San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 28

July 24–August 11 sfjff.org /925.275.9490

sf/castro/july 24–31 sf/jccsf/august 2–3, 9–10 berkeley/august 2–9 palo alto/august 2–7 san rafael/august 9–11

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Shana Penn PRESIDENT

Dana Doron VICE PRESIDENT

Gail Dolgin SECRETARY

Frederick Hertz TREASURER

Michael Bernstein Ron Blatman Pamela Burdman Nancy Goldberg Jane Gottesman Cary Kletter Pam Rorke Levy Lenny Lieberman Iris Metz Gale Mondry Sara Newman Douglas Okun Scott Rubin Stephen H. Swire Dan Wohlfeiler STAFF

Peter L. Stein EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Elizabeth Jouan Greene ADMINISTR ATIVE DIRECTOR

Nancy K. Fishman PROGR AM DIRECTOR

Allyson Halpern DEVELOPMENT DIRE CTOR

Deborah Banks INTERIM DEVELOPMENT DIRE CTOR

Pnina Halfon Lang PROGR AM COORDINATOR

Welcome to the 28th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival!

If you suspect that your catalog is a little thicker and your program guide a little wider than in years past, you’re right. The 28th SFJFF is the biggest and broadest we have ever presented, with 70 films from 19 countries presented in 114 screenings in five locations—including two full weekends of programs at the JCCSF and a new (and yes, bigger) theater, the CineArts @ Palo Alto Square, for our Peninsula and South Bay audiences.

Bringing you more films this year is our response to two positive cultural phenomena: the burgeoning field of Jewish-subject cinema and television among producers across the world, especially in Israel; and the fact that in the Bay Area, audiences of all cultures, faiths, identities and affiliations are able to find themselves reflected in the stories we present. The happy result: cinema at its finest served up to a wide range of constituencies, tastes and expectations. We encourage you to attend at least one film this year that you might not otherwise see. Not only will it reward you with the opportunity to view the world through someone else’s eyes, but you will likely encounter people with whom you didn’t know you shared a common interest: Jewish cinema.

A couple of suggestions: If you think you don’t like heavy metal music, check out the documentary Anvil! for a surprising, and endearing, musical portrait. If you assume you already know enough about the Jewish experience during World War II, attend some of our special programming on Italian Jews during Fascism (see page 8), or introduce yourself to the stunning film art of our 2008 SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award winner Péter Forgács (see page 7).

Most of all, if you think you know Israel, think again. This year, in recognition of the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state, we present a special focus on the country’s extraordinary, inspiring and at times challenging cultural and social diversity (see page 9). More than a dozen films express seldomheard but captivating voices in the chorus of Israel’s pluralistic society. Six of these films are made by the dynamic brother team of Barak and Tomer Heymann (see Close Up, page 10), while others highlight the stories of LGBT, women’s, human rights and activist communities. And we are pleased to premiere new Israeli features and documentaries—including our Opening Night feature Strangers—that shed light on the ongoing struggle for peace, security, friendship and even love across boundaries in the Middle East.

Finally, if the upcoming election battle has you longing for some comic relief, prepare to laugh till it hurts at the provocative sitcom Arab Labor. And don’t miss two delightful comic features about two very different bar/bat mitzvah candidates—Sixty Six, from England, and Max Minsky and Me, from Germany.

As suggested by our trailer (directed this year by local filmmaker Tiffany Shlain), being Jewish can mean a lot of things. We think you’ll find many of them right here. Enjoy!

Kerri Gawryn DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Christine Frank BOOKKEEPER

Catalog design and content © 2008 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. All rights reserved.

Peter L. Stein

Nancy K. Fishman

Shana Penn

EX E C U T I V E D I R EC T O R

P ROGR A M D I R ECTOR

P R ESI D E NT, B OA R D OF D I R ECTOR S

20-Somethings

History

Black Over White Flipping Out It Kinda Scares Me Jews in Shorts Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter Stalags—Holocaust and Pornography in Israel Tel Aviv by Girls

At Home in Utopia Baghdad Twist Being Jewish in France Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh Description of a Struggle Description of a Memory Facing Windows The Film Class Operation Mural Casablanca 1961 Perlasca, An Italian Hero We Were Exodus

Art, Liter ature and Dance Anvil! The Story of Anvil Dancing Alfonso The Danube Exodus A Fool's Dream Love Comes Lately The Maelstrom: A Family Chronicle Out of Focus Stalags—Holocaust and Pornography in Israel Two Lives Plus One Comedy Alice and I Arab Labor Max Minsky and Me Sixty Six A Trip to Prague Drama Arab Labor Emotional Arithmetic Facing Windows In Treatment Love Comes Lately Max Minsky and Me Perlasca, An Italian Hero The Secrets Sixty Six Strangers Tehilim Tel Aviv by Girls Two Lives Plus One french Alice and I Being Jewish in France Tel Aviv by Girls Two Lives Plus One We Were Exodus

The more the more Purchase card and

you see, y o u s av e ! y o u r 10 - F l i x s av e $ 2 0 !

