February is an extremely busy month on the Cincinnati (and regional) art/indie movie circuit, with excellent festivals, retrospective screenings, and arrivals of more Oscar-nominated titles. Personally, I don’t remember so much going on locally in the way of art/indie films since the days of The Movies and the Cincinnati Film Society at their 1980s peak.
Perhaps the biggest event is the Mayerson JCC Jewish & Israeli Film Festival, staging its 17th installment throughout February, beginning on Saturday. There will be 12 films screening for audiences at various theaters, including four multi-access film opportunities that offer virtual viewing options for feature films in addition to the in-person showings. The four virtual film showings will have a 48-hour watch availability window.
The festival gets underway at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 1 with the American film Bad Shabbos, a “dark comedy” that received good response on both the Jewish and secular film-fest circuits (pictured above). It screens at the 20th Century Theater in Oakley.
After it played New York’s Tribeca film fest, Alissa Simon praised Bad Shabbos in Variety, writing: “Set in the well-heeled part of New York’s Upper West Side Jewish community, Tribeca audience award winner Bad Shabbos is an entertaining, fast-paced comedy about a Sabbath dinner gone terribly awry. After four previous indie features, director Daniel Robbins should score wider distribution with this tender look at several generations of modern Jews trying to balance the polarities of secular and religious lives, along with the dilemma of a dead body in the bathroom.”
Cincinnati Magazine asked Eowyn Garfinkle Plymesser, the JCC’s manager of arts & culture, to choose just a few of the 12 titles she’s especially excited about. Here are her responses:

- “It’s hard to choose just a few titles, as our lineup is once again incredibly diverse and compelling. But Here Lived is a documentary that chronicles the creation and implementation of Gunter Demnig’s Stolpersteine project. There are impactful themes about Holocaust remembrance, intergenerational trauma, and passing on many important lessons from one generation to the next.” Showing in-person on February 12 and virtually February 12-14.
- “Unspoken is a coming-of-age story about a closeted religious teenager grappling with the uncovering of family secrets and the aftermath they leave behind. It’s a very moving story about inclusion, acceptance, with themes of Holocaust remembrance.” Showing in-person only on February 20.
- “Sabbath Queen is a moving documentary filmed over 21 years about Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie and his journey to find his own radical, accepting, intersectional Judaism as he reinvents religion, ritual, and love. We’re excited for our post-film discussion to continue dissecting the topics showcased in the film.” Showing in-person only on February 25.
- “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round is our Closing Night film, an insightful documentary about events in June of 1960 that became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. It’s a story of allyship through activism that is incredibly timely for today’s audiences.” Showing in-person only on February 27 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
- “06:30 is an exceptional documentary capturing the harrowing events of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel with profound sensitivity. It features firsthand accounts from survivors at seven different attack sites, each story vividly brought to life through the creative use of miniature models and animations. The strength of the film lies in its nuanced depiction of that terrible day. This approach conveys the horror without explicitly showing it, offering a restrained yet deeply impactful portrayal.” Showing in-person only on February 16.
I’ll add an additional title to Plymesser’s recommendations: The Glory of Life, a narrative feature from Germany based on a novel by Micahel Kumpfmüller of the same title. The film tells the tale of what happens when two extraordinary people, Franz Kafka and Dora Diamant, find themselves in a hopeless situation. Ultimately, the power of love makes the last year of Kafka’s life his happiest.” It screens at 7 p.m. February 10 at the Skirball Museum on the Clifton campus of Hebrew Union College and is also available for streaming.
Get details about the festival films and ticket information here.
Oscar Nominated Shorts
[Watch the trailer. Screens February 14-16, 21-23, 28-March 2, and March 7-8 at the Garfield Theatre, downtown.]
The resurgence in popularity of short films recently has been surprising, somewhat like the return of vinyl records or independent bookstores. It’s been largely due to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences allowing a company called ShortsTV to distribute to theaters all the nominated films in the three Oscar categories devoted to shorts: Documentary, Animation, and Live Action. If you don’t believe they’ve become a popular draw, just go to Cincinnati World Cinema’s downtown Garfield Theatre when a screening is on! It can be packed.
Overall, the three separate film packages (A. Documentary. B. Animation, and C. Live Action) will screen on four consecutive weekends. You can buy separate tickets for any of the three, but there’s also a combo ticket good for both the Animated and Live Action if seen on the same day. Single advance tickets are $15.50, and advance combo tickets for the B and C presentations are $26. Get film details and ticket information here.

