‘Bad Shabbos’ Kicks off a Good Opening Night at the 2025 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
Kyra Sedgwick, Method Man, and more walked the red carpet at Atlanta’s biggest film festival.
Last night, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival celebrated a major milestone by kicking off its twenty-fifth year. Walking into the Cobb Energy Center, you could feel a festival apparatus at the top of its game. Having already cemented itself as not only Atlanta’s biggest film festival but also the biggest Jewish film festival in the country, the hard work behind the scenes lent itself to a graceful ease as attendees gathered at the opening night gala and to watch the fest’s opener, Bad Shabbos, a terrific comedy that won the Audience Award at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Even some sound issues during the screening did not impede the raucous laughter arising from the audience.
Having followed and even participated in the festival off and on over the years, I decided that for its 25th anniversary, I should get closer to the action and get a sense of the vibe. Judaism is in a tricky place right now (although what else is new), and there are moments where being Jewish is being curtailed into a single issue, specifically where one stands on the current conflict in Gaza. But it was reassuring to talk to Festival Director Kenny Blank about why AJFF is focused on telling all kinds of Jewish stories, not only ones built along political fault lines.
“There’s not one monolithic view in the Jewish community about any view!” Blank joked, referring to the only joke about how you can ask two Jews a question and get three opinions. He continued in earnest, “I think credit goes to the programmers for holding up a mirror to the community, and like with any community, the Jewish community faces challenges and different points of view, and that’s what makes this a true film festival is all artistic expression, all voices are heard, and to explore these issues from all angles.”
While heavier films will certainly be in rotation at this year’s AJFF, such as a documentary about author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and Israel’s Oscar submission Come Closer, the opener was the decidedly lighter Bad Shabbos, or at least as light as someone dying before a Shabbos dinner can be.
Daniel Robbins’ rapid-fire farce concerns interfaith couple David (Jon Bass) and Meg (Meghan Leathers) wanting to win over Meghan’s Midwestern parents during Shabbos’ dinner at the New York home of David’s parents, Ellen (Kyra Sedgwick) and Richard (David Paymer). Although Meg is in the process of converting to Judaism, that hasn’t papered over fraught family tensions. There are also the added problems of David’s sister Abby (Milana Vayntrub) being on the verge of dumping her boyfriend (Ashley Zukerman) and his brother Adam (Theo Taplitz) feeling like the black sheep of the family. Trying to hide a dead body only becomes more difficult when the family ropes in their cheerful doorman Jordan (Cliff “Method Man” Smith) to assist in pretending that this is an ordinary Shabbos dinner.
Robbins grew up modern Orthodox, and while his primary goal was to make a great comedy, he wanted to also give audiences a glimpse of modern Orthodox life. “We wanted to show people who exist in the secular world and take the Jewish world seriously, and they’re not trying to run from their faith, but they use it to add some meaning to their lives,” says Robbins. “And I think Jewish audiences, Christian audiences, Muslim audiences, they’re all connecting to it where faith, when used correctly, can be a blessing.”
Speaking to Sedgwick, she said that although the film played at Tribeca last year, it was exciting to see it play at AJFF as film festivals bring fans of cinema together. “I think it’s great that you guys do something so specific,” said Sedgwick, “and we’re excited to be here to open.”
While Method Man may not seem like the first actor you would go to when making a movie about Shabbos, he ends up stealing the film. For him, the appeal in joining the film was Sedgwick. “I actually hadn’t even read the script, but I heard Kyra was attached, and I was like, ‘This could be a great learning experience.’ I could watch one of the greats do her art.” When it came to learning about Shabbos, Method Man said everything was “on the job learning,” and appreciating the complexities of the Jewish faith, especially when it comes to Shabbos and what qualifies as “doing work” on the Sabbath (I’m a lifelong Jew and I still have questions myself about this).
While questions about Judaism can be heavy, there was something oddly perfect about a film that can bring actors as diverse as Kyra Sedgwick and Method Man together for a comedy about one of the most important Jewish traditions without feeling esoteric or alienating. That delicate balance—retaining Jewish identity while also being inviting enough for all attendees—is what has made the AJFF an institution in Atlanta for the past twenty-five years, and after their Opening Night Gala, I’m excited to see what the festival will accomplish over the next twenty-five years.