Monday, April 23----The Palm Beach International Film Festival is presenting a number of thematic programs to bring a sharper focus to its diverse programming for attending audiences. This past weekend, the Festival inaugurated its Weekend of Shorts, an eclectic program of American and international short films screening at the main Festival venues of the Sunrise Cinemas at Mizner Park and the Muvico Parisian 20 at Cityplace. The program featured an exciting group of short fiction and documentary works, many of which were national and Florida premieres.

The focus was on documentaries on Sunday, as the Festival celebrated its Doc Day program. Among the standout non-fiction films that screened yesterday: THE JOEL FILES, an intriguing film about the intertwined fates of two families, one Jewish, the other German, who count among their descendants the pop icon Billy Joel; BORDER WAR, an examination of the conflicts and contradictions of the US/Mexican immigrant policies; FORGOTTEN ON THE BAYOU, the powerful story of a Hurricane Katrina survivor whose mission to personalize his plight to President Bush becomes a lesson in political empowerment; YIDDISH THEATER: A LOVE STORY, a warm portrait of the “diva” of Yiddish theater, an indefatigable actress who strives to keep the tradition of Yiddish culture alive in New York City; TOVARICH, I AM NOT DEAD, the amazing story of the director’s father, a man who survived both Hitler and Stalin, and lived to tell the tale; and A CRUDE AWAKENING, an of-the-moment documentary exploring our dependence on foreign oil and its economic and political implications.

On Monday, the Festival celebrated its first Tribute to South African Cinema, with a special program of films produced by Anant Singh, one of this year’s Tribute honorees. Included in the four film program was: YESTERDAY, the Oscar-nominated drama by Darrel Roodt about the explosion of HIV infection in the rural villages of South Africa; RED DUST, a political thriller about torture and reconciliation following the end of apartheid rule, with a cast that includes Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Eljiofor; MR. BONES, the top box office comedy that mixes tribal medicine, golf and a host of eccentric characters with the climax occurring at a golf tournament; and the US Premiere of DOLLARS AND WHITE PIPES, a drama about a small-time operator who dreams of hitting it big time like his DALLAS television hero, JR Ewing.

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Online Dailies Editor