David Lynch Remembered
Everyone interested in movies recognizes that the late David Lynch, who died on January 15 at age 78, was a visionary whose work could be dangerously scary, oddly Zen-like, bizarrely supernatural, and calmly realistic. After all, who else would name one of his eeriest, most dangerous films after a sweet, nostalgically romantic golden oldie song like Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet.”

As karma would have it, two of Lynch’s older movies had been scheduled for February screenings before his death. The Esquire is presenting one of his most popular (and violent) ones, 1990’s Wild at Heart, at 9:30 p.m. February 14 (Valentine’s Day) and again at 7:30 p.m. February 16. Controversial at the time and, truthfully, still controversial, it did take the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and has a cast that just doesn’t stop: Nicholas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Isabella Rossellini, and H.D. Stanton. It also contained a memorable hit song, Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.”
And on February 24, the Woodward Theater is presenting Lynch’s 1992 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. It came out a year after the historically influential Twin Peaks TV series went off the air, and even though it had much of the original cast (plus David Bowie!) it was poorly received by critics and the public. The film was widely knocked as a strained attempt at a prequel when none was needed or wanted.
But there’s been a remarkable reappraisal with time. The film’s Wikipedia entry has a whole reappraisal section, and some of the quotes from writers are powerfully positive. Film critic Robbie Collin of The Telegraph wrote that it was “a widely misunderstood masterpiece” and said, “it restores Twin Peaks to writhing, screaming life. Far from cheating viewers, this fresh perspective offered them a new way to decode the entire Twin Peaks mythos, with Sheryl Lee’s extraordinary, soul-tearing performance shaking the franchise out of its cherry-pie-munching reverie. … Time has passed, and its brilliance is gradually coming into focus, just as Lynch hoped it would.” Now that’s praise.
Word is that the Woodward Theater and Cincinnati World Cinema are working on a shared series of David Lynch films that would pick up right after the Fire Walk With Me screening and feature: Eraserhead at the Garfield Theatre on February 26, Mulholland Drive at the Woodward on March 3, and Blue Velvet at the Garfield on March 5.

Seed of the Sacred Fig
[Watch the trailer. Opening January 31 at the Mariemont Theatre.]
I wrote about Sacred Fig in my January preview column, but it bears repeating: This is technically considered a German film though it’s really Iranian, and therein lies a dramatic story. Director/writer Mohammad Rasoulof’s story is a thriller about a judge in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court who discovers sinister motives behind his hiring. His investigation of that occurs during a time of protest.
The story is fictional, but the director filmed and incorporated into the story all-too-real scenes from 2022-23 protests that Iran brutally suppressed. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, where it won a Special Jury Prize, but Rasoulof had to escape Iran to attend the screening. He’d just been sentenced to eight years in prison for his previous film.
Sacred Fig is nominated for an Oscar for Best International Feature Film.

