Don Talbot and Alfred Hitchcock in front of Talbot's The New Yorker theater. (Photo courtesy of Miami Jewish Film Festival)
The Miami Jewish Film Festival, now in its 29th edition showcases a program that connects film history, exhibition culture and World War II-era storytelling with the purpose of educational and community dialogue.
The festival runs this year running from Wednesday, Jan. 14 to Thursday, Jan. 29.
One of the highlights of the festival, at 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, is the pairing of the Florida premiere of the new documentary "The New Yorker Theater: A Talbot Legacy" with a restored screening of the 1956 French classic "A Man Escaped.”
The event is part of the film festival’s response to what it feels is a growing audience appetite for deeper film engagement, according to Igor Shteyrenberg, the film festival’s executive director.
“The Miami Jewish Film Festival has become a classroom without walls,” said Shteyrenberg.. “Fans come not just to watch films, but to understand them—how they were made, why they matter and what histories shaped them. Cultural education isn’t an accessory here—it’s the foundation.”
Shteyrenberg believes that educational spirit is at the core of this upcoming special presentation, noting that it will honor the legacy of Jewish film champions, examine the machinery of film distribution, revisit essential works of world cinema and spark intergenerational dialogue.
The evening begins with "The New Yorker Theater: A Talbot Legacy," directed by Sergio Maza. The documentary chronicles the lives and influence of Dan and Toby Talbot, the visionary Jewish couple whose names became synonymous with America’s golden age of art-house cinema. The Talbots changed the course of U.S. film culture by introducing generations of Americans to foreign, independent and avant-garde films at a time when access to such works was far from guaranteed. Their theaters and distribution company became incubators for film literacy and training grounds for cinephiles, critics, programmers and casual moviegoers alike.
A screening of a new restoration of "A Man Escaped" will be paired with the Florida premiere of the documentary "The New Yorker Theater: A Talbot Legacy" during the Miami Jewish Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of Miami Jewish Film Festival)
Maza explained why he believes the Talbots were important to American cinema and preserving film history.
"They had four movie theaters -The New Yorker, Cinema, Metro and Lincoln Plaza," he said. "The Lincoln Plaza, which was an institution in New York, had six movies, six screens, and it only showed independent and foreign movies. You would never find a commercial movie in that movie theater."
He talks about how the movies that the Talbots brought to their theater influenced a generation of filmmakers. .".. People like Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Spike Lee, Sofia Coppola and the new generation.Their contributions to the American film culture and international film culture is huge."
Maza explained what he hopes the general public can take away from seeing the film.
"I think it's important to show them why it's so important to see movies in a theater," he said. "There's this sense of community of being in a movie theater. You are not sitting alone when you're seeing a movie in a theater. You are part of a human experience."
Bridging the documentary’s national scope with Miami’s own film history is Nat Chediak, founder of the Miami Film Festival and a central figure in the city’s engagement with international cinema. Chediak appears in the film and will join Maza for a post-screening discussion.
Chediak said Dan Talbot was his mentor when he started in his career and called him an inspiration and a pioneer in film exhibition.
"We no longer have people of that kind, and it is important to remember someone like Dan who was at the crux of this whole scene because this is when international cinema caught fire, and it caught fire thanks to these people who believed in it," said Chediak.
Others interviewed in the film include Toby Talbot, John Turturro, Isabella Rossellini, Bernardo Bertolucci.
The Miami Jewish Film Festival will screen the 1956 French classic "A Man Escaped." (Photo courtesy of Miami Jewish Film Festival)
A screening of a new restoration of "A Man Escaped," which the Talbots themselves championed during its American release, follows the documentary. Directed by Robert Bresson and based on a true story, the film follows a French Resistance fighter imprisoned by the Nazis. It has long been regarded as one of the defining works of postwar cinema.
The festival has framed the program as an exploration of film exhibition itself, pairing a historical documentary with a landmark work of world cinema to emphasize context and curation alongside the films.
The structure is meant to highlight a contrast between contemporary viewing habits—often shaped by on-demand platforms—and a more traditional, venue-based model of moviegoing centered on shared space and historical framing.
Shteyrenberg said, “Programs like this remind us why film is essential. It teaches us who we were, who we are and who we can become.”
IF YOU GOWHAT: Miami Jewish Film Festival: "The New Yorker Theater: A Talbot Legacy" and "A Man Escaped"
WHEN: 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18
WHERE: O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
TICKETS: $16, $15 for seniors 65 and older and students.
INFORMATION: miamijewishfilmfestival.org
