The 2008 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film will make its Baton Rouge debut tonight during the third annual Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival at the Manship Theatre in the Shaw Center for the Arts.”The Counterfeiters” is the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire. After being arrested and sent to a German concentration camp in 1944, Sorowitsch is forced to help the Nazis counterfeit Allied bank notes in an attempt to destroy their economies. The prisoners have a choice: They can ensure their survival by cooperating with the enemy, or they can risk certain death and sabotage the operation. “It is really a very tough film,” said festival co-chair Harvey Hoffman. “If they messed up, they would be killed immediately. If they didn’t mess up, what they produced would prolong the war.”Following the 7 p.m. viewing, Kenneth Hoffman, education director of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, will address the audience.The festival operates in conjunction with Jewish Cinema South, an organization based in Jackson, Miss., which helps communities with smaller Jewish populations put on film festivals.”If we are going to attract businesses and people to come and live here, they’ve got to feel that this is a diverse and tolerant society,” said Harvey Hoffman. “Having a Jewish film festival sends a message that we are diverse and do respect people and their differences.”Harvey Hoffman has been the co-chair of the festival in Baton Rouge for the last three years. When selecting the movies to show, Hoffman looks at their entertainment value and universal appeal. All films contain “something Jewish.””If it totally depended on the Jewish community here, it would not be successful. There are not enough Jewish people living in this area to support something like this,” Hoffman said. “The largest group of people who come to our films are not Jewish.”Hoffman said an extra day this year after selling out two nights and nearly selling out the third last year. The expanded schedule allowed him to sort the movies by category.The festival began Wednesday with a comedy night featuring “Circumcise Me,” a documentary told through the conversion story of Hassidic comedian Yisrael Campbell, and two romantic comedies, “Advice and Dissent” and “The Orthodox Way.” The festival continues tonight with the screening of “The Counterfeiters.”The festival will resume Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. screening of “Unsettled,” the story of the historic 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip through the eyes of six young people.  Director and filmmaker Adam Hootnick will speak after the film.A matinee presentation of “Arranged” will kick off the final day of the Festival at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The film focuses on the impending arranged marriages of two women, one an Orthodox Jew and the other a Muslim.The Festival will end after the 7 p.m. showing of the documentary “So Long Are You Young” and the short film “Got Next.”Hoffman said he tries to be diverse in the genre of movies he selects to appease a wide variety of audiences.”Sometimes the South gets a bum rap,” Hoffman said. “People don’t realize the amount of diversity and tolerance that exists here. Religion is important in the South, and if you practice your religion, you are respected.”Tickets are available through the Manship Theatre Box Office or online at www.manshiptheatre.org. Reserved seats are $8.50.  Tickets can be purchased at the door on a space available basis and will go on sale one hour before each screening.——Contact Jack LeBlanc at [email protected]