Holocaust & W o r l d W a r II The Danube Exodus Emotional Arithmetic Every Day the Impossible: Jewish Women in the Partisan Facing Windows The Maelstrom: A Family Chronicle Miss Universe 1929—Lisl Goldarbeiter, A Queen in Wien Perlasca, An Italian Hero Saved By Deportation: An Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews Spell Your Name Stalags­—Holocaust and Pornography in Israel Tell Your Children Toyland Tulip Time—The Rise and Fall of the Trio Lescano Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live) Human Rights and Social Justice At Home in Utopia Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh Bilin My Love The Film Class Jerusalem Is Proud to Present Praying in Her Own Voice Three Times Divorced To See if I'm Smiling Diversity in Israel

Bilin My Love Black Over White Bridge Over the Wadi The Film Class A Fool's Dream Georgia My Love A Hebrew Lesson Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter Operation Mural Casablanca 1961 Praying in Her Own Voice The Quest for the Missing Piece Roads The Secrets Stefan Braun Three Times Divorced I s r a e l i - Pa l e s t i n i a n Rel ations Arab Labor Bilin My Love Bridge Over the Wadi My Father's Palestinian Slave Roads Strangers Three Times Divorced italian jews Facing Windows Perlasca, An Italian Hero Tulip Time—The Rise and Fall of the Trio Lescano Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live) LG B T Facing Windows It Kinda Scares Me Jerusalem Is Proud to Present Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter The Quest for the Missing Piece The Secrets Stefan Braun A Trip to Prague

romance Dancing Alfonso Emotional Arithmetic Facing Windows Love Comes Lately The Secrets Stefan Braun Strangers Tel Aviv by Girls Two Lives Plus One Russia & the Former Soviet Union A Fool's Dream Georgia My Love Spell Your Name Sp i r i t u a l i t y & J e w i s h Identity 888-Go-Kosher Eyes Wide Open Four Questions for a Rabbi Praying in Her Own Voice The Quest for the Missing Piece The Secrets Tehilim women Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh The Film Class Four Questions for a Rabbi In the Family Miss Universe 1929—Lisl Goldarbeiter, A Queen in Wien Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter Praying in Her Own Voice The Secrets Tel Aviv by Girls Three Times Divorced To See if I'm Smiling Tulip Time—The Rise and Fall of the Trio Lescano Two Lives Plus One

music

Youth

Anvil! The Story of Anvil Black Over White Georgia My Love Tulip Time—The Rise and Fall of the Trio Lescano

Facing the Wind Holidaze Max Minsky and Me Sixty Six

Arab Labor Ashkenaz

B e c o m e a m e m b e r of the Jewish Film Forum for ticket discounts and special benefits!

See page 44.

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Sponsors P RESEN T ING S P ONSORS

B USINESS AND COMMUNI T Y S P ONSORS

Bank Gothic Light BT

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MEDIA S P ONSORS

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M a j o r F o u n d a t i o n a n d G o v e r n m e n t S u pp o r t

the bernard osher foundation

PRODUCTION STAFF IN - K IND S P ONSORS

Peter L. Stein Executive Director

Nancy K. Fishman

Program Director

Elizabeth Jouan Greene Production Manager

Deborah Banks

Interim Development Director

Pnina Halfon Lang

Program/Hospitalit y Coordinator

Box Office

Allen Stross Paul Felder Photographers

Judy Bloch Copy Editor

Donna Steger / p.s. PrintSmart Print Broker

Myra Feiger

Margot Breier Bonnie Burt Gail Dolgin Myra Feiger Marcia Jarmel Natalie Kaniel Vivian Kleiman Donna Korones Valeria Lapin Ganley Moshe Levin David Liu Cary Kletter Marie-Jo Mont-Reynaud Noah Noar Alon Raab Steve Rossen Ian Schneider Ken Schneider Jennifer Schwartz Zehavit Stern Marlene Velasco-Begue Jeremy Widen Leah Wolchok Diane Wolf

Communit y Outreach Coordinator

Screening Commit tee

Jessica McDonald Allee Pitaccio

Jim Hoberman Debbie Hoffmann Annette Insdorf Deborah Kaufman Gary Meyer Janis Plotkin Ella Shohat

Kerri Gawryn

Development Coordinator

Christine Frank Bookkeeper

Jen Lopez Administrative Coordinator

Marketing by Storm Cara Storm Marketing Consultant

IN - K IND C o n t r i b u t o r s

Trilogy Productions Pamela & Joe Lawrence

Kay Sato Communications Coordinator

Shira Zucker Marketing Coordinator

Grant Stevens Publicit y Coordinator

Volunteer Coordinators

Ninfa Dawson Alysanne Taylor Volunteer Coordinators Marin

Olivia de Santis/Steve Simitzis Saturn5 Technology Inc.

