“Not to transmit an experience,” Elie Wiesel, renowned author and Holocaust survivor, once said, “is to betray it.”

Since 2008, the Athens Jewish Film Festival has focused on transmitting a variety of Jewish experiences in a yearlong event culminating in February.

“The purpose of the festival has been from the beginning to present a lineup of innovative movies that explore the Jewish identity, culture and experience,” said Ken Sherman, president of the festival.

The festival started as a way to bring significant Jewish films to Athens and open them up to the public for discussion. Four years later, it has screenings at venues all over the city, including the Georgia Museum of Art and the Morton Theatre.

In the four years since the Athens Jewish Film Festival started, it has moved all across Athens, showing its movies in several venues, including the Morton Theatre. FILE/The Red & Black

Though it started small, the festival has flourished because of the dedication of its founders.

“[It] was started by a couple who was very interested in bringing a Jewish film festival to Athens, Abe and Carmen Tesser,” Sherman said. “All credit goes to them for bringing this thing to life and growing it bigger and bigger each year.”

This year’s festival kicks off with an opening dinner and film, “The Yankles,” at the GMOA. The festival will also host an emerging filmmaker contest comprised of their shorts.

The lineup includes a diverse range of films — including “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray” and “Berlin 36” — which represent different perspectives of the Jewish community; there are not only historical views but also modern ones as well.

The range of films will not only educate audiences, the festival’s organizers hope, it will entertain them.

“What we try to do is come up with a good variety of films,” Sherman said, “so that it’s not all serious dramas or Holocaust movies.”

The festival, a yearlong endeavor including the fundraising and screening processes, requires a lot of support from volunteers as well as the Athens community. Sherman emphasized the thoughtfulness of everyone who contributed to the event.

“It’s a lot of work; it’s a year-round task to get everything organized and put together,” he said. “Fundraising is a key part of it. People are extraordinarily generous with their time, with their effort and with their wisdom. We could not do this festival without everybody’s combined effort. It’s truly a collaborative community effort.”

Sherman also brought attention to the fact that it’s not just a religious festival. The films bring in a diverse audience who can enjoy the cultural significance of the narratives.

“Although it’s focused all of the aspects of the Jewish experience, it’s a festival that appeals to a wide audience,” Sherman said. “We get a large number of people of all faiths, of all backgrounds, who are interested in film, interested in theater, interested in culture, interested in learning about different people and different backgrounds.”

Now days before the first film, Sherman excitedly urges students to attend at least one of the screenings and experience a sometimes unseen side of the Jewish culture.

“There are comedies, there are documentaries, there are sad movies,” Sherman said. “We don’t want to convey that the Holocaust, for example, is the sum total of Jewish experiences. It’s obviously a key moment in our history, but there’s so much more than that and we try to represent that.”

ATHENS JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL: OPENING and “THE YANKLES”

Where: Georgia Museum of Art

When: 6:30 p.m. (dinner), 8:30 p.m. (“The Yankles”)

Price: $7 (door), $35 (festival pass)

More info: Runs through Wednesday