PORTLAND – The 9th annual Maine Jewish Film Festival will begin its nine days of programming Saturday, March 18, with a French comedy “Local Call.” It will span two consecutive weekends, ending March 26.

Beginning Feb. 20, tickets will be on sale by mail, phone (207) 831-7495, and in person at The Movies, 10 Exchange St. and Casco Bay Books, 151 Middle St. in the Old Port. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students 18 and under and seniors 65 and older. Advance ticket purchase is recommended. A full festival pass is also available for $65.

Saturday, March 18, the director and screenwriter of “Local Call,” Arthur Joffé, will greet filmgoers at the opening night gala party at 5:30 p.m. at Greenhut Galleries, 146 Middle St. Joffé will also be on hand to discuss his film with the audience after the 7:30 p.m. screening at Nickelodeon Cinemas, 1 Temple St.

“Local Call,” the first Jewish cell phone comedy, is the story of Felix Mandel. To placate his wife, Felix agrees to clean out his office and give away his father’s old coat. That night, he gets a collect call from his angry father. Nothing strange about that, except that his father has been dead for two years. The film follows Felix on his fantastical journey to find the coat and discover its powerful mystery.

The opening night gala film and party tickets are $25 each and may be ordered by calling (207) 831-7495.

This year’s youth program, free for students under 18, will be at The Movies Sunday, March 19. The festival will screen “Paper Clips,” a documentary about middle school students in Tennessee who set out to understand the magnitude of loss during the Holocaust by collecting 6,000,000 paper clips. The process transforms their entire community.

Other festival movies include “Isn’t This a Time,” with performances by folk music legends The Weavers, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul & Mary; a film version of Josh Kornbluth’s hilarious one-man-show, “Red Diaper Baby;” “Gloomy Sunday,” a romantic drama about passion, food and music in 1940s Hungary; and Marc Levin’s “Protocols of Zion,” a chilling look at the post 9/11 resurgence of anti-Semitism.

The festival will conclude Sunday, March 26, at the Portland Museum of Art with a new closing party and film event This final matinee screening will be the lighthearted and touching feature “Ushpizin,” the story of Moshe and Mali, who have become Orthodox Jews as adults. They are struggling financially and long for a child. When two suspicious characters from Moshe’s secular past arrive, the couple welcomes them into their sukkah as a test of faith and commitment. Shot on location in a Jerusalem neighborhood usually off-limits to cameras, the film by Gidi Dar is a modern-day fable. Closing film and party tickets are $15 each.

For more information, go online to www.mjff.org.