Program Advisors

Nancy K. Fishman

Web Design/Development

Italian Program Curator

Larsen Associates Karen Larsen, Chris Wiggum

Irene De Francesco, CDEC Millicent Marcus, Yale University

Publicists

Italian Program Consultants

Susan Drell Creative Design Suzy Drell, Darryl Hein

Pnina Halfon Lang Shorts Program Curator

Events Coordinators

Chris Stolebarger Print Traffic

Grace Liu Assistant Production Manager

Dafna Kory Sponsor Reel Production

Kerri Gawryn Window Boxes

Jill Johnson David Gutierez Brian Freeman Leo Wong

2008 SFJFF TRAILER

Directed by Tiffany Shlain Produced by Carlton Evans Edited by Tiffany Shlain & Dalan

McNabola Sound Design by Dave Nelson, Outpost Studios Post Production Services: Philo TV Film Transfer Services: Gary Coates, SpyPost, Alpha Cine Volume Inc. Adam Brodsley, Eric Heiman, Lynda Lucas, Harrison Pollock creative direction and design

Debbie Berne Design

Hospitalit y Assistants

Additional Graphic Design

Brad Robinson

Nancy K. Fishman Peter L. Stein

House Manager

Hal Rowland

Program Catalog Editors

Technical Director

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O P ENING NIGH T

STRANGERS California Premiere Israel, 2007, 85 min., color, Arabic, English, French, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Directors: Erez Tadmor Guy Nattiv

Op e n i n g N i g h t i s s p o n s o r e d b y a g e n e r o u s g r a n t f rom w e l l s fa rg o

925.275.9490

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Additional support provided by the Consulate General of Israel, Pacific Northwest Region

Love and desire don’t always line up neatly with one’s politics or religion. But one thing is for sure: when you want someone so badly it aches, you can kiss goodbye all that early training about finding a suitable mate.

When handsome Eyal (Liron Levo) and knockout Rana (Lubna Azabal) are seated across from each other on the subway in Berlin, their backpacks are mixed up, leading to a chance meeting. He’s Israeli and she’s Palestinian, but they both came to Berlin for the World Cup and are immediately swept up in the dual frenzies of soccer mania and desire. Something about being out of the Middle East allows them to transcend the deep gap between Israelis and Palestinians.

After the tealights have burned out in their rented Berlin love nest, they realize that the fact that she is from Ramallah and he is from the north of Israel means they have very different views of the world, especially in 2006 during the Israel-Lebanon war. Tensions arise—can they work them out? What will their parents say? Why is she fleeing to Paris? Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv, two extremely talented Israeli directors, have created a crisply written, top-notch love story that crosses international borders and explores the boundaries of nationality, culture and the heart.

BASH (includes film ticket) Castro ( film only) CineArts Roda 4 Rafael

Thu, Jul 24 Thu, Jul 24 Sat, Aug 2 Sat, Aug 9 Sun, Aug 10

6:00 PM 8:00 PM 6:45 PM 8:15 PM 7:30 PM

OPEN24C STRA24C STRA02P STRA09B STRA10R

Principal Cast: Lubna Azabal, Liron Levo, Abdaliah El Akal

Tadmor and Nattiv adopted a risky and fascinating shooting style, sketching out scenes but asking their talented cast to improvise the script on location. The edge and energy generated are palpable. The premise of the film is expanded from the directors’ short film Strangers (SFJFF 2004), which won Best Short at the Sundance Film Festival. This is their first feature. —Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by Building Jewish Bridges: Outreach to Interfaith Couples; Interfaith Connection of the JCCSF; and Project Welcome Erez Tadmor in person at the Castro.

O P ENING NIGH T B ASH Fabulous food, flowing drinks, fun tunes by local fave Gaucho and lots of room to schmooze are yours at the all-new SFJFF Opening Night Bash, this year moving down Market Street to the historic and spacious Swedish American Hall, located upstairs from the Café du Nord at Market and Sanchez.

Party: 6:00–7:30 pm Film program starts at 8:00 pm at the Castro.

Swedish American Hall/ Café du Nord 2174 Market (@ Sanchez), Main Floor & Upstairs, San Francisco Tickets $75/$65 for Jewish Film Forum members Includes a reserved seat for film at the Castro.

New this year!

Event parking available for $10 at Everett Middle School on 17th St. between Church & Sanchez, a 5-minute walk from both the party venue and the Castro Theatre!

PLUS: Opening Night AfterParty at Café du Nord!

Your Opening Night Bash or Film ticket gets you free entry to the live music and fun atmosphere downstairs at Café du Nord. Stay for no-host drinks and talk about the film with your friends!

CLOSING NIGH T

EMOTIONAL ARITHMETIC Northern California Premiere Canada, 2007, 99 min., color, English

Director Paolo Barzman

Principal Cast Susan Sarandon, Christopher Plummer, Gabriel Byrne, Roy Dupuis, Max von Sydow

CLOSING N i g h t i s s p o n s o r e d b y a g e n e r o u s grant from the bonnie & Mart y Te ne nBaum f ou n dat io n Additional support provided by SUSAN & MOSES LI B I T Z K Y

Melanie Winters (Susan Sarandon) is leading a quiet life in a rustic lakeside farmhouse nestled amid the burnished hills of Eastern Quebec. But judging by the worried looks of her husband David (Christopher Plummer), a gruff retired history professor, and her handsome son (Roy Dupuis), something is amiss with Melanie as she nervously prepares for a reunion. The long-awaited Jakob Bronski (the peerless Max von Sydow) was a heroic figure from her traumatic childhood spent in Drancy, the French transit camp outside Paris, which the Nazis used as a way station to Auschwitz. David thinks his emotionally fragile wife should let the past stay buried. “A storm is coming,” he warns. “Not that anyone listens to me.”

