The seventh annual Maine Jewish Film Festival has 26 films, ranging from serious to controversial to funny. It opens March 13 in Portland.

Featured will be 26 films, ranging from serious to controversial to funny.

PORTLAND – The seventh annual Maine Jewish Film Festival will run from March 13 to 18 and feature 26 films from around the world.

The festival will kick off with an opening night gala Saturday, March 13, at Portland’s Greenhut Galleries followed by a screening of “James’ Journey to Jerusalem,” an award-winning Israeli feature. This will be shown at the Nickelodeon Cinemas in downtown Portland.

It’s a cinematic fable about a young African whose pilgrimage to the Holy Land is not the spiritual journey he’d anticipated. The film probes racism, greed and loyalty with a light, often comic touch. This is the first year this festival will screen a film at the Nickelodeon. More than 200 people are expected to attend the opening night.

A highlight this year will be an expanded Women Filmmakers Forum made possible by a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Special guests at the screenings dedicated to women filmmakers will be Israeli director Yifat Kedar and New York director Suzanne Wasserman.

They will discuss their films, “Between the Lines” (Kedar) and “Thunder in Guyana” (Wasserman). Faye Lederman and Eve Lederman also will be present to discuss their short film, “A Good Uplift.”

A Wilder western

The festival will also launch a new family program celebrating the 25th anniversary of the classic Jewish western, “The Frisco Kid,” starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford.

The weeklong event offers a mix of features, short films and documentaries, including everything from “Shalom Ireland” on St. Patrick’s Day to the sophisticated German-language “Geburtig” to the controversial “Divine Intervention.” Photography lovers won’t want to miss “Robert Capa: In Love and War.”

Closing night will mark the northern New England premiere of Nathaniel Kahn’s Oscar-nominated “My Architect,” which some are calling the greatest film about architecture ever made.

Portland is the smallest city in the nation to boast an independent, professional Jewish film festival, according to the festival’s organizers.

For more information, to receive a brochure by mail or to order tickets, people may call (207) 831-7495.

For the full schedule of films and events, visit www.mjff.org.

Tickets to the opening night gala are $20 per person and include admission to the film.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students under 18 and seniors over 65. Tickets can be ordered by phone or purchased at The Movies, 10 Exchange St., or at Casco Bay Books, 151 Middle St.

All of the films will be screened at the Movies on Exchange Street, with the exception of the opening night film at the Nickelodeon.