Marketing and brands being what they are - the giddy currency of public relations - it's fun for corporate entities to trade-out handsome spokespersons or redesign logos or craft peppy new slogans.

But ad-man whimsy had nothing to do with a recent decision by the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut. They've rechristened their Jewish Film Festival - it's now called the International Film Festival - and the idea was to engage the entire region in the event and not just the Jewish community.

"It's been a bit frustrating over the years," says Jerry Fischer, executive director of the federation. "We've clearly selected movies for a general audience and not just a Jewish audience - or we thought it was clear -but people just don't come. People would say, 'Oh, are we welcome?' So we're trying to make that more obvious."

The 21st edition of the festival kicks off Tuesday with a screening of "The Green Prince" at New London's Garde Art Center and, over the ensuing three weeks, eight additional films will be shown at three venues in addition to the Garde: Olde Mistick Village Art Cinemas in Mystic, the Olin Science Center on the campus of Connecticut College in New London, and the B.P. Learned Mission in New London.

Several of the showings will include panel discussions, receptions and the screening of short films.

"The Green Prince" is a documentary thriller about Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of the founder of Hamas, who spent years at the highest levels of that Palestinian military organization - and all along was an informant for Israel. Yousef's code name was "The Green Prince," and the story also details, in equal-billing fashion, his interaction and relationship with his Israeli handler, Gonen ben Yitzhak. On rogerebert.com, reviewer Odie Henderson said, "'The Green Prince' remains thought-provoking and effective. The viewer is forced to consider the lives of both men, the excruciating choices they make, and whether we would be able to make those choices."

"'The Green Prince' is a significant film," Fischer says. He references the recent "Peace Circle" in Norway where Muslims ringed a local synagogue in a show of solidarity with Jews in the wake of recent anti-Semitic attacks. "People across faiths are realizing it's crazy to be blowing up civilians like this. Yousef thought, 'I'm going to do what I can to save lives.' In many ways, it's a very hopeful film."

In a different tone, another highlight of the festival is "Gloomy Sunday," a 2003 film that will be presented on March 12 at the B.P. Learned Mission. Based on the novel by Nick Barlow, the Holocaust film describes a tragic love triangle in World War II Hungary that inspired the song of the same title. With melancholy melody and lyrics about suicide, the tune - the most famous rendition of which is by Billie Holiday - apocryphally caused hundreds of people in Hungary to kill themselves.

"We're re-screening this one because it's such a great movie," Fischer says. "It's a classic European movie. It's like showing a Bergman or Truffaut film. Plus, the Learned Mission is a new venue for us. It's small and intimate - a perfect place to see a film."

Also on the schedule are "The Zig Zag," about a 13-year-old Dutch runaway who takes up with a thief; "Mr. Kaplan" tells the story of an elderly Jewish man in South America who becomes convinced his quiet German neighbor is an escaped Nazi; "The Sturgeon Queens," a documentary about a much-loved Lower East Side lox and herring shop operated by four generations of the same family; and "Aftermath," in which two Polish brothers uncover a secret that causes them to change the perception of their father and their boyhood neighborhood.

Other films include "Zero Motivation," wherein a unit of female Israeli soldiers on a remote desert base wait impatiently for their return to civilian life; "The Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem" portrays Israeli divorce laws through the lens of the titular heroine's efforts to dissolve her marriage; and "Above and Beyond," a documentary about the foreign airmen who helped create Israeli's first air force during the War of Independence.

"We really have tried to make this a truly international festival," Fischer says, "and not just films from or about Israel or the Jewish American experience. There are underlying themes to all of them, but there are a lot of countries represented and it should be of great interest to a general audience of movie fans."

FILM FEST SCHEDULE

The schedule for the 21st annual International Film Festival presented by the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut is below. For more information, call (860) 442-8062 or access jfec.com.

Tuesday - "The Green Prince," 7:30 p.m. with remarks by Stonington resident Stuart Schwartzman, a retired diplomat, Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London; $9

March 7 - "The Zig Zag Kid," 7:30 p.m., Olde Mistick Village Art Cinemas, 27 Coogan Blvd., Mystic; $10

March 8 - "Mr. Kaplan," 7:30 p.m., Olin Science Center, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., New London; $10.

March 10 - "The Sturgeon Queens" with the short "Hannah's Holy Communion," 7:30 p.m., B.P. Learned Mission, 255 Hempstead St., New London; $10

March 12 - "Gloomy Sunday," 7:30 p.m., B.P. Learned Mission, 255 Hempstead St., New London; $10

March 15 - "Aftermath" with the short "German Shepherd," 7:30 p.m., Olin Science Center, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., New London; $10

March 18 - "Zero Motivation" with the short "Batman at the Checkpoint," 7:30 p.m., Olin Science Center, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., New London; $10

March 22 - "The Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem" with the short "Exploring Southeast Alaska," 7:30 p.m., Olde Mistick Village Art Cinemas, 27 Coogan Blvd., Mystic; $10

March 25 - "Above and Beyond" and closing reception, 7:30 p.m., Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London; $9