DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

Foreign: 2007 Washington Jewish Film Festival

The Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center’s annual film festival has become one of the largest and longest running of the local festivals. This year’s program encompasses over 40 films, from 11 countries. Nearly half of the selections are films from Israel, in recognition of the nation’s 60th year. The event kicks off tonight with the local premiere of Brazil’s official Academy Award submission, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, and runs for nearly two weeks at venues in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Highlights include this year’s Cannes Camera d’Or winner, a classic Soviet silent film, an Israeli Academy Award winner, the Sundance International Jury Award winner, and lots of special guests in the form of directors, producers, writers, and subjects of many of the films. A great option for foreign movies in the area over the next couple of weeks (with a few U.S. titles thrown in as well).

Opens tonight and runs through December 9, with screenings at five venues in the area. See the schedule for a full accounting of times and locations.

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Special Event: Mountainfilm on Tour

Mountainfilm in Telluride, a festival with a 30-year history of showing films dedicated to the great outdoors, has sent around a collection of their festival short films this year. The D.C. stop happens tonight at the National Geographic Society, and features six shorts, covering sport (mountain biking, surfing, fly fishing), conservation issues (destruction of old growth forests, alternative energy, and climate change), and outdoor adventure vacations. That last one, a short called Rita, answers that question you’ve often asked yourself: what if, as a child, your parents took you to Mount Everest instead of Space Mountain?

Playing tonight only at the National Geographic Society, 1600 M Street, NW. Admission is $15 for members, $18 for non-members.