In Paolo Barzman’s achingly beautiful drama of love and memory (adapted from the novel by Matt Cohen), the storm comes gently at first, and then relentlessly, as Bronski’s arrival with a surprise guest (played by Gabriel Byrne) triggers a whirlwind of

complex emotions for Melanie and her family. Over the course of a momentous weekend, all are forced to reassess the choices and compromises each has made to cope with their ruptured lives and the mysterious scars the past has left behind.

Barzman, who studied painting and worked with legendary French director Jean Renoir before turning to directing himself, creates arresting imagery from both the lushly saturated Quebec countryside and the restrained flashbacks to Drancy, deftly rendered by cinematographer Luc Montpellier in abstract black & white tableaux. But Barzman’s magical feat in Emotional Arithmetic is to pull together his high-powered cast into a tight ensemble of original, sharply defined characters, anchored by Sarandon but matched in poignancy and power by Plummer, Byrne and the remarkable von Sydow. In this equation, the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts. —Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Judah L. Magnes Museum

At the Castro only!

I n PERSON: Director Paolo Barzman in an onstage conversation—plus pre-film goodies and the Mighty Wurlitzer!

Castro (includes pre-film extras) Roda CineARTS Rafael

Thu, Jul 31 Sat, Aug 2 Tue, Aug 5 Mon, Aug 11

8:30 PM 9:15 PM 6:45 PM 8:45 PM

EMOT31C EMOT02B EMOT05P EMOT11R

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Centerpiece Film

Love Comes Lately West Coast Premiere Austria, Germany, United States, 2007, 86 min., color, English

Principal Cast Otto Tausig, Rhea Perlman, Tovah Feldshuh, Barbara Hershey, Elisabeth Peña, Carolina Aaron

Director Jan Schütte

The Centerpiece screening is sponsored by a g e n e r ou s g r a n t f r om t h e Tau b e F ou n dat ion f or J e w i s h L i f e a n d C u lt u r e

925.275.9490

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Additional support provided by the Goethe-Institut.

Berkeley Opening Night is co-sponsored by Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen

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“Literature has neglected the old and their emotions,” the Yiddish writer and Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote. “The novelists never told us that in love, as in other matters, the young are just beginners and that the art of loving matures with age and experience.” Love Comes Lately evokes Singer in word, spirit and deed in an utterly winning film by Jan Schütte. It revolves around a quintessential Singer character, Max Kohn, the elderly, selfcentered but gentlemanly writer from his story “The Briefcase,” and weaves in two other Singer stories, “Old Love” and “Alone,” as products of Kohn’s merciless pen.

At the stage of his career when the lecture circuit consists of college literary clubs and synagogues, Max lives “in a state of permanent confusion,” enhanced by a vivid imagination that has his dream life merging with his waking, and both with his fictions. But this is not an old man we can write off as the sum of his foibles. As portrayed by the Viennese actor Otto Tausig, Max is haimish and

Castro Roda Opening Night followed by reception CineArts Rafael

Sun, Jul 27 Sat, Aug 2 Mon, Aug 4 Sat, Aug 9

sophisticated, and, despite his prostate worries, vital. Hence, the magnetism he holds for his “invisible harem,” the women, real or imagined, who gravitate toward him, even as he enters his dotage.

There is his steady girlfriend and enabler Reisel (Rhea Perlman); a former student, Rosalie (Barbara Hershey), who threw him over for Kafka; and the fictional Ethel (Tovah Feldshuh) and Esperanza (Elizabeth Peña), women who carry a complex of bizarre fears into Max’s comical world.

Many of Berlin-based director Jan Schütte’s award-winning films—including Bye Bye America (SFJFF 1995)—have explored the territory of exile. Here, Schütte’s direction and a superb cast honor an ineffable quality of Singer’s writing—Yiddish translated into its American idiom, where it will never be quite at home. Therefore, no one here is particularly concerned with realism, but rather with expressiveness, and the character(s) it creates. If you were thinking early Woody Allen, you’d be on to something. —Judy Bloch Co-presented by BJE Jewish Community Library and Hadassah, San Francisco Chapter At the Castro only! Director Jan Schütte in an on-stage conversation. Berkeley Opening Night screening followed by reception in the Roda courtyard.

7:45 PM 6:45 PM 7:00 PM 6:45 PM

LOVE27C LOVE02B LOVE04P LOVE09R

PÉter ForgÁcs: 2 0 0 8 S FJ F F F r e e d o m o f E x p r e s s i o n Aw a r d

Archivist of Memory Péter Forgács has preserved the image of European Jewish families of the 1930s and 1940s by retelling their stories through their own home movies. With the simple act of placing an ad in Hungarian newspapers, Forgács was able to acquire these most precious assets of families lost, and in refashioning them, practically invented a new genre of nonfiction filmmaking. Through these home movies, Forgács places the historical emphasis on the intimacy of family life, zooming in on rare moments of emotional engagement. A mother holding her child; a playful couple, soon to be lovers; a multigenerational family at the dining table—all tell of the expectations of lives fully lived. His amateur photographers observe, and we are transformed by what they see, even as Hitler’s policies gradually tighten their fatal grip.

