Now seven years old, the Rochester Jewish Film Festival grows better with age, and this year's lineup once again showcases the best features, documentaries, and shorts about the global Jewish experience. Highlights include the opening-night presentation of the Oscar winner for Best Narrative Short, "West Bank Story," as well as a visit from Israeli war photojournalist Ziv Koren, the subject of the documentary "More Than 1,000 Words."

Click on www.rjff.org or call 461-2000 ext. 235 for further info, because I totally blew my word count on the movies. Azoy gait es!

"I demand a right to beauty," mopes 16-year-old Hannah, to which her mother responds with that dreaded chestnut: "You're beautiful on the inside." Fortunately, however, Hannah shreds on the upright bass, and in the crowd pleaser "The First Time I Was Twenty" ("La Premiere Fois que J'ai eu 20 Ans"), she battles both sexism and anti-Semitism to take her rightful place in her school's traditionally male jazz band. Besides her musical talent, Hannah's also been blessed with plucky ambition and a slicing wit, though the latter usually takes the form of sarcasm as she retaliates against those who have hurt her or tries to protect herself from those who might. Marilou Berry deftly portrays the guarded yet vulnerable Hannah, resistant to her raucous family's good intentions but not too stubborn to understand that her kind bombshell of a sister is correct when she says, "You just have to decide to be pretty." (Sunday, July 8, 7:15 p.m.)

It's an unusual view of the Holocaust in the fantastic documentary "Rape of Europa," which employs astonishing archival footage to juxtapose Hitler's genocidal mania against his lust to get the world's great art treasures under the roof of the Third Reich. As the Nazis stormed Europe, Hitler - himself a frustrated artist - and his minions looted from both museums and the private collections of doomed Jews, though Hitler also discriminated in the art realm as well, considering Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso "degenerate." Equally absorbing is the film's exploration of the Allies' attempts to liberate Europe without collateral damage to the priceless public art (Italy, especially Florence and Pisa, was a particularly tricky undertaking), as well as the scrupulous efforts of the Army's Monuments Men to return the treasures following Germany's defeat. But most fascinating are the daunting missions to stash troves like the Hermitage and the Louvre before the Nazis showed up, as interviewees recall transporting Winged Victory without shattering her and seeing the Mona Lisa smiling up from her satin-lined box. (Monday, July 9, 6:15 p.m.)

Mirit takes her job very seriously and often kisses the tuchas of her no-nonsense boss. Smadar, however, is a troublemaker, shopping and visiting the salon when she's supposed to be working. Now, it would be no big deal if they folded t-shirts at the Jerusalem Gap, but Smadar and Mirit have just begun their mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Force, and their duties include patrolling one of the world's most combustible cities and checking the IDs of anyone seemingly of Arab descent. "Close to Home" ("Karov La Bayit") follows the initially clashing recruits as they reach an uneasy professional truce, and when not-unexpected tragedy rocks their sector, the bond strengthens, though wounds inflicted henceforth cut much deeper. Shot with handheld cameras on the streets of the Holy City, the film focuses on the individuality of the women rather than their collective identity as soldiers and keeps the threat of danger on a simmer, opting for an ending that isn't so much tidy as it is true. (Monday, July 9, 9 p.m.)

"Gorgeous!" ("Comme t'y es Belle!") follows the fluffy adventures of three hot sisters and their equally sizzling friend as they look for love in Paris. Divorced Isa and a dreamy Englishman meet cute after she runs over his bike, Léa is a bit slutty but wants to be a better mom, Alice has an unsatisfying marriage as well as an eye for a sexy single dad, while their friend Nina is angrily smitten with a charming ladies' man. Their stereotypical Jewish mom pops up to meddle occasionally, and the scenes featuring the extended family are warm, noisy, and funny. The unironic use of the montage set to pop music isn't something that's done anymore (especially not three times in the same film), and while "Gorgeous!" is both silly and clichéd, this bonbon is also tres enjoyable. (Tuesday, July 10, 9 p.m.)

Set upon a kibbutz in the mid 1970s, the semi-autobiographical "Sweet Mud" (Adama Meshugaat) follows 12-year-old Dvir as he readies for his bar mitzvah, crushes on a pretty French girl, and cares for his mentally unstable mother. Life on the socialist commune takes a strange turn when his mother's surprising goyfriend arrives, setting into motion a chain of events that make a man of him even before Judaism does. Winner of the Israeli equivalent of Best Picture, this coming-of-age tale features skilled performances from its ensemble cast and lovely photography as it explores the pros and cons of a well-meaning exercise in socialism. (Wednesday, July 11, 9 p.m.)

Director Paul Mazursky - sorry. Famous director Paul Mazursky (that's how he introduces himself) set out to make a documentary about the annual pilgrimage that thousands of Hasidic Jewish men make to the Ukraine gravesite of inspirational leader Rabbi Nachman. "Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy" is the slight fruit of his labor, and it's as much about the admittedly secular Mazursky and his waning relevance as his fellow pilgrims. Borscht Belt humor abounds as he tells jokes to anyone who will listen, and his ignorant assertion that no one understands suffering like the Jews is seriously tested upon meeting a young widowed mother. This glorified home movie, however, is somewhat redeemed when Mazursky meets a charmingly deadpan British doctor also paying homage to Nachman. He sums up the journey thusly: "It's not about the time you spend here. It's the time that you go back and work on yourself and try to bring meaning into your life." (Thursday, July 12, 6:30 p.m.)

Rochester Jewish Film Festival | July 8-15 | Little Theatres, 240 East Avenue; the George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre, 900 East Avenue; and the JCC Hart Theatre, 1200 Edgewood Avenue | $8-$15 | www.rjff.org or 461-2000 ext. 235

2007 RJFF Schedule

All screenings at Little Theatre, unless otherwise noted

Sunday, July 8

"Hyam Plutzik: American Poet," 1:30 p.m.

"Hebrew Lesson," 3:30 p.m.

"First Time I Was Twenty" (preceded by "West Bank Story"), 7:15 p.m.

Monday, July 9

"Rape of Europa," 6:15 p.m.

"Close to Home," 9 p.m.

Tuesday, July 10

"KZ (preceded by Pigeon)," 6:15 p.m.

"Gorgeous!," 9 p.m.

Wednesday, July 11

"More Than 1,000 Words," 6:30 p.m.

"Sweet Mud," 9 p.m.

Thursday, July 12

"The Cantor's Son," 2 p.m. (JCC Hart Theatre)

"Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy" (preceded by "The 10th Man"), 6:30 p.m.

"Three Mothers," 9 p.m.

Saturday, July 14

"Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner," 7:30 & 10 p.m. (Dryden Theatre)

Sunday, July 15

"Maurice Sendak: Animation for Children," 11 a.m.

"Toots" (preceded by "Under the Roller Coaster"), 4 p.m.

"Dear Mr. Waldman," 7:30 p.m.