Yeshiva University will present “A Lens on Israel: A Society through its Cinema,” the Ring Family Film Festival, from Feb. 14 to 23. The four-part event will be supplemented by lectures, workshops, and open forums with leading Israeli actors, writers, producers, and directors. Capping the event is the Feb. 16 screening of “Footnote” — the Oscar-nominated Joseph Cedar film that won “Best Screenplay” at Cannes, and “Best Picture” at the Israeli Ophir Awards. It is among the five contenders for “Best Foreign Language Film” at this year’s Academy Awards. Following the screening, Cedar and actor Lior Ashkenazi will take questions from the audience.

The free festival opens on Feb. 14 with the screening of the internationally acclaimed drama, “Restoration.” The 2008 film “For My Father” will be shown on Feb. 15, and the festival concludes with “Three Mothers” on Feb. 23. Visit www.yu.edu/film-festival.

Nobody knew that when Ma’aleh School of Television, Film and the Arts student Pazit Lichtman was working on her 2007 film “Willingly” about a religious couple getting divorced, she herself was struggling to keep her marriage, just a year old, from breaking apart.

The film’s Hebrew title, “Harei aht,” “behold, you are,” begin the sentences a Jewish man says to his wife under the chuppah at the time of their marriage and before the Rabbinical Court when presenting her with a divorce. Both acts must be done out of each party’s own free will; hence, the English title “Willingly.”

LOS ANGELES – Joseph Cedar is on a pretty good run: The Israeli director has made four movies in his 11-year career, and the first three have represented his country at the Academy Awards for best foreign-language film.

Before this week began, one made the cut of five finalists, but a Cedar film has yet to capture a golden statuette. In fact, no Israeli film has ever won an Oscar.

Cedar and many of his countrymen are hoping that will change with his fourth entry, “Footnote,” which was among the five Best Foreign Language Film nominees announced on Tuesday in advance of the 84th Annual Academy Awards.

It is time again to bundle up and go out to explore the world of Jewish cinema. The New York Jewish Film Festival is now under way at Lincoln Center. This year, it offers 35 films from 11 countries, many never again
to be seen in our area. The festival continues through Jan. 26.

Over the years, most audiences have been more interested in the narrative films that have been the hallmark of this festival, as have I. Of late, however, we are seeing more — and better — Jewish film documentaries. This year, I am more impressed by them than the fiction films. Most are significant and worthy of consideration.

Of course, a documentary film may not draw a viewer in the way a “regular” theatrical work will do. There are no known actors, no magnificent sunsets, no plot twists, no dramatic climaxes, no surprise endings. Nevertheless, these films are worth seeing.

Since the end of World War II, filmmakers have struggled with myriad stories, both fiction and non-fiction, that recount the horrors of what was the Holocaust, the Shoah. These last several years, there even seems to have been increased activity, as new works are adapted for the screen. At this point, one might ask whether everything has been said that needs to be said on the subject.

Agnieszka Holland does not think so. She feels that “the main mystery hasn’t yet been resolved, or even fully explored.”

With that, she embarked on the making of “In Darkness,” which explores relationships, and the question of trust and betrayal in the midst of calamity and horror.

NEW YORK — The premise of “Torn,” a documentary that premiered in the United States at the just-ended Other Israel Film Festival in New York, sounds a bit like the classic rabbi and priest walk into a bar joke.

Except that, unlike the joke, the Jew and the Christian in the film are one and the same — Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkninel.

Jakub, as he is called throughout the film, was born a Jew during the Shoah in Poland. His birth mother, who perished along with Jakub’s father and brother, left him in the care of a Polish Catholic couple who raised him ignorant of his Jewish background. At 23, Jakub was ordained as a Catholic priest.

The sixth annual Teaneck International Film Festival will be held Nov. 11 to 13 at the Puffin Foundation, Cedar Lane Cinemas, Teaneck High School, Jewish Center of Teaneck, Temple Emeth, and Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. It will launch with a gala party hosted by Holy Name Medical Center in Marian Hall on Thursday evening, Nov. 10. Those who have contributed $25 or more to support the festival will receive two invitations to the event. Donations will be accepted until Nov. 1. To contribute and be part of the opening celebration, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call (800) 811-2909.