7 pm A universal tale of star-crossed lovers is given a uniquely Mexican twist in writer-director Isaac Cherem’s debut film. Ariela, an independently-minded young artist living with her Syrian-Jewish family in a cloistered Jewish neighborhood in Mexico City, finds herself torn between her family and a forbidden romance with a non-Jewish writer, who shows her a world of possibilities beyond her sheltered life. As their feelings deepen, Ariela must negotiate the labyrinth of familial pressure, religious values and traditions, and her own burgeoning sentiment, finding that there (more...)

7 pm ¡Las Sandinistas! documents a watershed moment in history, when a group of Nicaraguan women shattered barriers to lead rebel troops in battle and reshape their country with landmark social reforms during the 1979 Sandinista Revolution and the ensuing U.S.-backed Contra War, only to face renewed marginalization by their male peers once the wars ended. The film centers on the personal stories of Dora María Téllez, the young medical student who became a key Sandinista general, and four of her revolutionary allies. Now, amid staggering levels (more...)

2 pm Lox and bagels meet salsa and congos in Peabody Award winner Lex Gillespie’s joyous and singular celebration of the Jewish love affair with Latin music and dance, set in New York, Havana, Miami Beach, and the Catskill Mountains. During the 1950s, free-spirited, mostly Jewish dancers from New York City fell head over heels for the mambo, the hot dance from Cuba that became a worldwide sensation. Their love for Latin rhythms earned them a nickname: the “mamboniks.” Now retired, yet still dancing in Florida, a (more...)