By Reporter staff

The Binghamton Jewish Film Fest will hold a virtual showing of the film “Shoshana.” Shay Rabineau, Ph.D., chairman of the Judaic Studies Department and director of the Center for Israel Studies at Binghamton University, will moderate a Zoom discussion. People can register for links to the film and discussion here. The film will be available for viewing from Thursday-Sunday, February 6-9. Virtual screening is available for those living in New York state only. The discussion will be held on Sunday, February 9, at 7 pm. The film is in English, Hebrew, Russian and Arabic, and includes subtitles. The film fest is co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Binghamton and the Ithaca Area United Jewish Community.

Inspired by real events, “Shoshana” is a political thriller set in the 1930s in Tel Aviv, a brand new European, Jewish city being built on the shores of the Mediterranean. Thomas Wilkin (Douglas Booth) is in love with the city and with Shoshana Borochov (Irina Starshenbaum). Wilkin works with Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling) in the anti-terrorist squad of the British Palestine Police Force, chasing the charismatic poet and underground leader Avraham Stern (Aury Alby). Stern believes Israel can only be built through violence. His two main targets are Wilkin and Morton. Through the relationship of Wilkin and Shoshana, the film explores the way extremism and violence pushes people apart, forcing them to choose one side or the other.

Alissa Simon, who reviews films for Variety, noted that the film “uses Britain’s post-World War I administration of Palestine as a backdrop for this compelling historical romance. Based on real people and events, the film employs the fraught, cross-cultural relationship between a ranking member of the British Palestine Police Force and a young Jewish woman.” Rich Cline, on the Shadow on the Wall website, wrote that the director’s “astute use of newsreel clips grounds the film remarkably, although this almost makes the romance feel like a distracting plot point. But the film’s real strength is in Shoshana’s arc, because where she ends up is heart-stopping.”

“I hope you will join us for this film. It is both beautiful, heartfelt and distressing,” said Shelley Hubal, executive director of the Federation. “It explores an interesting moral dilemma and offers a view of pre-state Israel.”