2026 JFilm Festival at The Lindsay
May 4 – May 9
The Lindsay has partnered with Film Pittsburgh to serve as a JFilm Festival venue! For 33 years, JFilm has showcased Jewish-themed, independent films from around the globe. Its 2026 iteration will take place across multiple locations from Thursday, April 30, to Sunday, May 10.
Seven features and eight shorts will play here between Monday, May 4, and Saturday, May 9. This will be the first time that The Lindsay is participating in JFilm, which remains this region’s largest Jewish cultural event. Film Pittsburgh has also hosted Three Rivers Film Festival screenings here on five occasions.
This year’s JFilm offerings at The Lindsay include two documentaries, a block of comedy shorts and five narrative features spanning a multitude of genres. A few screenings will be followed by a “Film Schmooze,” aka a casual post-film discussion sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh’s Jewish Studies Program.
Tickets are now on sale for all individual JFilm screenings, as well as all-access passes. You can purchase tickets online via Film Pittsburgh’s website, and at The Lindsay on the day of each screening. Please direct all ticketing-related questions to Film Pittsburgh via info@filmpittsburgh.org or 412-426-FILM (3456).
Vindicta
NR | 2h | Drama, Thriller
Director: Dominik Sedlar
Stars: Devon Ross, Jack Bandeira, Pip Torrens
Monday, May 4, @ 7 P.M.
Vindicta is a gripping thriller inspired by true accounts of women who resisted the Nazi regime. 19-year-old Hannah’s (Devon Ross) world shatters when her parents are murdered in front of her. After fleeing, she seeks refuge with family friends before vowing to take revenge against those responsible for destroying her life.
Director Dominik Sedlar’s “visceral character study” is also “visually beautiful and arresting,” raves Film Inquiry. “Sedlar fashioned a gorgeous, warm tapestry of firelight and blood,” declares Film Threat.
“The psychodrama between Hannah and Klaus (Jack Bandeira) is the centerpiece of Vindicta. Ross and Bandeira deliver extraordinary performances, keeping the tension high. … The film is beautifully shot and edited.”
Cuz You’re Ugly
NR | 1h 22min | Drama, Comedy
Director: Sharon Angelhart
Stars: Riki Reif Sinai, Ori Avinoam, Yaël Abecassis
Tuesday, May 5, @ 7 P.M. (In Hebrew, with subtitles)
Cuz You’re Ugly is a coming-of-age dramedy about Avigail (Riki Reif Sinai), a trainee naval officer who returns from service to her cramped apartment with a dysfunctional mother and naïve younger sister. On a mission to lose her virginity, Avigail’s plan is upended when her sister announces that she is pregnant.
Director Sharon Angelhart’s film is “filled with more humor than you would imagine; and thanks to the two lead performances, it’s compelling from start to finish,” proclaims The Jerusalem Post. Its star won a Best Performance prize at last year’s Jerusalem Film Festival.
“A brave performance by Riki Reif Sinai, a young actress who throws herself into the part and masterfully creates a unique character,” reads the festival’s jury statement. “Riki Reif Sinai successfully walks the line between a tough, confident, and aggressive exterior while conveying fragility and vulnerability.”
NOTE: Cuz Your Ugly will be preceded by a screening of the short Tshuva. In this 23-minute drama, a late-night encounter between a grieving man and a trans woman ignites a mind-altering journey. Tshuva will also be presented in Hebrew with subtitles.
Bliss
NR | 2h 5min | Drama
Director: Shemi Zarhin
Stars: Sasson Gabay, Assi Levy, Maor Levi
Wednesday, May 6, @ 4 P.M.
Bliss is a a relationship drama that won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at last year’s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Sassi (Sasson Gabay) is more than 20 years older than his wife, Effi (Assi Levy). The couple’s equilibrium is threatened by the presence of two young men who enter their lives.
Director Shemi Zarhin “movingly captures” these characters “as people with full and rich lives,” praises RogerEbert.com. Bliss is “a tender, complex and mature work that … always stays on the optimistic side of wry irony,” applauds The Forward.
“Bliss is a profound account of what it is to continue the hard work of living and loving in the wake of illness, disappointment and missteps—which is to say, of living with humanity.”
Swedishkayt: Yidlife Crisis in Stockholm
NR | 1h 17min | Documentary, Comedy
Directors: Jamie Elman, Eli Batalion
Stars: Jamie Elman, Eli Batalion
Wednesday, May 6, @ 7 P.M.
