Come to the Center to expierience Jewish values through art, culture, dance and film.
History & Mission
The NoVa International Jewish Film Festival began with a dream of bringing Jewish film to Northern Virginia. Our founding chairperson, Aliza Kolker, had always hoped that the Center would present its own film festival for our community. She and Roz Engels, JCCNV director of adult services, worked tirelessly with a small group of volunteers to begin raising funds, previewing films and planning programs. The first film festival took place in March, 2001 at the Cinema Arts Theater in Fairfax featuring seven films in seven days.
Sadly, Aliza passed away in 2003, but the film festival she cultivated lives on. Its programming has become more robust, the number of venues and sponsors continues to grow and more than 3,000 community members come each year to view the varied roster of films from around the world.
Mission:
The NOVA International Jewish Film Festival promotes understanding of the diversity within Jewish life and culture. Through film’s broad appeal and educational programming, our goal is to create opportunities for dialogue within the greater Northern Virginia community by sharing our varied Jewish journeys.