Kudos to the Rochester Jewish Film Festival, which currently has two reasons to celebrate. The first is that this year marks the 10th installment of RJFF, this city's annual assemblage of quality contemporary cinema about the Jewish experience, along with an archival treasure or two. Secondly, RJFF was recently honored by the Jewish Community Federation of Greater Rochester with the 2010 Elmer Louis Award for Outstanding Program in the Rochester Jewish Community. But there's no time for laurel-resting when there are films to show and parties to throw, so read on for highlights of this year's festival, then visit rjff.org for more information.

An antidote to all those flicks where the physically imperfect spruce themselves up to find love and purpose, the Israeli feel-good comedy "A Matter of Size" watches as a quartet of rotund buddies ditch their esteem-crushing diet club and embrace the ancient sport of sumo. There's nothing particularly surprising about the plot, which includes a reluctant coach, an overbearing mother, as well as various romantic kerfuffles. And while problems resolve a little too neatly considering the health issues at play here, the characters are refreshingly flawed, and the message of self-empowerment could only be faulted by a total schmuck. (Sunday, July 25, 7 p.m., Dryden Theatre)

"I was dead before," the melancholy butcher says of life before meeting Ezri, his new shop apprentice, a relationship that Aaron's insular Hasidic community suspects of being more than just a business arrangement. They're right, and "Eyes Wide Open" showcases three quietly intense performances in service to a heartbreaking drama where a man's devotion to God and marriage gets rocked by his consuming attraction to another man. Director Haim Tabakman asks thoughtful questions about faith and duty, but it's Zohar Strauss as the conflicted Aaron, bedroom-eyed Ran Danker as Ezri, and Tinkerbell (really) as Aaron's deceptively calm wife who resonate. (Monday, July 26, 9 p.m., Little Theatre)

A graceful title turn by Alejandra Manzo, an actress with Down syndrome, anchors "Anita," a bittersweet Argentine odyssey that follows a young woman around Buenos Aires after a terrorist bombing makes rubble of her formerly structured world. Juxtaposed against her family's frantic search for her, Anita's encounters with her fellow souls illustrate with little sentimentality both the confusion and ignorance that the differently abled can often elicit, as well as the enduring human capacity for kindness. And that gorgeous older woman too briefly on screen is Oscar nominee Norma Aleandro, most recently seen stealing the Merchant Ivory production "The City Of Your Final Destination." (Wednesday, July 28, 6:15 p.m., Little Theatre)

"Who Do You Love" had the misfortune of being the other 2009 movie about Leonard Chess and his eponymous Chicago record label, which exposed the world to the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, inadvertently giving rise to rock ‘n' roll. And though the overt racism of the time is handled in a disappointingly simplistic manner, this Chess biopic benefits greatly from having relative unknowns in the roles of Waters, harmonica great Little Walter, and the legendary Bo Diddley, thus preventing the fascinating story from being overshadowed by the performers. So you don't have to watch Beyonc� ham it up as Etta James, but you can dig the sly Chi McBride as blues icon Willie Dixon. (Saturday, July 31, 6:30 p.m., Dryden Theatre)

Israel's most recent Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, the powerful "Ajami" weaves together various narrative threads and perspectives, a la "Pulp Fiction," to explore Arab-Jew relations in a Jaffa neighborhood. Co-directed by Israeli Yaron Shani and Palestinian Scandar Copti, the film takes full advantage of its unique dual perspective, opening with a brazen drive-by shooting then chronicling its twisty aftermath in an already powderkeg setting. Brought to life mostly by a cast of non-professionals, the drama veers between violent conflict and serene domesticity, the harsh dichotomy of life in Ajami illustrated best by a crooked cop utterly devoted to his family. (Saturday, July 31, 9 p.m., Dryden Theatre)

Bursting with visual panache, the stylish Czech noir "Protector" unfolds during the Nazi occupation of Prague through the turbulent marriage of a radio journalist and his glamorous Jewish wife, her fall from in-demand actress to feisty religious prisoner driving the plot. Making desaturated colors much sexier than they should be, Jana Plodkov dazzles as Hana, as her periodic escapes to watch movies or pose for covert photos put her at contemptuous odds with her weak-willed husband and his damning self-interests. (Sunday, August 1, 8:30 p.m., Little Theatre)

Rochester Jewish Film Festival

Sunday, July 25-Monday, August 2

461-2000, rjff.org