Internationally celebrated as a media artist, Forgács has created more than 30 films over the last twenty years. Born in Israel, he returned with his Hungarian parents to Budapest, where he was raised. He first achieved recognition with his Private Hungary series detailing ordinary lives that were soon to be ruptured by historical trauma. His mesmerizing narratives were introduced to SFJFF audiences ten years ago with the awardwinning Freefall, the tenth film in this series.

Since the completion of his Hungarian testimonials, his investigative eye has journeyed throughout Europe. This year’s program includes the San Francisco premiere of Miss Universe 1929—Lisl Goldarbeiter, A Queen in Wien, in which a Viennese beauty’s life is changed by the obsessive camera of her adoring cousin; The Maelstrom: A Family Chronicle, about a Dutch family

living a full and joyful life on the cusp of their destruction; and a reprise of the surprising journey of war refugees captured by the camera of the ship captain in The Danube Exodus (SFJFF 1999).

Last year, Forgács was awarded the Erasmus Prize at The Hague for his contributions to the cultural life of Europe. Bravo to Péter Forgács, whose excavation of the past provides us with a living history. —Janis Plotkin SFJFF’s Freedom of Expression Award honors the unfettered imagination, which is the cornerstone of a free, just and open society. Péter Forgács will accept his award following the San Francisco screening of Miss Universe 1929 on Monday, July 28.

SFJFF’s Freedom of Expression Award statuette is the creation of San Francisco–based, Moscow-born sculptor Misha Frid, whose design, made expressly for SFJFF, symbolizes “the never extinguished flame of Jewish daring and creativity.”

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The Italian Jewish experience during Fascism in the 1930s and 1940s was unique and complex. More than 8,000 Italian Jews died in the Holocaust, including 6,806 deportees, according to Italian Holocaust scholar Liliana Picciotto. Italian film directors, Jewish and non-Jewish, have rendered this unimaginable era with courage and creativity. On the 70th anniversary of Italy’s 1938 Racial Laws, we present a sidebar on the experience of one of the oldest Jewish communities in Europe. We are showing four films in the Festival and three this fall at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco that explore the Italian Jewish experience of the Shoah, seen through the eyes of contemporary directors.

Millicent Marcus, author of Italian Film in the Shadow of Auschwitz, writes: “Given the relative dearth of films on Fascist anti-Semitism and the Holocaust to emerge from Italy during the postwar era, the interest on the part of directors in recent years is all the more dramatic and noteworthy. . . . This outpouring of films on Fascist anti-Semitism and the Final Solution did not occur in a vacuum, however; it is a sign of what Fabio Girelli-Carasi has greeted as the belated emergence of a Jewish discourse in the Italy of today.” Two top-notch dramas, Ferzan Ozpetek’s love story Facing Windows (p.16) and Alberto Negrin’s portrait of an “Italian Schindler,” Perlasca, An Italian Hero (p. 23), are excellent examples of contemporary Italian directors exploring the legacy of fascism.

Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live) (p. 30) is an outstanding documentary that follows nine Italian citizens who endured the Racial Laws and survived deportation and internment in Auschwitz. Masterfully directed by Mimmo Calopresti and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, it features searing testimonies, including that of survivor Liliana Segre of Milan (who will appear at the Castro screening). Ms. Segre’s articulation of her experience, and her dignity, are quite remarkable.

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The Dutch documentary Tulip Time (p. 29), by Tonino Boniotti and Marco De Stefanis, profiles the Trio Lescano, a musical ensemble of three Dutch Jewish sisters. Stylistically similar to the Andrews Sisters, the Lescanos were enormously popular in Italy in the 1930s, but fled when their fame no longer trumped their Jewish origins.

This fall, please join us at JCCSF for Ruggero Gabbai’s exceptional documentary Memoria, on the impact of the Racial Laws on the Jewish community and the experience of Italian Jews in the camps; and two world-class features by veteran directors: Francesco Rosi’s The Truce, a fictionalized account (starring John Turturro) of Primo Levi’s journey home at the end of WWII, and Ettore Scola’s Unfair Competition, a story of two families in Rome, one Jewish, one gentile. Visit www.sfjff.org in the fall for screening details.

—Nancy K. Fishman, Program Director Liliana Segre, one of nine Italian survivors profiled in Volevo Solo Vivere, will appear in person for an onstage interview after the 4:45 pm screening of the film at the Castro on Sunday, July 27. Director Mimmo Calopresti is also invited.

Millicent Marcus, chair of the Italian Department at Yale University and author of Italian Film in the Shadow of Auschwitz, will introduce Volevo Solo Vivere, Facing Windows and Perlasca, An Italian Hero in Berkeley.

I would like to thank the following people and organizations for their assistance with this program: Irene De Francesco and Liliana Picciotto, Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC); Onofrio Speciale and Valeria Rumori, Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco; Paula Olivetti, Archivio Nazionale Cinematigrafico della Resistenza; and Millicent Marcus, Yale University. Special thanks also to my colleagues and friends Giovanni Minerba, Torino GLBT Film Festival, and Luca Andreotti, Torino Film Festival.—Nancy K. Fishman

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Packed into a land that could fit into California more than 18 times, Israel’s 7.2 million residents include dozens of ethnic and religious groups coming from wildly diverse backgrounds, cultures and traditions. Russian, Ethiopian, Iraqi and Moroccan Jews, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, Orthodox and secular, Israeli Arabs, Palestinians, Bedouins, foreign nationals, activists from all sides of the political and sexual spectrum . . . Israel is a living laboratory of what it means to be a pluralistic democracy with a Jewish soul. This unique assignment has created a fascinating and colorful place, as well as a country of many conflicts and diverse points of view.

To celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival presents a variety of documentary and narrative films reflecting the complex puzzle of Israel’s cultural diversity.

This program is co-sponsored by New Israel F u n d a n d t h e C on s u l at e G e n e r a l of I s r a e l , Pac i fic Nort h w e st R e g ion

S P O T LIGH T ON :

DIVERSITY IN ISRAEL

Israeli Queer Identity

Some highlights:

As part of our spotlight on diversity, we present a special focus on Israeli queer identity, including a number of films about sexual diversity and a panel after the San Francisco screening of Jerusalem Is Proud to Present on July 29. This documentary follows the efforts of Israel’s LGBT community to host the international World Pride parade in Jerusalem. More personal queer stories from Israel are featured in The Quest for the Missing Piece; Stefan Braun; Mom, I Didn’t Kill Your Daughter and Avi Nesher’s furtive feature film The Secrets, about two young women in an Orthodox seminary who fall in love.

• An international group of students begins linguistic integration to Israel in A Hebrew Lesson.

• Bridge Over the Wadi introduces us to a remarkable bilingual school for Jews and Arabs, while the dramatic story of how Moroccan Jewish children were smuggled to Israel in the 1960s unfolds in Operation Mural Casablanca 1961.

• The hilarious hit TV series Arab Labor is a satire about Arab Israelis (or Palestinians, depending on your viewpoint) written

by Sayed Kashua.

• Three Times Divorced, a powerful documentary about a Palestinian woman fighting for custody of her children, screens with The Film Class, the untold story of black Bedouins.

• Ashkenaz examines the definition of being an Eastern European Jew and the ongoing tension between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews in Israel.

• The stories of Jews from the former Soviet Union are presented in A Fool’s Dream and Georgia My Love.

• Black Over White is a roots journey to Ethiopia by two Israeli- Ethiopian singers.

Activist Voices

In Israel, the culture of critical activism among documentary filmmakers is a long-standing, cherished and very contentious tradition. Works expressing controversial points of view are regularly funded by Israeli broadcasters and just as regularly debated or critiqued. In addition to the LGBT activism mentioned above, we present two strong documentary position pieces on contested issues: Bilin My Love presents a personal view of radical left-wing activists against the separation barrier (filmmaker in person), and, protesting at a different kind of wall, Praying in Her Own Voice documents the struggle of Orthodox women for gender equality at the Western Wall. Join us for a panel on Jewish women’s rights on Sunday, August 3, in Berkeley after the film.—Pnina Halfon Lang

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barak&tomer heymann

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The 28th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is proud to present a Close Up look at the dynamic filmmaking team of brothers Barak and Tomer Heymann. We will screen six of the Heymann brothers’ documentary films in three programs: Bridge Over the Wadi (2006) and Black Over White (2007); Out of Focus (2007) and Dancing Alfonso (2007); and It Kinda Scares Me (2001) and Stalags— Holocaust and Pornography in Israel (2007, directed by Ari Libsker and produced by Barak Heymann).

The Heymann brothers might be documentary’s answer to the Coen brothers in terms of their shared artistic vision as siblings and creative partners. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find more humor, quirkiness or pathos in the Coen brothers’ dramas than you will in the Tel Aviv–based Heymann brothers’ collected documentaries. Their films are often bellwethers of entire social phenomena that lurk beneath the radar of Israeli society, captured with fluid camerawork, intimacy and a finely honed sense of the humanity and uniqueness of their subjects. Ours is a generous sampling of the work of these talented directors to watch: Bridge Over the Wadi captures the struggles and tenacity of the teachers, students and parents during the first year of a bicultural, bilingual Jewish/Arab school located in an Arab village.

Black Over White offers a rollicking portrait of Israeli world music band The Idan Raichel Project’s trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where one of the musicians is reunited with his grandmother.

Out of Focus and Dancing Alfonso are two of the best dance documentaries you could hope to set your eyes on: a rare opportunity to witness the creative process of veteran choreographer Ohad Naharin (Batsheva Dance Company), and a pitch-perfect portrait of a vital widower who finds community and creativity in the world of flamenco.

It Kinda Scares Me was Tomer Heymann’s breakthrough film (preceding his Paper Dolls). It depicts his relationship with a group of delinquent adolescent boys who are creating a play together. It screens with the absolutely fascinating documentary Stalags, which investigates pornographic representations in Holocaust literature in Israel. —Nancy K. Fishman Barak and Tomer Heymann will be present at the Castro screenings of Bridge Over the Wadi and Black Over White on July 26 (see page 14), and Out of Focus and Dancing Alfonso on July 27 (see page 23).

