Georgia Entertainment attended the 26th annual Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (AJFF) Opening Night on February 18, 2026, at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center in Sandy Springs, Georgia, where a sea of community united to celebrate the festival’s kickoff.
The packed opening-night celebration included a 5:30 p.m. Red Carpet and 1960s Paris party. Attendees and guests chose culinary samples from 11 local restaurants and four bakeries, selected by the founder of Taste of Atlanta, Dale DeSena.
The evening’s screening of French box-office slayer “Once Upon My Mother,” held in the venue’s 1,000 plus-seat Byers Theatre, was a pinnacle high-point of the night. Screenwriter and director Ken Scott brought the Canada/France film to life with the artistry of Oscar-nominated cinematographe
Based on the memoir (“Ma mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan”) of French lawyer and author Roland Perez, the 2025 film adaptation follows the real-life story of Perez’s childhood growing up with a club foot, an ever-present and determined matriarch and the triumphs and trials of life alongside his Moroccan-Jewish family in the suburbs of Paris.
A beloved quote woven into the plot provides context without a spoiler: “God couldn’t be everywhere, so he created mothers.”
The story unfolds to showcase the fortitude, faith and perseverance of a very human Esther Perez, Roland’s mother, and his family’s adventures as they work together to live with and overcome his disability. Delightfully and somewhat eccentrically, French singer Sylvie Vartan is interwoven throughout the story.
At AJFF’s Opening Night screening, the film accomplished what cinema does so brilliantly: bringing together filmgoers in a shared expression of knowing, feeling and community. An onstage discussion followed with author Roland Perez fielding questions from Atlantan Maria Saporta of Saporta Report.
AJFF runs through March 15, 2026. Find information and the schedule for viewings of “Once Upon My Mother” and more than 50 other world-class international films and shorts here.
