By Dwight Casimere

The 32nd New York Jewish Film Festival sponsored through a partnership of the Jewish Museum and Film at Lincoln Center is back in full force both in-person and virtual. Virtual screenings are available nationwide through Jan. 23 at filmlinc.org.

Among the highlights of the festival is a gripping film by Mirissa Neff in her directorial debut in the New York premiere of This is National Wake (2022). The film gives a rare microcosmic view of the tumultuous transition of South Africa on that country’s journey from racist apartheid to the release of Nelson Mandela through the eyes of a multi-racial rock band of a Jewish guitar player and two Black musicians from Soweto. The band traveled throughout South Africa during the apartheid regime. Using archival footage and on-the-fly interviews, the film recounts racial tensions that confronted the band, performing primarily in clubs that didn’t allow any black patrons. The external strife of apartheid is also replicated in the internal tensions and personality conflicts that are part of the inter-dynamic of any rock band, but especially so under apartheid.

This was National Wake screens Saturday, Jan. 14, at Walter Reade Theatre, 165 West 65th St. New York.

Screening virtually at 12pm, Jan. 23 is The Narrow Bridge from Dr. Esther Takac. The documentary from Australia charts the journey of four people who are polar opposites- Israelis and Palestinians, who have suffered great loss in the conflict. They try to find their way through their grief to reconciliation and social change. Visit filmlinc.org for more.