ANVIL ! T h e s t o r y o f a n v i l Northern California Premiere United States, 2008, 80 min., color, English

Director Sacha Gervasi

Arab Labor California Premiere Israel, 2007, 9 x 30 min., color, Arabic, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Ron Ninio Writer Sayed Kashua Producer Danny Paran

Sp o n s o r e d b y N a n c y G o l d b e r g and S h a n a p e n n , H o n o r i n g E l i z a b e t h G r e e n e for her nine years of extraordinary service to s fjff

Principal Cast Norman Isa, Clara Khoury, Salim Dao, Salwa Nakara, Mariano Idelman, Mira Awad, Fatima Yihye

At 14, Toronto school friends (and nice Jewish boys) Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner made a pact to rock together forever.

Their band, Anvil, went on to become the “demigods of Canadian metal,” releasing one of the heaviest albums in metal history, 1982’s Metal on Metal. The album influenced a musical generation, including Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, and went on to sell millions of records. But Anvil’s career took a different path—straight to obscurity. Director Sacha Gervasi has concocted a wonderful and often hilarious account of Anvil’s last-ditch quest for elusive fame and fortune. His ingenious filmmaking may first lead you to think this a mockumentary—scenes play like This Is Spinal Tap reset in the frozen North—but it isn’t. Gervasi joined the legendary heavy metal band as a roadie for a tour of Canadian hockey arenas, so he has intimate insight into the members’ eccentricities. It’s fascinating to see the reality of their day-to-day lives as, now in their 50s, they struggle to make ends meet, take a misguided European tour and engage in antics on the road—which is not always lined with fans. Gervasi even finds a softer center to this raucous film, introducing us to band members’ ever-supportive, but long-suffering, families. At its core, Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a timeless tale of survival and the unadulterated passion it takes to follow your dream, year after year. Anvil rocks—it has no other choice. —John Cooper, Sundance Film Festival

c o - Sp o n s o r e d bY O r LI & Z a c k R i n a t and the israel center of the jewish c om m u n i t y f e d e r at ion

Director Sacha Gervasi and musicians Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner in person at the Castro.

Co-presented by the San Francisco Bay Guardian / SFBG.com and Aquarius Records Rock on! After the 10:15 pm screening of Anvil! in Berkeley, head to the Acme Bar for a killer deal on drinks. See page 32 for details.

Check out www.sfbg.com to enter to win tickets to the San Francisco screening.

CASTRO RODA

Sat, Jul 26 Sat, Aug 9

10:00 PM 10:15 PM

ANVI26C ANVI09B

The groundbreaking Arab Labor is the most controversial new show to air on prime-time Israeli television, and it doesn’t take long to figure out why. In the first episode of this wickedly funny series, protagonist Amjad, an Israeli Arab reporter for a Hebrew-language newspaper, decides to trade in his family’s beat-up old Subaru for a “less Arab car.” After consulting with his Jewish friend Meir, Amjad buys a Rover sedan, and is happy to find that his new car gets him waved through Israeli checkpoints without any of the de rigueur harassment. In the delightfully provocative sitcom, Amjad’s often hilarious attempts to assimilate his family into mainstream Israeli society are an opportunity to satirize the prejudice and stereotypes that exist on both sides of the Middle East conflict.

For his wry and self-effacing humor, series creator Sayed Kashua (himself an Arab Israeli) has been likened to an Arab Woody Allen, and for his outrageous parodies of racial stereotypes, we might also consider him the Palestinian Dave Chappelle. Not everyone has a taste for irony when it comes to racial politics, but in Amjad’s absurd world, everyone is fair game for parody and scrutiny—even his less-than-honest father, who agrees to take a rabbi’s “not-kosher-for-Passover” food off his hands, only to sell it on Ebay. Whether it leaves you in stitches or up in arms, this irreverent Arab Israeli sitcom will bring you the Middle East conflict as you’ve never seen it before . . . and that’s a good thing.

—Shira Zucker Co-presented by The Hub at the JCCSF and the Arab Film Festival Package discount if you attend the whole series (any 3 screenings) — see page 48.

CASTRO Episodes 1,2,3 JCCSF Episodes 1,2,3 JCCSF Episodes 4,5,6 JCCSF Episodes 7,8,9 RODA Episodes 1,4,5 CineArts Episodes 1,4,5

Wed, Jul 30 Sun, Aug 3 Sun, Aug 3 Sun, Aug 3 Mon, Aug 4 Wed, Aug 6

9:30 PM 1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:30 PM 9:45 PM 6:30 PM

ARAB30C ARA103J ARA203J ARA303J ARAB04B ARAB06P

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At H o m e i n Ut o p i a

Ashke naz

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

North American Premiere Israel, 2007, 72 min., color, Hebrew, English, Yiddish w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Rachel Leah Jones

If you’re sure you have a clear picture of the “white” Jews in Israel, you’re probably wrong. Ashkenaz, a pithy but panoramic view, will show why. The documentary upends preconceived notions and exposes contradictions inherent in crafting one definition of Jewish ethnicity. Berkeley native (and Israeli immigrant) Rachel Leah Jones flits from scholars to just plain folks while illustrating that Ashkenazim are hard to pinpoint. They are, she shows, much broader based than their Rhineland beginnings and subsequent migration to Eastern Europe might indicate. Indeed, she focuses on the blurring.

The Ashkenazim she introduces us to include dark-skinned Jews, kibbutzniks, soldiers, sociologists—a you-name-it-we’ve-got-it collage. The film, peppered as well with the views of Mizrahim and with evocative lyrics by a pub singer, probes the notion that the Ashkenazim are “the Establishment” and others “the troublemakers.”

