What better way to celebrate spring than with a fresh batch of film premieres in Canada. The 4th Annual Toronto Jewish Film Festival running May 2-9 promises 60% premieres at this the second largest Jewish film festival in North America.

This year’s theme is Jews From Distant Lands, and of the 30 films and videos being screened, 18 are Canadian premieres including six documentaries from little-known Jewish communities.

Ronald Levaco directed the story of a Polish-born Jew raised in China entitled Round Eyes in the Middle Kingdom. Havana Nagila: The Jews of Cuba was directed by Laura Paull, and Abraham and Eugenia: Stories from Jewish Cuba was directed by Bonnie Burt. Films about East Indian Jews include My Auntie Told Me from director Jessica Shamash, and Bene Israel: A Family Portrait by directors Karen Nathanso and Jean-Francois Fernandez.

About 10% of the festival’s 12,000 to 15,000 audience is not Jewish, says festival producer Helen Zukerman, who sees the festival as an outreach to other cultures to learn about Jewish heritage.

New this year is a program of six short films, including Canada’s 11-minute Dinner at Bubbie’s, directed by Ziad Touma. Short flick premieres include The Last and Only Survivor of Flora by Lee Hirsch, Madame Jacques sur la Croisette by Emmanual Finkiel and This is Not Erotica by Rachel Schreiber, touted as the most daring film at the festival ‘for its different take on what is a very serious approach to the Holocaust,’ says Zukerman.

Zukerman, along with festival director Debra Plotkin and festival consultant John Katz, screened about 150 films each, and this year promises the most screenings yet from 11 countries.

Long is the Road (1948) by director Mark Goldstein is the first feature about displaced Jews filmed in u.s.-occupied Germany in the aftermath of the second World War. It makes its Canadian premiere along with Unpromised Land by director Ayelet Heller, Carpati: 50 Miles, 50 Years by director Yale Strom, My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports by director Mellissa Hacker, Swallows Never Die in Jerusalem by director Ridha Behi and the silent film The Yellow Ticket by director Victor Janson, which will feature live accompanying music by pianist Allison Faith Levy who also composed the original score.

The festival, part of the non-profit Toronto Jewish Film Foundation, costs about $200,000 to run, with up to 40% of its funds coming from box office sales.

Guests whose films are being screened include actress Dalit Kahan and director Eytan Fox (Song of the Siren), producer Evan Garelle (Havana Nagila: The Jews of Cuba), director Micha X. Peled (Inside God’s Bunker; You, Me and Jerusalem) and director Gaylen Ross (Dealers Among Dealers).