This year the festival's organizers are trying to bring in the kids with such films as the hourlong documentary ''Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School," which tells the story of a Brookline teen who tries to start a gay-straight alliance at the New Jewish School. Her coming out has a seismic effect, inspiring several faculty members to swing open their closet doors. The festival has added more night screenings and one midnight show, the documentary ''Jericho's Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land." When's the last time a film festival reached out to local punk-rock Jews?
The festival also tries to shine a light on many far-flung aspects of modern Judaism. Monica Haim's documentary ''Awake Zion" traces a connection between Jews and Rastafarians through music and scripture. Jesse Atlas's documentary ''At the Green Line" is, in part, about Israeli soldiers struggling with the morality of fighting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It lasts less than an hour but easily could have gone on longer. The festival is a boon for short, scholastic nonfiction profiles.
The movies here are from all over the world -- 16 countries, to be exact, with a good slice from France. Representing Hollywood is the adaptation of Myla Goldberg's novel ''Bee Season," with Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche. It's a weeper about a crumbling marriage and the champion speller who could save it. At the other end of the spectrum, there's the rarely seen depiction of Orthodox life in Gidi Dar and Shuli Rand's gala-fund-raiser film, ''Ushpizin," a rollicking folk comedy about a penniless married couple and their nightmarish houseguests.
Here's a guide to some of the festival's highlights.
