“Experience the Magic of Cinema” is the slogan of a major new cultural event: The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Film Festival© Presented by MorseLife. Offering dozens of unique features, documentaries, and short films from 20 different countries, the inaugural festival will have a truly international focus, celebrating cinematic excellence and reflecting a commitment to global diversity.The Festival has booked 26 different screenings at three different theaters in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, offering a wide array of entertaining and thought-provoking films that were specifically selected to foster dialogue and interaction among attendees and festival supporters. The three cinemas are IPIC Boca at 301 Plaza Real in Mizner Park, 33432; IPIC Delray at 25 SE 4th Avenue, 33483; and Paragon Theatres at 14775 Lyons Rd. in Delray Marketplace, 33446.
Tickets to The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Film Festival© are on sale now by phone at 561.318.0060 (Monday-Friday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm) or online 24/7 at www.DMEPBFF.org.
Following is the line-up of upcoming cinematic experiences in Boca Raton and Delray Beach during the inaugural Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Film Festival© Presented by MorseLife (in alphabetical order):
ALI & AVA
(Feature—UK—2021)
A bundle of good humor and nervous energy in this woman-directed romance that serves as a reminder that sometimes the least likely connections are the ones most worth pursuing. (Toronto International Film Festival, BAFTA Nominee Best British Film)
+ February 14, 1:00 pm – Paragon Theatres of Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
ALL MAN: THE INTERNATIONAL MALE STORY
(Documentary—USA—2022)
Beyond outrageous fashions, this film is a journey across three decades of the International Male catalog’s lasting impact on fashion, masculinity, and gay rights. Written by Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jones and narrated by Matt Bomer, this is a character-driven portrait of a group of outsiders who changed how men and the world viewed them. (Tribeca 2022 World Premiere)
+ February 11, 4:15 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
BALABAN
(Feature—Kazakhstan—2022)
On the verge of adulthood, Ardak, a reserved 16-year-old schoolgirl diagnosed with HIV as a child, dreams of moving from Kazakhstan to Paris and becoming the next big thing in fashion. (International Peace Film Festival)
+ February 9, 1:00 pm – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
BREAKING THE ICE
(Feature—Austria—2022)
What happens when someone with a rigid approach to life meets their freewheeling opposite? Mira is the heir to an Austrian vineyard whose existence is defined by stress and whose sole outlet is serving as the captain of a women’s ice hockey team. (Tribeca Film Festival)
+ February 11, 1:30 pm – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
CINEMA SABAYA
(Feature – Israel—2022)
A group of Arab and Jewish women attends a workshop run by Rona, a young filmmaker from Tel Aviv, to learn to document their lives on video. As each woman shares her raw footage with the others, they are all forced to challenge their preconceived views and beliefs, coming together as mothers, wives, and women. (Jerusalem Film Festival Winner Best Israeli Debut & Audience Award, AFI Fest, Warsaw International Film Festival, UK Jewish Film Festival, nominated for 8 Ophir awards (Israeli Academy) including Best Film(winner), Best Director (winner), Best), Best Supporting Actress(winner), Israel’s official Oscar entry for Best International Feature Film)
+ February 13, 4:00 pm – Paragon Theatres in Delray Beach
DARRYL JONES: IN THE BLOOD
(Documentary—USA—2022)
Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones reflects on growing up on the South Side of Chicago, playing alongside Miles Davis, Madonna, and Sting, and replacing Bill Wyman in the World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band. (Oxford International Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature; Rome Independent Film Festival)
Special Guest: Director Eric Hamburg
+ February 12, 4:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Florida Premiere
DOS ESTACIONES
(Feature—Mexico—2022)
The film tells a beautiful story about one woman’s journey of legacy and loss, the painstaking process of making an artisanal bottle of tequila, and all the challenges the tequila industry endures. (New Directors /New Films, San Sebastian Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award for Acting, True/False Film Festival True Vision Award Director Juan Pablo González, Outfest Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting, International Film Festival Boston Grand Jury Award)
