The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Film Festival©
Presented by MorseLife to Celebrate 16 Extraordinary Feature Films and Documentaries Directed by Women
January 26 through February 16, 2023
The new Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Film Festival© Presented by MorseLife will offer dozens of unique features, documentaries, and short films from 20 different countries, all celebrating cinematic excellence and reflecting a commitment to global diversity—including 16 extraordinary films either directed or co-directed by women.
ALI & AVA
Director: Clio Barnard
This romance is a bundle of good humor and nervous energy that serves as a reminder that it is sometimes the least likely connections that are the ones most worth pursuing. (February 1, 14)
BALABAN
Director: Aysulu Onarani
On the verge of adulthood, a reserved 16-year-old schoolgirl who was diagnosed with HIV as a child, lives a sheltered life with her mother in Kazakhstan and dreams of moving to Paris and becoming the next big thing in fashion. (January 30, February 9)
+ January 30, 1:00 pm – Movies of Lake Worth
+ February 9, 1:00 pm – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
BREAKING THE ICE
Director: Clara Stern
What happens when someone with a rigid approach to life meets their freewheeling opposite? The young heir to an Austrian vineyard finds her sole outlet for anxiety is serving as the captain of a women’s ice hockey team. (January 27, February 11, 14)
CALENDAR GIRLS
Director: Maria Loohufvud & Love Martinsen
This “coming-of-golden-age” film follows senior volunteer dancers in Southwest Florida, who are determined to prove that age is just a number. The Calendar Girls will appear at every screening. (January 28, February 4, 7)
CINEMA SABAYA
Director: Orit Fouks Rotem
(Feature – Israel—2022)
A group of Arab and Jewish women earn to document their lives on video and are forced to challenge their preconceived views and beliefs, coming together as mothers, wives, and women. (February 7, 13)
HAUTE COUTURE
Director: Sylvia Ohayon
An aging Head Seamstress at Dior befriends a 20-year-old who steals her purse and helps her harness her creativity and talent. (February 2, 7, 14)
LOVE & MATHEMATICS
Director: Claudia Sainte-Luce
This is a tale of longing, reconnection, and disconnection about a former boy band quasi–pop star who is reminded of what his life used to be. Sandro Florin, CEO of FiGa Films, will attend the February 8 screenings. (January 31, February 8)
MISSION JOY: FINDING HAPPINESS IN TROUBLED TIMES
Directors: Louie Psihoyos & Peggy Callahan
(Documentary—USA—2021)
Deeply moving and laugh-out-loud funny, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu share science-backed wisdom of how to live with joy in troubled times. (January 31, February 13)
MY DONKEY, MY LOVER & I
Director: Caroline Vignal
A schoolteacher follows her secret lover, his wife and daughter on a trek, accompanied by a cantankerous, protective donkey (January 29, February 3, 14)
NO STRAIGHT LINES: THE RISE OF QUEER COMICS
Director: Vivian Kleiman
A lively look at five LGBTQ+ comic book artists whose careers go from the underground scene to the cover of Time Magazine and the international stage. (January 28, February 12)
SYLVIE OF THE SUNSHINE STATE
Director: Sasha Levinson
Palm Beach County filmmaker Sasha Levinson aims the lens at her multigenerational family in an unconventional hybrid documentary offering an honest glimpse into modern motherhood that will make parents everywhere feel a lot less alone. Director Levinson and Sylvie Bellanca will attend the screen. (January 28)
THE BLUE CAFTAN
Director: Maryam Touzani
A middle-aged married couple operate a small garment shop, from which the master tailor painstakingly embroiders magnificent caftans for a choosy clientele. (February 2, 7, 15)
THE FORGER
Director: Maggie Peren
Berlin,1942. 21-year-old Cioma Schönhaus, a Jewish man, won’t let anyone take away his zest for life, especially not the Nazis. (February 8, 13)
THE WILD ONE
Director: Tessa Louise-Salomé
The documentary traces the life journey of an enigmatic artist, Jack Garfein, his family’s fleeing the Nazis, surviving in Auschwitz, his 1946 arrival at 16 in New York and coming under the wing of Lee Strasberg, Hollywood, and his marriage to actress Carroll Baker. (February 6, 15)
THE WORST ONES
Directors: Romane Gueret & Lise Akoka
Set in northern France, the story captures a film within a film as it follows the production of a movie whose director turns to the local housing project for casting. (January 29, February 12)
YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER
Directors: Sarah Watts & Mark Slutsky
In the early ’90s, gay teen Jaime is sent to live with her devout Jehovah’s Witness relatives after the death of her father. (February 1, 3, 10)
The various movies directed or co-directed by women during the new Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Film Festival will be shown at CMX Downtown in Palm Beach Gardens, CMX Wellington, IPIC Boca Raton, Movies of Lake Worth, Paragon Theatres in Delray Beach, and the Regal in Royal Palm Beach.
For a full list of participating theaters and scheduled movies, request a DMEPBFF brochure, or to become a member of the Festival Film Society, please call 561.867.4138 or visit DMEPBFF.org.
