The Festival routinely welcomes visiting artists from around the world, and this year is no exception. Pascale Bailly will be in town for Opening Night, to present her film, GOD IS GREAT, I'M NOT (Dieu est Grand, Je Suis Toute Petite), starring Audrey Tautou of AMELIE fame. Several visiting artists will travel from Israel, including noted author Sami Michael, whose novel forms the basis for the feature film A TRUMPET IN THE WADI; filmmaker Michal Aviad, here with the U.S. Premiere of her documentary, FOR MY CHILDREN; and Gilli Mendel, a programmer at the Jerusalem Cinematheque who manages a filmmaking project for Jewish and Arab teens living in and around Jerusalem. Filmmaker Arkadiy Yakhnis travels from Moscow for the U.S. Premiere of his feature, SHOES FROM AMERICA (Botinki Iz Amerika).

Local connections are always evident at the Festival. This year, Arlington-based Austin de Besche offers the world premiere of his documentary, PILGRIMAGE INTO THE PAST, just completed this year. The film's subject, Michael Kraus of Brookline, will also attend the screening. The film track's his journey back to Austria, where as a boy he was part of a forced death march while in Nazi captivity. His daughters accompany him; the family learns as much about themselves as they do about the Holocaust. Filmmaker and subject met while de Besche was shooting VOICES OF THE CHILDREN, an Emmy-winning documentary about young Holocaust survivors.

Audiences will also see Gloucester playwright Israel Horovitz's response to September 11, when he presents his film 3 WEEKS AFTER PARADISE. Horovitz, who splits his time between Gloucester, home also to his Gloucester Stage Company, and New York City, was in his apartment near Ground Zero when the planes hit the twin towers. His anxieties about his son Oliver, who attended nearby Stuyvesant High School and escaped injury, continued beyond the short-term. The result is this thoughtful documentary. Horovitz will respond to audience questions following the screening.

Local notables add context to Festival films by introducing them or by writing about them in the Festival's trademark program book. Introducers this year include, among others, psychoanalyst Jim Herzog, for the U.S. Premiere of Elisabeth M‡rton's MY NAME WAS SABINA SPIELREIN; author Anita Diamant, for the U.S. Premiere of the Israeli film PURIFY (Tehora), by Anat Zuria; and Eric Jackson, WGBH radio's "Eric in the Evening," for the film, STRANGE FRUIT.

The final day of the Festival features a panel discussion, free with admission to the film, STRANGE FRUIT, by Joel Katz, on the role of Jews in popular culture. Panelists include: Eric Jackson (WGBH Radio's "Eric in the Evening"), Ed Siegel (Theater Critic and Critic at Large, The Boston Globe), Sam Weisman (director of the upcoming Hollywood film DICKIE ROBERTS: FORMER CHILD STAR), and Deborah Weisgall (author and frequent contributor to The New York Times Arts & Leisure Section) for this lively discussion. Refreshments provided.

For further information on this year's Boston Jewish Film Festival, including ticket purchase options, visit the Festival's website at www.bjff.org To receive a copy of the Festival brochure, email info@bjff.org or call 617-244-9899.