Although Mardy Shualy has been artistic director of JxJ, the Edlavitch DCJCC’s signature Washington Jewish Film and Music Festival, for just six months, he leaped into the job.
Often, performing artists, including nationally known Jewish music groups, book up years in advance, and while film screenings have a shorter lead time, Shualy scheduled 42 musical performances and film screenings, culled from more than 200 movie entries. And a week ago, he was on the hunt for a popcorn machine and a piano tuner, among other finishing touches for the 10-day celebration of Jewish culture on screen and stage.
As JxJ opens its 36th year of showcasing creativity, storytelling, innovation and preservation of Jewish film and music on May 7, Shualy said he was inspired by the tenets of freedom, expressed during April’s Passover observance, coupled with this year’s national celebration of the United States’ founding 250 years ago.
“Seen in our selections is this theme of liberty,” Shualy explained, “which is presented across many different aspects in the programming. You have freedom of movement, freedom of expression, political liberty, the freedoms that activists have to promote change within community, within society … [these] are at the core of the American story.”
He added, “In the context of Washington, D.C., everyone is really wrestling with how are we defining patriotism; how are we working toward a society that reflects our values?” Those very issues are embedded in the questions that Judaism asks of its people. “There’s this constant investigation, reinvestigation of what our moral and ethical bases are as Jews,” Shualy continued: “How do we actualize those and try to bring those into the world?”
This year, 42 events across 10 days include screenings and concerts, along with director talks and some special receptions, and offer various points of view of what it means to be Jewish in 2026.
The opening film, “Once Upon My Mother,” which also screens on May 16, is called a “heartwarming family saga.” The narrative features a Moroccan immigrant family in Paris during the 1960s. When Esther learns her newborn son Roland will never walk unassisted due to a severe clubfoot, she devotes herself fully to bettering his life to see him become independent. Viewers follow the mother-son relationship across several decades, and the evolution of the complex dynamics between them. “It’s about how you persist [against] a physical limitation to have a full life,” Shualy said.
The festival closes on May 17 with the documentary “Mahler in New York,” directed by award-winning conductor Hilan Warshaw. The film follows the Romantic composer and renowned conductor as he bridged 19th-century tradition and early 20th-century modernism. Bohemian-born, Mahler came of age as a musician in Vienna, where he faced antisemitism in the press and beyond. He ultimately converted to Catholicism to obtain the directorate of the Vienna Court Opera. The film examines Mahler’s time in New York during his later years, when the energy and multicultural dynamism of the city had a profound effect on the composer.
The Israeli film “Bella” pairs a Jew and a Palestinian on a caper-like chase to recover a valuable dove across Israel and the territories. Directed by Jamal Khalaily and Zohar Shachar in Hebrew and Arabic (screened with English subtitles), this light-hearted tale pulls back the curtain on complexities in Israeli politics, social status and geography.
The Klezmatics return to Washington, D.C., playing their custom brand of progressive Eastern European Jewish klezmer, marinated with jazz, punk and polyglot musical traditions. Born in New York City’s East Village 40 years ago, The Klezmatics were on the forefront of the 1980s klezmer revival. On Saturday, May 16, the group opens its national tour at the EDCJCC on the heels of debuting its latest album, “We Were Made for These Times.”
Additional musical programming includes the family-friendly Orthodox Jewish “boy group” all grown up, the Maccabeats, on Sunday afternoon, May 17. Known for remaking popular songs with a Jewish twist, along with recycling Jewish favorites in their a cappella style, the Maccabeats attract fans of all ages and across Jewish denominations. And Russian-American Jewish singer/songwriter Regina Spektor produced her first film, “My Friend Sam,” a warm-hearted tribute to one of her musical mentors, Samuel Marder. A Holocaust survivor, he shares some of his story with Spektor, in a lovely account of an intergenerational friendship. Spektor will speak following the screening.
During a moment when Israeli art and artists, and, increasingly, Jewish art and artists, are finding it more difficult to present in unbiased platforms with the rise of anti-Zionism and antisemitism, Shualy emphasized the necessity of dedicated Jewish spaces. Yet, he noted, “This place for Jews is not just something we do for ourselves. This is also a place in the broader arts community of Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland. JxJ offers a really potent platform … with beautiful theaters, great acoustics, commercial-grade projectors and huge banners on the street saying ‘welcome to our festival.’”
JxJ: DC Jewish Film and Music Festival runs from May 7-17, at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center, with additional screenings at Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema in Maryland, and Cinema Arts Theatre in Fairfax, Virginia. For a complete schedule and tickets, visit edcjcc.org/jxj.
Lisa Traiger is an award-winning arts journalist who covers the performing and visual arts in the Washington, D.C., region and beyond.
