It’s that time of year when the community is revving up for the annual Ajijic Jewish Film Festival (JFF) which kicks off on Sunday, January 7, 2024.
For eight consecutive Sundays, audiences will enjoy a carefully curated selection of award-winning Jewish-focused films intended to entertain, educate and stimulate—including a live director’s talk.
This year, when world events have put Jewish identity forward in numerous contexts, four of the eight films are documentaries or docudramas about Jewish icons. “The One and Only Jewish Miss America” is a compact documentary about Bess Meyerson, a Jewish girl from the post war Jewish Bronx housing projects and her run to become Miss America in 1945.
The film explores what it meant to American Jews that she succeeded, and, though less well-known, the times the crowned Miss America was confronted by anti-Semitism and racism as she tried to carry out her lecture tour. The film delves into these incidents and how they caused a pivot in Meyerson’s approach, setting her on the path of a human rights activist.
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