+ February 10, 7:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Southeastern USA Premiere
GOODNIGHT SOLDIER
(Feature—France, Kurdistan—2022)
Ziné and Avdal are madly in love despite their families’ ancestral feud. Will their love overcome decades of conflict and tradition? (Kurdisches Film Festival Berlin)
+ February 14, 4:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
iMORDECAI
(Feature—USA—2022)
Based on a true story, this heart-warming and uplifting comedy stars Oscar-nominated and two-time Emmy-winning actor Judd Hirsch, as Mordecai Samel. He and his wife, played by Academy Award-nominated actress Carol Kane, are both survivors from Poland, now living in Miami. When Mordecai’s ancient flip phone breaks, he takes iPhone lessons from a young employee of Ultratech, who opens him up to all kinds of novel experiences and adventures, making him feel like a kid again. The film co-stars Sean Astin, Azia Dibea Hale, and Stephanie J. Block. (Audience Award Miami Jewish Film Festival)
+ February 9, 7:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
JUNIPER
(Feature—New Zealand—2021)
Upon returning home from boarding school and still dealing with the untimely death of his mother, self-destructive teenager Sam discovers that his gin-soaked, wheelchair-bound, English grandmother, Ruth (Charlotte Rampling), has moved in. With both strong-willed characters, a battle of supremacy ensues, enabling Sam to embrace life again and for Ruth to face her mortality.
+ January 30, 6:00 pm – IPIC Boca Raton (includes 3-course dinner)
+ February 6, 6:00 pm – IPIC Delray (includes 3-course dinner)
Palm Beach County Premiere
KARAOKE
(Feature—Israel—2022)
An offbeat, comedic journey that follows Tova and Meir married 46 years, whose routine lives get a jolt of excitement from Itzik, their upstairs neighbor, who invites them to his penthouse for karaoke nights. The couple falls hard for Itzik’s energetic lifestyle. This unique comedy-drama stars Sasson Gabay (The Band’s Visit), Lior Ashkenazy (Footnote, Late Marriage), and Rita Shukrun. (Tribeca Film Festival, Winner of the Audience Award & Best First Film; Jerusalem International Film Festival, nominated for 14 Ophir awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and winning both Best Actor and Best Actress)
+ February 11, 7:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
LITTLE TOWN
(Feature—USA—2022)
Jason, a failed stand-up comedian and rideshare driver takes his son on the road to Little Town, somewhere up in the mountains, to find his recently deceased mom. They drive with Lauren, a free-spirited soul trying to help them reach their destination and follow their dreams.
+ February 12, 11:00 am – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
Florida Premiere
LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER
(Documentary—USA—2022)
In 1960, Lowndes County, AL, was a rural, impoverished town with a vicious history of racist terrorism. Eighty percent Black with no Black voters, the county served as a launching pad for a movement that brought together men and women, Black and White, the quiet warriors, and the crusaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), among others. (Tribeca Film Festival)
Special Guests: William Nix and Barbara Chieves
+ February 9, 4:00 pm – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
Florida Premiere
MISSION JOY: FINDING JOY IN TROUBLED TIMES
(Documentary—USA—2021)
Deeply moving and laugh-out-loud funny, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu share science-backed wisdom of living with joy in troubled times. (Tribeca Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Cleveland Film Festival Ad Hoc Docs Winner)
+ February 13, 1:00 pm – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
MY DONKEY, MY LOVER & I
(Feature—France—2020)
Schoolteacher Antoinette (Laure Calamy) is looking forward to her long-planned summer holidays with her secret lover Vladimir, the father of one of her pupils. When learning that Vladimir can’t make it because his wife organized a surprise trekking trip in the Cévennes National Park with their daughter and a donkey to carry their load, Antoinette impulsively decides to follow them with Patrick, a cantankerous, protective donkey. (Cannes Film Festival, Best Actress: Laure Calamy César Awards)
+ January 29, 6:00 pm – IPIC Boca Raton (includes 3-course dinner)
+ February 14, 7:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
NO STRAIGHT LINES: THE RISE OF QUEER COMICS
(Documentary—USA—2021)
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. (Tribeca Film Festival, AFI Docs Fest, Grand Jury Documentary Prize Outfest)
+ February 12, 1:30 pm – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