Girl With the Needle
[Watch the trailer. Opening January 31 at the Mariemont.]
Also nominated for an Oscar for Best International Feature Film, this title is from Denmark, directed by Magnus von Horn from a screenplay written by von Horn and Line Langebek. Set in 1919, it’s about a young woman who begins working as a wet nurse at a secretive adoption agency for disadvantaged mothers but grows suspicious of the woman who runs the operation. It’s loosely based on the true story of a Danish serial killer.
Reviews caution that it’s a terrifying story. Here’s one from The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw: “Just in case you were thinking that this is an upbeat story of a sweet young seamstress winning BBC TV’s The Great British Sewing Bee, the needle in question is in fact a knitting needle for giving yourself an abortion in a public bath-house in post-first world war Copenhagen. This film from Poland-based Swedish director Magnus van Horn is a macabre and hypnotic horror, a fictionalized true crime nightmare based on Denmark’s baby-killer case from 1921, shot in high-contrast expressionist monochrome and kept at an almost unbearable pitch of anxiety by Frederikke Hoffmeier’s nerve-abrading musical score.”
I’m Still Here
[Watch the trailer. Opening February 7 at the Mariemont.]
Another eagerly awaited Oscar nominee, this Brazilian film that is up for three Oscars: Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, and Best Actress. Fernanda Torres plays a woman persistently and courageously searching for an accounting of her husband’s fate after he disappears during a period when a military dictatorship held power in Brazil. “Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here is an epic within an epic: a teeming family drama contained within the melodrama of a country going insane,” wrote Ty Burr in The Washington Post. “No, it’s not set in modern-day America. Perhaps that’s the point: If we’re not very careful, it could be.”
But I’m a Cheerleader
[Watch the trailer. Screens at 7:30 p.m. February 5 at the Esquire Theatre.]
Leontine, the group that presents monthly movies directed by women, screens this 2000 film directed by Jamie Babbit and starring a young Natasha Leonne as a cheerleader whose parents are so worried she’s gay they send her to conversion therapy camp. Over time, this film has developed a strong reputation for its importance; Afterellen.com, a culture site for lesbians and bisexual women, called it an “incredible comedy” that “redefined lesbian film.”
Desperately Seeking Susan
[Watch the trailer. Screens at 7:30 p.m. February 17 at the Woodward Theater.]
Leontine also presents this classic of 1980s New York City alternative culture, directed by Susan Seidelman from a screenplay by Leora Barish. It stars Rosanna Arquette as a New Jersey suburbanite whose curiosity about a hip, free-spirited NYC woman named Susan (a very effective Madonna) causes complications.
Buffalo ’66
[Watch the trailer. Screens at 7:30 p.m. February 11 at the Esquire.]
Conveyor Belt Books is showing an alternative classic from 1998, directed and co-written by Vincent Gallo and also starring him as a man going home to his parents after spending five years in prison. Only his folks don’t know that, so he kidnaps a young woman (Christina Ricci) to pretend to his parents that they’re a married couple. I can still remember Gallo walking around the streets of Park City during the Sundance Film Festival promoting this film and looking very, very colorful. I didn’t know what to expect from the film, but it turned out to be a real surprise, a kind of grungy, arty, edgy work with a John Cassavetes-meets-Jim-Jarmusch vibe. And what a cast this has: Ben Gazara, Mickey Rourke, Rosanna Arquette, Jean-Michael Vincent, and Angelica Huston.
Singin’ in the Rain
[Screens on February 1, 3, 4, and 6 at the Esquire.]
Is this 1952 musical the best American movie of all time? I once heard a respected film critic make that case before a screening at the Telluride Film Festival. Not sure I agree, but it’s a wonderful film, certainly one of our greatest musicals, and the Esquire is providing plenty of chances to see it on the big screen this month.

