The Jewish Film Festival begins in New London

The Garde's Oscar film festival has drawn to a close, but movie fans can rejoice because another film festival is beginning this week.

The 16th annual International Jewish Film Festival kicks off Monday with "Noodle," a comic drama from Israel about a twice-widowed flight attendant whose life is utterly changed by an abandoned boy from China.

Then there's a documentary about someone once described as "the most famous woman in America you've never heard of." Her name was Gertrude Berg, and she was absolute TV pioneer. She won the first Best Actress Emmy and was creator, principal writer and star of the radio-turned TV show "The Goldbergs."

The documentary, titled "Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg," features interviews with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actor Ed Asner, and producer Norman Lear.

The festival is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut, Connecticut College Office of the Dean of studies and Hillel.

For the other movies, see the attached schedule.

Movies will be screened at the Olin Science Center, Connecticut College, Mohegan Avenue, New London. For more information, call (860) 442-8062 or visit mimi@jfec.com.

MONDAY

"Noodle" (90 minutes, 2007) 7 p.m., $10
At 37, Miri is a twice-widowed El Al flight attendant. Her well-regulated existence is turned upside-down by an abandoned Chinese boy whose migrant-worked mother has been deported.

WEDNESDAY

$8 admission covers both afternoon screenings

"From Shetl to Swing" (52 minutes, 2005) 1:30 p.m.
Between 1880 and 1924, 2.5 million Jews fled persecution in Russia and Eastern Europe and migrated to America. This movie recounts an accompanying musical metamorphosis.

"Dancing Alfonso" (52 minutes, 2007) 2:40 p.m.
In a Tel Aviv senior citizens' center, Alfonso, the lead dancer in a flamenco class, uses dance to express his emotions as he copes with his wife's illness.

$10 admission covers both afternoon screenings

"Conscription Night" (20 minutes, 2009) 7 p.m.
Deals with father/son relationships and the role of the army in Israeli society.

"Dancing Alphonso" 7:45 p.m.

MARCH 20

"Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg" (90 minutes, 2009) $10
The story of TV pioneer Gertrude Berg, who is the creator, principal writer and star of "The Goldbergs," a popular radio show that became TV's first character-driven domestic sitcom. She won the first Best Actress Emmy and paved the way for women in the entertainment industry.