Once Upon My Mother

Screening as part of the 2026 Central Florida Jewish Film Festival.

Click Here to Purchase a Mensch Pass ($118) for first priority seating and admission to all five programs, plus a tax-deductible donation. Click Here to Purchase a Series Pass ($70) for second priority seating and admission to all five programs.

Nominated for 2 Cesar Awards (French Oscars) including Best Actress and winner of over a dozen Jewish Film Festival Audience and Jury Awards for Best Narrative Feature including Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Houston, San Diego, and many more!

In this inspiring, emotionally charged, and often funny real-life drama set in the 1960s, the matriarch of a bustling Jewish immigrant family from Morocco living in the Parisian suburbs will do anything to give her youngest son the best possible life despite his physical setbacks. 

Born with a clubfoot, little Roland is unable to walk, yet his mother, Esther (Algerian French actress Leïla Bekhti, in a flamboyant, tour de force performance that earned her a Cesar nomination for Best Actress), is undeterred, her determination to help him live “normally” turning into an obsession. The film follows Roland into adulthood, as his maternal relationship grows increasingly complicated, even overwhelming. 

A fiery and wondrous adaptation of an autobiographical novel by French writer and radio personality Roland Perez, featuring music by Sylvie Vartan, who plays herself in the film, the upbeat and miraculous Once Upon My Mother beautifully demonstrates the complex phenomenon of a mother’s single-minded, against-all-odds devotion. 

This screening takes place at Enzian Theater (1300 S Orlando Ave, Maitland, FL 32751).

Please note, there are no Enzian Film Society member discounts or reservations for this screening.

_{France/Canada, 2025, 102 MIN, Directed by Ken Scott, In French with English subtitles}