Q Night at the Movies features Avalon 02/20

Q Night at the Movies presents Avalon, a critically acclaimed narrative film following the highs and lows of Jewish immigrants in Baltimore in the first half of the 20th century. Before the movie more Jewish history comes your way as we discover that many of our most beloved Christmas songs were written and performed by Jewish artists. After the feature, turn away from Baltimore to NYC in the early 50s. It all starts at 7:05 p.m. Saturday on Q.

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas at 7:05 p.m. and 11:05 p.m. Set almost entirely in a Chinese restaurant, this offbeat, irreverent musical documentary tells the story of a group of Jewish songwriters, including Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks, who wrote the soundtrack to Christianity’s most musical holiday. It’s an amazing tale of immigrant outsiders who became irreplaceable players in pop culture’s mainstream — a generation of songwriters who found in Christmas the perfect holiday in which to imagine a better world, and for at least one day a year, make us believe in it.

Feature Film Avalon at 7:59 p.m. This drama, largely based on the family history of director Barry Levinson, follows the immigrant Krichinsky clan as they settle in Baltimore during the early 20th century. While Sam Krichinsky (Armin Mueller-Stahl) establishes roots in the city and finds a wife (Joan Plowright), his ambitious son, Jules (Aidan Quinn), who changes his last name to Kaye, tries to live the American Dream by opening an appliance store, revealing cultural and generational gaps.

Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities — New York 1951 at 10:10 p.m. Dr. James Fox tells the story of three cities in three exceptional years — cities whose artists and thinkers, writers and musicians set the world on a new course.