Mobile’s Jewish Film Festival returns for its 22nd year this month, with a slate of activities that includes live drama for the first time, thanks to a partnership with Joe Jefferson Players.

After two years of exclusively virtual screenings, the festival returns to in-person presentations – though a virtual option remains for the seven films being shown. As was the case before COVID, those films will be screened in several different venues and will cover a variety of genres and subject matter, from documentaries to dramas.

Screenings start Jan. 8 with the WWII drama “Farewell, Mr. Haffmann,” and conclude Jan. 29 with “Exodus 91,” a political thriller about the evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1991. Individual tickets are $9; the price is the same for virtual and in-person viewing. A festival pass covering all seven films is $55. Passes can be purchased via the festival pages at www.mobilejewishfederation.org.

The live drama on this year’s program comes in collaboration with Joe Jefferson Players. From Jan. 11-16, the troupe is presenting “Anne and Emmett,” a one-act play by Janet Langhart Cohen that depicts an imagined conversation between historical figures Anne Frank and Emmett Till.

As JJP describes the work, the two “meet in a place called Memory, where they share their experiences with bigotry and injustice, highlighting the striking similarities between their horrific deaths.” According to JJP the production is supported by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts as well as sponsorships from the Mobile Jewish Federation and the group People United to Advance the Dream.

A limited number of free tickets are available through the festival to a performance of the play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12. The playhouse is at 11 S. Carlen Street. Information on the remaining general run of “Anne and Emmett,” including showtimes and online ticketing, can be found at joejeffersonplayers.com; tickets are $20.

The film schedule for the 2023 Mobile Jewish Film Festival:

Sunday, Jan. 8 – “Farewell Mr. Haffmann,” 2 p.m., Springhill Avenue Temple. A jeweler in occupied Paris arranges for his family to flee before being rounded up by Nazi authorities. When his own escape proves difficult, he is concealed — and exploited — by the employee he left in charge of his business.

Tuesday, Jan. 10 – “Why the Jews?” 7 p.m., Springhill Avenue Temple. A documentary that explores the dichotomy between Jewish achievement in the arts and sciences on the one hand, and centuries of persecution on the other.

Tuesday, Jan. 17 – “The Man in the Basement,” 7 p.m., University of South Alabama’s Fairhope campus. A psychological thriller in which a French couple rent the cellar of their Paris apartment to a former history teacher who turns out to be an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist.

Thursday, Jan. 19 – “Bad Nazi Good Nazi,” 3 p.m., Mobile Museum of Art. A documentary about German officer Wilm Hosenfeld, a morally complicated figure who helped around 60 people escape Nazi captivity – including renowned composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, subject of the dramatic film “The Pianist.”

Tuesday, Jan. 24 – “The Man in the Basement,” 7 p.m., University of South Alabama Laidlaw Performing Arts Center. (See Jan. 17 listing.)

Wednesday, Jan. 25 – “The Narrow Bridge,” 7 p.m., University of South Alabama Laidlaw Performing Arts Center. A documentary about four people, Israeli and Palestinian who have lost loved ones to violence and who seek reconciliation through the group Israeli Palestinian Bereaved Families.

Thursday, Jan. 26 – “Rose,” 7 p.m., University of South Alabama Laidlaw Performing Arts Center. Francoise Fabian portrays a widowed matriarch who begins life anew at 78.

Sunday, Jan. 29 – “Exodus 91,” 2 p.m., Ahavas Chesed Synagogue. A “docu-narrative” about Asher Naim, an Israeli diplomat who helps negotiate the evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian Jews threatened by famine and war, but who fears it is in part a cynical political stunt.