Saturday, February 20

A Matter of Size  7:00 p.m.
Israel, 2009, 90 minutes, Hebrew with subtitles
What is an under-employed, hefty chef to do when he is tired of counting calories? While working as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant in Ramlah, Herzl is exposed to the art of sumo wrestling by his boss. Soon he and his three equally hefty friends stop going to their weight-loss group and begin sumo training under the direction of Sumo Master Kitano (Togo Igawa from Memoirs of a Geisha). This delightful, crowd-pleasing comedy was a phenomenon in Israel.

CineArts | $10
Co-sponsor: Contra Costa Jewish Day School.
Underwritten by Pearl and David Furman.

Eyes Wide Open  9:15 p.m.
Israel/France/Germany, 2009, 91 minutes, Hebrew and Yiddish with subtitles
From the 2009 Cannes Film Festival comes this sensitive exploration of faith and desire. Aaron Fleishman (Zohar Strauss in a brilliant performance) is an observant married man who has taken over his family’s kosher butcher shop following the death of his father. His world is turned upside down upon the arrival of Ezri (Ran Danker), a young homeless man. Aaron welcomes Ezri as an apprentice, and soon their working relationship turns into a romantic one—leaving both men ostracized by their Ultra Orthodox community. Adult content.

CineArts | $10
Co-sponsors: Consulate General of Israel and Jewish Federation’s LGBT Alliance. In Memory
of Lee Engel. Guest Speaker: Consul General
Akiva Tor, Consulate General of Israel.

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