SPRINGFIELD – The producers of the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film festival are preparing another program featuring a variety of films with a Jewish theme presented in several venues through the region.

“We are delighted to present another strong and ambitious roster that celebrates the diversity of the Jewish experience,” Carlin Preisick Trietsch, the festival’s director, said. “This film festival is the single largest Jewish cultural event on the community calendar, and we look forward to sharing an outstanding lineup with audiences Valley-wide.”

The festival will take place March 31 through April 14, screening in 16 venues across Western Massachusetts. It will present 24 award-winning films from 14 nations.

Accompanying the festival’s offerings will be ReelAbilities Film Festival, which “raises awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different abilities,” according to festival organizers.

Among the films to be shown include “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” Academy Award winner Natalie Portman’s debut as screenwriter and director; “The Last Mentsch;” Academy Award winning “Ida;” documentaries, “Soft Vengeance” and “Left Hand;” the family film “Belle and Sebastian;” and “A Borrowed Identity.”

This writer reviewed “Dough,” which will open the festival on?March 31 at 7 p.m. at Rave Cinemas in West Springfield.

It is an engaging, moving and ultimately fun movie. Set in Great Britain, Jonathan Pryce stars as Nat, an older Jewish baker who is trying to maintain his century-old business in light of changes in his neighborhood and competition from chain stores.

When the chain grocery store hires away his assistant, Nat faces the possible closing of his bakery and the end of a tradition. However his cleaning lady, a recent African refugee, offers a solution: employ her young adult son.

Nat is reluctant about the potential hire and he isn’t the only one. Ayyash (Jerome Holder) sees the proposition as not something that will get him the amount of money he needs to find a new apartment for him and his mother in a better neighborhood. He enters into selling marijuana for a local dealer and soon realizes he can use the bakery as a front.

When one day he mixes the grass into the dough for bread and other baked items in a panic, he hits upon the perfect cover. Suddenly there are not only new younger customers coming in for bread and pastries, but Nat’s older customers seem to enjoy the new and improved items as well.

Just when you think the film is going in a doper comedy direction, it switches gears. This is a movie about tolerance, as Ayyash is a Muslim. It’s a film about a changing society in which a new generation of immigrants should be brought into the mainstream.

“Dough” will be playing select theaters in this country, with one theater in Boston scheduled for its nationwide release on April 29. It’s well worth seeing locally as part of the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival.

Ticket prices are $10 for general admission, $8 for students/seniors (65 and older), or a four-pack can be purchased for $36. Tickets can be purchased in person, via phone and by mail at the Springfield Jewish Community Center. Seating for all screenings is limited and early arrival is recommended. Tickets will be sold at the door subject to availability; all seating is general admission and the program is subject to change.

For ticket information, schedules, trailers and venue directions, visit www.pvjff.org or contact the Jewish Community Center at 1160 Dickinson St.

The Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival is an independent, nonprofit film festival that is presented by the Springfield Jewish Community Center with support of the following major sponsors: JCC sub fund at the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, Jewish Endowment Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Totsy Foundation, Saperstein and Saperstein, P.C. and Diane Troderman.

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