Portland's 24th Jewish Film Festival Is More Scrumptious Than Anthony Bourdain

What to watch during week one of the Jewish Film Fest.

The 24th festival brings modern-day mensches to the big screen with two weeks of culturally significant film.

Week one screens In Search of Israeli Cuisine (7 pm Thursday, June 16), with chef Michael Solomonov, owner of the restaurant Zahav, spotlighting Israeli food and history in a film that bests Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations.

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In The Midnight Orchestra (7 pm Wednesday, June 15), the son of a famous Jewish musician travels from Morocco to lay his father to rest and reconnect with his dad's old bandmates, enlisting the unlikely help of an entertaining cab driver along the way.

The Kind Words (4:30 pm Sunday, June 19) is a comedy-drama that follows a sister and two brothers who discover their birth mother is still alive after the woman who raised them dies of cancer. Packed with surprising humor, the quirky film has an allure that works in any language.

NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium. Full schedule at nwfilm.org.

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