The specificity of its focus considered, the 2010 Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival is a remarkably diverse affair. Over 10 days, in more than two dozen feature films and shorts, it finds the Jewish angle on classic jazz and rock 'n' roll, the medical crisis in Africa, claymation, female sexual awakening in Tunisia, multicultural adoption, co-dependent love affairs and sumo wrestling. That's in addition to World War II drama and comedy, documentaries, New York's diamond trade, Soviet Jewry and a matzo ball-eating contest.

Thursday's opening-night presentation, "A Matter of Size," follows Herzl, a plus-sized chef who spurns diet support groups to form Israel's first sumo wrestling team. In the process he learns to be fat and happy, takes slapstick revenge on disrespectful loudmouths and wins the love of a full-figured lady. (In Hebrew, with English subtitles. 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Hopkins Mann Theater, 1118 Mainstreet, Hopkins. Tickets: $9. There will be a pre-screening sushi and sweets reception at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, beginning at 5:45 p.m. Thursday; party and film admission: $15. Reservation highly recommended; 952-381-3499.)

Israel's secret service, the Mossad, spent years after World War II tracking down Nazi war criminals who remained at large under false identities. The tense thriller "The Debt" tells the story of a female spy who helped entrap "the Surgeon of Birkenau," working as a Berlin physician in the 1960s. The movie examines notions of vengeance and honor as the former agents go back undercover on an unauthorized mission to protect their reputations. (In Hebrew, German & Russian with English subtitles. 9 p.m. April 10. $9, Sabes JCC, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls.)

"Protektor," a highly stylized Czech drama, charts the rise of Emil, a radio announcer whose career rises after the German invasion of 1938, while his Jewish wife, Hana, a film star before the war, must go into hiding. The story turns suspenseful as the authorities' investigation into Czech partisans' assassination of SS Gen. Reinhard Heydrich comes to the couple's door, but subplots about the couple's multiple infidelities blur the film's focus. (Audiences 18 and over. In Czech and German with English subtitles. 4 p.m., April 11. $9, Sabes JCC.)

The Australian stop-motion animated feature "Mary & Max" features the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Bana and Barry ("Dame Edna") Humphries. It's an eccentric, downbeat tale of chubby, lonely 8-year-old Mary Dingle from Melbourne, and her unlikely pen-pal friendship with Max Horowitz, a 44-year-old New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome. (8 p.m. April 12. $9, Sabes JCC.)

"The Wedding Song" is an affecting story of Jewish-Arab relations in 1940s Tunisia. Teens Myriam and Nour are devoted girlfriends growing into womanhood under Nazi occupation and Allied bombs. Political upheaval and turmoil in a society where Jews and Muslims have long lived in harmony is the background to their personal stories. (Audiences 18 and over. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. 6 p.m. April 15. $9, Sabes JCC.)

Complete schedule, ticketing: sabesjcc.org/arts_film_festival_films.htm.

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186