LIGHTS! CAMERA! L’CHAIM!

In The Big Lebowski, the Dude’s bowling buddy, Walter Sobchak, sums up Judaism as “3,000 years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax,” and in a roundabout way, this sums up Kansas City’s 11th-Annual Jewish Film Festival — a diverse array of features and documentaries exploring faith, family and Jewish tradition through subjects as ancient as Jerusalem’s Western Wall and as contemporary as baseball. Running through April 4, the festival opens at 8:45 p.m. tonight, when Claude Miller’s 2007 French drama, A Secret, screens at the Glenwood Arts Theatre (9575 Metcalf in Overland Park). The $16 opening-night admission includes a reception afterward. Remaining films will screen at the Rio Theatre (7204 West 80th Street in Overland Park). Advance tickets are available at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City (5801 West 115th Street in Overland Park, 913-327-8000); for additional programming and ticket information, see jcckc.org.

Sat., March 28; Sun., March 29; Mon., March 30; Tue., March 31; Wed., April 1; Thu., April 2; Sat., April 4, 2009