Acclaimed Jewish films showcased at Suncoast

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006 | 7:34 a.m.

For some insight into Jewish culture, check out the upcoming film festival at the Suncoast.

The fifth annual Las Vegas Celebration of Jewish Film will be at the Summerlin casino's Century Theatres tonight through Monday.

"All are unique films that you will not likely see anywhere else," said Joshua Abbey, managing director of the festival that attracted about 2,500 fans last year.

Abbey was one of the founders of CineVegas in 1998.

"After I left that, I wanted to continue programming films, so I started the Jewish film festival," said Abbey, a graduate of UNLV and of the American Film Institute in Hollywood.

Abbey also is director of the Desert Space Foundation, a Las Vegas organization whose stated purpose is to "promote the arts, humanities and education in Nevada."

Among its endeavors, the foundation works in collaboration with the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada to present the annual film festival.

Abbey notes that the festival uses film to "raise community consciousness about Jewish identity, history and culture."

All of the films deal with Jewish subject matter or have Jewish themes, Abbey said.

Each film presented at the festival will be moderated by a critic or scholar who will conduct a question-and-answer period after the viewings.

Abbey said the slate of films at this year's festival were selected from a list shown in the past at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the oldest and largest such festival in the nation.

"I culled the cream of the crop," Abbey said.

This year the number of films has been expanded from five to nine.

The films shown at the local festival are sponsored by several Jewish synagogues, agencies and organizations. Those sponsoring the films keep the box-office receipts for the individual screenings.

Advance tickets are available at the Desert Space Web site (desertspace.org) but may also be purchased at the door.

There will be a Jewish Arts Festival at the Suncoast on Sunday, in conjunction with the film festival.

The Arts Festival is being produced by the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada and features works by local and Israeli artists.

Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.