Sherlock Jr.
[Watch the trailer. Screens February 8, 13, and 22 at the Esquire; February 9 at the Mariemont; and February 19 at the Kenwood Theatre.]
Back in November, the Esquire presented the first title in a new national distribution of classic silent films synched to classic alt rock; the original Nosferatu was paired with Radiohead. It must have been successful, because now the Silents Synced network is back with a wonderfully inventive 1924 Buster Keaton film set to R.E.M.’s Monster and New Adventures in Hi-Fi albums.
UC at the Esquire European Film Series: Imagining Nature/Culture
This festival, presented by UC’s Niehoff Center for Film and Media Studies, got underway in late January with a presentation of the Oscar nominated Flowers of Ukraine documentary and picks up momentum this month with three new titles. Screenings are free at the Esquire Theatre and will be followed by an audience discussion.
- The Animal Kingdom (6 p.m. February 12) is described as “a visionary new thriller that drops viewers into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures.” From acclaimed director Thomas Cailley, the film premiered as the opening night selection of the 2023 Cannes Un Certain Regard. Details and RSVP here.
- Roter Himmel/Afire (2 p.m. February 16) is a 2023 German drama directed by Christian Petzold that actually played here upon its original theatrical release; I saw it, and it deserves a reprise. Two men, a writer and a photographer, find a mysterious young woman living in their vacation home by the Baltic Sea. Meanwhile, a spreading forest fire threatens the group. Details and RSVP here.
- Alcarràs (2 p.m. February 23) is a 2022 Italian film that won the prestigious Golden Bear at 2022’s Berlinale Festival. Directed by Carla Simón, it tells about a “ruminative, lived-in portrait of a rural family in present-day Catalonia whose way of life is rapidly changing.” Details and RSVP here.
Open Source Cinema at PAR-Projects
Open Source Cinema will present free Tuesday evening screenings this month at the PAR-Projects arts complex at 1626 Hoffner Street in Northside. The group has a keen following for its stimulatingly artful content and deep-catalogue film knowledge and also sponsors guest curation.
The February series is curated by Nick Keeling and Michael Sweeny under the title Drop Dead City, featuring New York City films from the 1970s and ’80s. Economic stagnation, political turmoil, infrastructural decay, social unrest … sound familiar? Here are the weekly titles; screenings are free and begin at 7 p.m. each evening. Get more information about the series here.
February 4: She Had Her Gun All Ready (directed by Vivienne Dick 1978, 27 minutes); Permanent Vacation (directed by Jim Jarmusch, 1980, 75 minutes)
February 11: Stations of the Elevated (directed by Manfred Kirchheimer, 1981, 45 minutes); Style Wars (directed by Tony Silver, 1983, 70 minutes)
February 18: Where Evil Dwells (directed by David Wojnarowicz and Tommy Turner, 1985, 33 minutes); Submit to Me (directed by Richard Kern, 1986, 10 minutes); I Hate You Now (directed by Richard Kern, 1985, 10 minutes); You Killed Me First (directed by Richard Kern, 1985, 11 minutes); My Nightmare (directed by Richard Kern, 1993, 6 minutes); Fingered (directed by Richard Kern, 1986, 25 minutes)
February 25: Goodbye 42nd Street (directed by Richard Kern, 1983, 5 minutes); Variety (directed by Bette Gordon, 1983, 85 minutes).

Restored Films at the Wexner Center
I’ve gone several times to the Cinema Revival Fest at Columbus’ Wexner Center on the OSU campus, and it’s endlessly rewarding for film buffs interested in the revivals and rediscoveries of older movies. Once a year, the Wexner rounds up the latest restorations of all manner and often presents them with people who worked on the conservation effort or were otherwise involved with the film.
This year’s presentation is February 20-24, a Thursday through Sunday, and prices for all 12 films in the series are just $30 for adults 55 and over (and members), $42 for the general public, and $15 for students. That makes it perfect for a weekend getaway. Get information about the films and tickets here.
Here are two highlights that grabbed my attention:
- Lisa Cholodenko’s 1998 High Art is considered, according to the Wexner, “a milestone in American indie Filmmaking and for lesbian representation in film.” I saw it at Sundance in 1998, where it won a screenplay award, and everyone was talking about its showstopping acting from Ally Sheedy as a photographer and Patricia Clarkson as her druggy girlfriend. It will be good to see this one restored and revived. It plays at 7 p.m. on February 21.
- The next day at 12:30 p.m. brings something for the whole family, Restored Animated Films. There will be seven rare titles freshly restored by the somewhat surprising team of Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation and Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane.
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