Swedishkayt: Yidlife Crisis in Stockholm is a hilarious documentary from the comedy duo Yidlife Crisis, aka Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion. From the moment they arrive in Stockholm, our heroes prepare for a big live show while unraveling the little-known history of Sweden’s Jewish community.
Swedishkayt is a play on “yiddishkayt,” a Yiddish term that encompasses the culture and traditions of Eastern European/Ashkenazi Jewry. Yidlife Crisis is a web series in which Elman and Batalion pay homage to their yiddishkayt heritage and proudly share the Jewish comedic lens on life with which they were raised.
“We’re about different flavors of Judaism and bringing them together,” Elman tells Jewish Journal. “What we’re after is hashtag-Jewish-joy. It’s been a rough few years.”
NOTE: SwedishKayt will be preceded by the short drama Shlof Gezunterheyt. In this 7-minute drama, an immigrant mother and son find comfort in Yiddish expressions shared at bedtime. Both Swedishkayt and Shlof Gezunterheyt will be presented in English with occasionally subtitled Yiddish dialogue.
We Met at Grossinger’s
NR | 1h 43min | Documentary
Director: Paula Eiselt
Stars: Judy Gold, Josh Gondelman, Joel Grey
Thursday, May 7, @ 7 P.M.
We Met at Grossinger’s celebrates the famed resort in New York’s Catskills Mountains that defined a singular era of American Jewish life. Director Paula Eiselt explores how Grossinger’s Resort and Hotel started out as a vacation destination for Jewish families and ultimately became a sanctuary of identity, joy and reinvention.
Eiselt’s film is “eye-opening with Jewish historical importance,” lauds Aced Magazine. This “illuminating documentary” is “packed with insights from members of the Grossinger family, former employees of the resort, historians and entertainers,” commends Forbes.
“We Met at Grossinger’s is an inspiring affirmation of the American dream, female empowerment and the importance of diversity in the face of intolerance.”
NOTE: We Met at Grossinger’s will be followed by a Film Schmooze in the screening room.
Comedy Shorts
Sunday, May 9, @ 12:30 P.M.
• Unraveled (14 min): Simon’s recurring nightmares about dropping the Torah threaten to derail his bar mitzvah.
• Being Dead Should Be Easy (14 min): A millennial woman learns that there’s no room left for her in the family mausoleum.
• The Wall (13 min): IDF soldiers must jump over “the wall” to pass combat training, but some just cannot do it. (In Hebrew, with subtitles)
• Navah Has Thoughts (24 min): Navah, a perpetual innocent in her 30s, is guided into misadventures by a mysterious voice.
• We the People (15 min): An American expat takes his family camping on Israeli Independence Day. (Partially in Hebrew, with English subtitles)
• Catalogue of Noses (13 min): On the day of her scheduled nose job, a teen actor faces the weight of her cultural identity.
Lost in Territories
NR | 1h 48min | Comedy, Drama
Director: Nadav Shlomo Giladi
Stars: Tomer Barash, Maayan Blum, Gil Cohen
Saturday, May 9, @ 3:30 P.M.
Lost in Territories is an Israeli-French co-production set in the West Bank. Director Nadav Shlomo Giladi weaves five stories together to offer a darkly comic and deeply human glimpse at what it takes to be a good neighbor in that complex region.
These scenarios involve soldiers, marijuana, terror groups, fences, knives, dancers, guns, rabbis and imams. Jews and Arabs find themselves caught in chaotic situations that reveal just how much they have in common.
This ensemble film featuring a cast of acclaimed Israeli actors finds moments of absurdity and connection in an area rife with divisions.
NOTE: Lost in Territories will be followed by a Film Schmooze in the screening room.
The Sea
NR | 1h 33min | Drama
Director: Shai Carmeli-Pollak
Stars: Muhammad Gazawi, Khalifa Natour, Marlene Bajali
Saturday, May 9, @ 6:30 P.M. (In Arabic/Hebrew, with subtitles)
The Sea won Best Picture at last year’s Ophir Awards and was Israel’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 2026 Academy Awards. Khaled, a young Palestinian boy, is stopped at an Israeli checkpoint and not permitted to join his school’s special trip. Undeterred, Khaled embarks on an uncertain journey to the sea.
Director Shai Carmeli-Pollak made “a simple yet keen film that packs a punch,” praises The Contending. This “moving father-son tale” is “sensitively attuned to the painful realities of the West Bank occupation,” writes Variety.
“Made as a collaboration between Jewish and Palestinian Israelis, the film becomes a deeply humanist tale about borders, permits, the interdependent economies of two neighbors and the power of the dominant language.”
NOTE: The Sea will be followed by a Film Schmooze in the screening room.
