Many students will face a difficult choice this week when deciding between the various film selections being shown at the seventh annual Jewish Film Festival.

The festival, which was started by Harvey and Paula Hoffman in association with the Institute for Southern Jewish Living, has enjoyed an audience that festival co-chair Ara Rubyan described as “loyal” since its inception in 2007. It is being held in the Manship Theatre downtown Wednesday through Sunday, featuring a different film every day.

An eclectic selection of films are to be shown that, according to Rubyan, aim to entertain while also sharing with audiences “something about Jewish culture, life and experience that perhaps they had not been familiar with.”

The selections this year include “Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story,” a documentary on the historical figure who led a 1976 raid that freed more than 100 hostages, and “Torn,” which follows the true story of a man who comes to discover he was born to Jewish parents 12 years after being ordained as a Catholic priest.

Along with the other three selections, the films all center on the sort of ethical dilemmas that extend beyond boundaries of culture, such as the conflict between love and family and serving one’s country in wartime, as in “Follow Me.”

Jay Jalenak, president of the Jewish student organization Hillel and treasurer of Sigma Alpha Mu, is most looking forward to the festival’s final film “Footnote,” being shown at 4 p.m. Sunday.

The film is a 2011 Israeli drama that was nominated for Best Foreign Film by the Academy Awards that year. Jalenak said while the film is certainly Jewish-centric, the relation between father and son depicted in the film is a universal theme that any moviegoer will be able to understand.

“The Jewish Film Festival is a wonderful way to preserve Jewish culture as well as bring together both Jewish and non-Jewish people with an interest in the films,” Jalenak said.

Tickets can be purchased online at the official site or same-day at the door or by calling the Manship Theatre box office.

“The Jewish Film Festival is a wonderful way to preserve Jewish culture as well as bring together both Jewish and non-Jewish people with an interest in the films”,
When:  Jan 16-20
How Much:  $8.50 online, via phone, or at the door
Where:  The Manship Theatre at The Shaw Center for the Arts, Downtown 100 Lafayette Street
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Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story – Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, 7:00 PM   
Torn – Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, 7:00 PM
Hava Nagila (The Movie) – Saturday, Jan. 19, 2012, 7:30 PM       
Foreign Letters – Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, 1:00 PM   
Footnote – Sunday, January 21, 2013, 4:00 PM