2024 Louisville Jewish Film Festival-Closing Night
Seven Blessings (Sheva Brachot)

Directed by Ayelet Menahemi

TICKETS

$12 | $8 Speed members

“Will bring you to tears.”—Ron Fogel, Seret

In this compelling film, a wedding exposes an open, yet unresolved, secret within a family as the truth is revealed during a series of family dinner.

Marie was just two years old when her mother, who was blessed with many children, gave her to her barren sister, a common custom practiced by Arab-Jews back in the day.

Forty years later, in the 1990s in Israel, Marie returns from France after a long disconnect from her family to marry her fiancé and is walked down the aisle by both of her “mothers.”

Her large family prepares for the Seven Blessings tradition, a week of festive meals in honor of the bride. But Marie still harbors feelings of anger and pain. She is desperate for an apology. Her family believes that she should be the one thanking them. Along these seven days, old wounds and secrets surface and the celebration turns into a bittersweet explosion of food, drama, and belated forgiveness.

Israel’s submission for the Best International Film Oscar. 2023; Israel; DCP; in Hebrew, Arabic, and French with English subtitles, 108 minutes. Recommended for 16+.