“Reel Encounters”

CRO is excited to announce the selections for the eighth season of its critically acclaimed film series!

*This event is free but sponsors are welcome! Scroll to the bottom of this page to register and sponsor.

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November 16 at 8 pm - “The Books He Didn’t Burn” (2023)

A critical look at Adolf Hitler’s private library. Narrated by Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, this gripping documentary follows eminent historian Timothy W. Ryback as he tries to make sense of the historical meaning of the library, exploring what it can tell us about Hitler and how it in turn informed his worldview.

92 minutes; English, French, and German with English subtitles

*This exclusive screening is co-sponsored by the Queens College Center for Jewish Studies* 

Watch trailer

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December 7 at 8 pm - “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” (2023)

A sumptuously mounted historical drama by the great Italian film maker Marco Bellocchio about the true story of a young Jewish boy from Bologna who was forcibly taken from his parents by emissaries of the Pope in 1858.

134 minutes; Italian and Hebrew with English subtitles

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January 11 at 8 pm - “June Zero” (2022)

Jake Paltrow’s film about the 1961 Eichmann trial tells its story from the perspectives of three largely unrelated figures: Eichmann’s Jewish Moroccan prison guard; an Israeli police investigator for the prosecution and a Holocaust survivor; and a 13-year-old Jewish Libyan immigrant. In its narrative approach, the film reminds us that while histories are experienced differently, we are also connected by shared trauma.

105 minutes; Hebrew and English with English subtitles

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March 1 at 7:30 pm - “The Quarrel” (1991)

*This is a special joint event with the CRO book club and will be featuring a speaker.

Montreal 1948. Two estranged friends – one a rabbi and the other an agnostic Yiddish writer— are compelled to resume an argument that caused a rift many years earlier after a chance encounter thrusts the duo together once more. Based on Chaim Grade’s classic Yiddish short story, “My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner,” the script was co-written by CRO’s own Rabbi Joseph Telushkin.

85 minutes; English

Watch trailer

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Reel Encounters is free for CRO members, but we encourage you to be generous with your donations! 

Sponsorships available at the Director ($72), Lead Role ($54) and Walk-on ($36) levels.