” and “an unusual story [told] with gusto.”

Founded by Livingston residents Caren and Herb Ford, the NJ Jewish Film Festival has been an important annual event for area cinema enthusiasts. As before, the 18th festival will offer feature films, documentaries, and shorts from around the world, many of them award-winning and many NJ premieres. Experts, local clergy, filmmakers, and actors will lead discussions at many of the screenings.

Tickets for “Bye Bye Germany” cost $13 in advance, $15 at the door, $11 for seniors and students, free for film festival sponsors. To purchase tickets and to find out more about the NJ Jewish Film Festival, visit jccmetrowest.org/njjff or call festival director Sarah Diamond at 973-530-3417.