NOWHERE SPECIAL
(Feature—UK—2020)
John, played by James Norton of Grantchester and Little Women, has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him from the terrible reality of the situation. (Warsaw Film Festival Audience Award winner, Venice International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival)
+ January 31, 6:00 pm – IPIC Boca Raton (includes 3-course dinner)
Florida Premiere
SCARLET
(Feature—France, Italy, Germany—2022)
Beginning as the tale of a sensitive brute who returns home from World War I to his rural French village to discover his wife has died and that he must take care of their baby daughter, Juliette. The film blossoms into a portrait of Juliette as a free-spirited young woman reckoning with a local witch’s prophecy for her future and falling for the modern man who drops from the sky. (Opening Film, Director’s Fortnight Cannes Film Festival, New York Film Festival)
+ January 30, 6:00 pm – IPIC Delray Beach (includes 3-course dinner)
Palm Beach County Premiere
THE BLUE CAFTAN
(Feature—Belgium, Denmark, France, Morocco—2022) Middle-aged married couple Mina and Halim operate a small garment shop, from which master tailor Halim painstakingly embroiders magnificent caftans for a choosy clientele. The film is an understated, yet immensely powerful exploration of the various forms love can take. (FIPRESCI prize-winning premiere in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, Toronto International Film Festival, Morocco’s official Oscar entry for Best International Feature)
+ February 15, 7:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
THE GRUMP: IN SEARCH OF AN ESCORT
(Feature—Finland, Germany—2022)
The Grump’s everyday life in the deepest of Finland’s countryside rolls forward according to old routines. He’s busy working on his farm, but memories of his big brother Tarmo bother him. They haven’t been in touch, even though they were best friends when they were children. So, when the Grump crashes his beloved Escort, the previously estranged brothers go looking for an Escort together and end up getting to know each other again in the process. This is a tale about healing decades-old wounds. It’s a story about reconciliation and forgiveness and Ford Escorts.
+ February 12, 7:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Southeastern USA Premiere
THE TAKEOVER
(Feature—France—2022)
Cédric is a worker in a precision mechanics factory in the French Alps. When he finds out that the factory is about to be sold to an investment fund, he joins forces with two childhood friends to pull off an employee takeover.
+ February 10, 1:30 pm – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
Florida Premiere
THE VISITOR
(Feature—Bolivia, Uruguay—2022)
Humberto is an ex-convict with a tormented past, but whose greatest desire is to rebuild his relationship with his estranged daughter and provide her with a decent life. Still, the grandparents of the child, who are wealthy Evangelical pastors, are unwilling to give up custody of their only granddaughter. Humberto is forced to face his demons while simultaneously fighting a powerful ecclesiastical institution to which he once belonged. (Tribeca Film Festival Best International Narrative Screenplay, AFI Latin American Film Festival)
+ February 15, 4:00 pm – Paragon Theaters of Delray Beach
Florida Premiere
THE WILD ONE
(Documentary—France—2022)
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. Narrated by Willem Defoe, the film examines how his experience in the concentration camps shaped his vision of acting as a survival mechanism and explores the importance of his legacy as an artist who confronted censorship. (Winner Best Cinematography in a Documentary Film Tribeca Film Festival Winner Jury Prize Best Documentary Festival 2 Vincennes)
+ February 15, 1:30 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
Palm Beach County Premiere
YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER
(Feature—Canada—2022)
In the early ’90s, gay teen Jaime is sent to live with her devout Jehovah’s Witness relatives after her father’s death. Jaime makes an unexpected connection with Marike, the daughter of a prominent Witness Elder. When their attraction becomes too obvious to hide, the community moves to separate the two, forcing them each to make a terrible choice between faith and love. (Tribeca Film Festival, Directors Guild of Canada Outstanding Directorial Achievement nomination)
+ February 10, 4:00 pm – Paragon Theaters in Delray Beach
To request a brochure for The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Film Festival© Presented by MorseLife or to become a member of the Festival Film Society, please call 561.867.3109 or visit www.DMEPBFF.org.
