JxJ: Levys of Monticello
The Levys Of Monticello
Dir. Steven Pressman | 70 min
Documentary | USA | 2021 | Mid-Atlantic Premiere
Tickets: $15 General | $13 with promo: CJM2OFF / Registration Required
Followed by a conversation with director Steven Pressman.
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello residence stands as a complex and paradoxical symbol of democracy. Designed by Jefferson, built and tended by enslaved people, the palatial Virginia plantation was presidential retreat, retirement home, and Jefferson’s final resting place.
After it was sold due to mounting debts, Uriah Phillips Levy—a Jewish naval officer and fervent believer in Jeffersonian ideals—became its unlikely owner, restoring and saving the estate from ruin with the help of his family. The story behind this national treasure confronts the racism and anti-Semitism that remain part of the national narrative.
A JxJ presentation in partnership with the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum, the Davis Center for Social Justice at Temple Sinai, and Sephardic Heritage International (SHIN-DC).
The Washington Jewish Film Festival, presented by Edlavitch DCJCC’s JxJ, is one of the largest and most respected Jewish film festivals in North America. See the full 2022 schedule: jxjdc.org