The UK Jewish Film Festival offers a broad range of international cinema - films made in the last year that would otherwise remain unseen in the UK as well as intriguing old favourites. The Everyman Cinema in Hampstead and the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley are two of the London venues screening parts of its programme.

This year is the 16th annual festival and there are more than 70 films being screened around the country. Both the Everyman and the Phoenix seasons include an exciting line-up of premieres, short films and Q&A sessions.

Phoenix Cinema East Finchley

Foreign Letters (U)
(Hebrew with English subtitles) – Sunday, November 4 at 4pm

Set in 1980s Connecticut, this is the story of two young girls who are both outsiders in an all-American world. Ellie has moved with her family from Israel, Thuy is a Vietnamese refugee. Whilst Ellie anxiously waits for letters from a best friend back home, the bond between her and Thuy grows as they write down their thoughts and feelings for each other. But a single letter threatens to destroy their friendship forever.

We Are Not Alone (12A)
(Hebrew with English subtitles) – Sunday, November 4 at 6pm

Eddie is a lonesome young man who believes the end of the world is coming. As he prepares his escape, he meets May, and intelligent yet antisocial young woman who offers him the chance for intimacy and real love.

Poisoned (12A)
(Hebrew with English subtitles) + Q&A – Tuesday, November 6 at 9pm

A hard-hitting coming-of-age documentary following four childhood friends as they leave their homes and families to undertake army service. Following their graduation, they leave for basic training and deployment to the Gaza border and the West Bank. As the rhetoric of combat they are fed turns bitter in their mouths, they begin to question the ideologies and consequences of their actions, leading to mental collapse and desertion.

Followed by Q&A with director Daniel Sivan and three of the soldiers who star in the film.

The Day I Saw Your Heart (15)
(French with English subtitles) – Thursday, November 8 at 9pm

After a trail of boyfriends, Justine thinks she has found her soulmate but her temporary happiness is thrown when her neurotic 60-year-old Jewish father suffers a delayed midlife crisis and announces that his young second wife is expecting a baby. The film follows Justine as she attempts to deal with the looming pregnancy and the torturous route to reconciliation.

A Beautiful Valley (TBC)
(Hebrew with English subtitles) – Tuesday, November 13 at 9pm

Hannah Mendelssohn has devoted her whole life to the development of the kibbutz in which she still lives and works but when the time comes for her retirement she is unwilling to let go and fights to retain her place in the workforce. She is soon at odds with the kitbutz’s new management, which includes her own daughter. Just when Hannah thinks her life’s work has been for nothing she realises that there are friendships that still exist and she is not alone.

Simon and the Oaks (12A) + Q&A
(Swedish, German, English and Hebrew with English subtitles) – Wednesday, November 14 at 7pm

A precocious, introspective child growing up in Nazi-occupied Sweden, Simon lives through the war in a dichotomised household, torn between the ingenuous wishes of his luddite parents, his studies and fascination with the perennial oak tree in his back garden. In the aftermath of the war, Simon uncovers a significant family secret which throws the experiences of his life into a new reality. He then embarks on a life-changing journey to try to put together the various pieces of this earth shattering legacy.

Followed by Q&A with director Lisa Ohlin.

Dorfman (15)  
Thursday, November 15 at 9pm

Deb Dorfman is a mousy accountant who lives with her widowed father (Elliott Gould) in the San Fernando Valley. A hopeless romantic, Deb is besotted with her brother’s friend Jay, a war-zone reporter. When he asks her to cat-sit while he is in Afghanistan, Deb jumps at the chance. Befriended by two models and a handsome artist who live in the building, Deb undergoes a physical and personal metamorphosis.

My Best Holidays (12A)
(French with English subtitles) – Sunday, November 18 at 4pm

On a holiday to Brittany in 1976, an Algerian-Jewish family are met with initial distrust by the Catholic locals. But gradually, the suspicion wanes, giving way to friendship, laughter and holiday romance.

  • The Phoenix Cinema, High Road, East Finchley. Details: 020 8444 6789, www.phoenixcinema.co.uk

Everyman Cinema Hampstead

Oma and Bella (TBC)
(German with English subtitles) – Sunday, November 11 at 10:30am

Oma and Bella, two of Berlin's cheekiest pensioners, take us on a tour of their wonderful world via their delicious cooking, seasoned with plenty kitchen philosophy and an irrepressible joie de vivre, in this heart-warming documentary by Oma’s filmmaker granddaughter.

One Day After Peace (TBC)
(English and Hebrew with English subtitles) – Sunday, November 18 at 10am

Robi Damelin's son was killed in Israel by a Palestinian sniper in 2002. This incredibly personal documentary follows her quest as she seeks solace on a personal and national level.

The Illegals (TBC)

Sunday, November 18 at 3pm

An extraordinary archive film from the early days of the state of Israel, Meyer Levin's 1948 film The Illegals became an unsung inspiration for Exodus and other movies about Jews’ frantic efforts to reach pre-state Israel.

A pioneering fusion of documentary and drama, Levin - a Jewish American journalist and writer - asked real Holocaust survivors to 'star' in a film telling their own story, to be made on location, in extreme physical conditions – and at a critical time in history.

Followed by a recorded interview with the film's lead actress Tereska Torres.

  • Everyman Cinema, Holly Bush Vale, Hampstead. Details: www.everymancinema.com