It touches on architecture and neighborhoods, “white” and “black,” superiority and inferiority. In an almost Talmudic cinematic exercise, Ashkenaz connects apparently unconnected dots—ranging from an Ashkenazi Identity Movement that emphasizes universality to citizens who appear to spit out the word “Ashkenazim.” It is, in short, a fascinating study in diversity within a single word.

—Woody Weingarten Preceded by

In Search of the Bene Israel World Premiere India, United States, 2008, 36 min., color, Hindi, English w/ Eng. subtitles

M y o ly m p i c s u m m e r Director Sadia Shepard

c o - Sp o n s o r e d b y a b e & M a r i a n S c h e u e r s o f a e r

Returning to her Jewish grandmother’s birthplace in India, director Sadia Shepard discovers the story of the Bene Israel, a tiny Jewish community in Bombay. Her colorful documentary is a journey to reconnect with a group of Jews who believe they are descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel, shipwrecked in India 2,000 years ago.—Pnina Halfon Lang

JCCSF

Sun, Aug 10

“Workers of the world, unite” was more than a slogan to 700 pioneering families in cooperative Bronx apartment complexes; it symbolized a way of life—and a vital experiment that started in 1925. The 1,000 rooms of “the Coops” (rhymes with “groups”) represented a dream of social equality and justice. The residents, mostly immigrant garment workers from Russia and other Eastern European countries, thrived amid greenery “like the rich” while meeting head-on the evils of poverty, anti-Semitism and racism.

At Home in Utopia, an affectionate documentary, places us in the world of parades down New York avenues by working people of all stripes fighting for workers’ rights. Actress Linda Lavin narrates the story of these tough men and women who typically embraced communist, socialist and union movements from their “fortress of the working class,” a place some labeled “Little Moscow.”

Contemporary interviews and colorful scenes of the locales seamlessly blend with archival black & white footage that portrays articulate individuals who spoke in Yiddish, Russian and English.

Filmmaker Michal Goldman skillfully captures the visionary ideals that formed the United Workers Cooperative Colony, putting human faces on a slice of history that, in one way or another, is the proud heritage of countless American Jews.—Woody Weingarten Preceded by

Co-presented by Congregation Sherith Israel and 3rd I San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival (SFISAFF) 12

Director Michal Goldman Co-Producer Ellen Brodsky

California Premiere United States, 2008, 57 min., color and black & white, English, Yiddish w/ Eng. subtitles

3:15 PM

ASHK10J

Northern California Premiere United States, 2007, 13 min., color and black & white, English, German w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Daniel Robin

8mm home movies from the 1970s and the discovery of an unopened letter from his mother are the potent and poetic ingredients of San Francisco–based director Daniel Robin’s reexamination of his parents’ relationship, set against the background of his own failed marriage. His father’s participation in the 1972 Israeli Olympic hostage crisis plays a crucial role.

—Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Progressive Jewish Alliance Castro CineArts Roda

Mon, Jul 28 Sat, Aug 2 Sun, Aug 3

4:30 PM 2:30 PM 7:15 PM

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Being Jewish in France West Coast Premiere France, 2007, 185 min., color and black & white, French w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Yves Jeuland

Sp o n s o r e d b y St e p h e n s w i r e & J a c q u e l i n e Neuwirth swire

Yves Jeuland’s extraordinary documentary captures centuries of Jewish life in France in two episodes that were broadcast on French television to critical acclaim. French Jews have always had a complex relationship to their Frenchness and their Judaism. From revolutionary cries of “Vive la France!” in Yiddish through Vichy’s betrayal of Jewish citizens to the absorption of Mizrahi Jews in the 1960s, French Jews have remained staunchly French. But with the influx of Arab immigrants into France and the French left’s support for Palestinian human rights (including on the part of some Jews), the French Jewish community has had to adjust to a multicultural society in which it is one of many minorities seeking liberté, egalité and fraternité.

Episode One opens with the controversial Dreyfus Affair, which inflamed passions and anti-Semitic hatred in the country at the turn of the 20th century. As Jews became more assimilated, especially after serving in World War I, they solidified their French identity. The series documents the insidious rise of fascism, leading up to the community’s deportation to concentration camps—with the help of the French police. Episode Two picks up in the aftermath of the Holocaust, when surviving Jews worked towards recovery and regeneration. During the wave of Jewish immigration from North Africa, the Jewish community joined together despite cultural differences among European Jews who had been in France for decades and newly arrived Mizrahi and Maghrebi Jews. Recent arson attacks on synagogues and the rise of anti-Semitic violence have caused some French Jews to reexamine living in France, while others view France as their homeland, in joy or sadness.—Kay Sato Co-presented by Alliance Française de San Francisco and Congregation Beth Am Being Jewish in France will be shown with a brief inter mission.

Bilin My Love U.S. Premiere Israel, 2006, 84 min., color, English, Hebrew, Arabic w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Shai Carmeli Pollak

Sp o n s o r e d b y a f e s t i v a l f r i e n d honoring G r a c e P a l e y ( 19 2 3 – 2 0 0 7 ) , activist and writer: speaking truth to power with compassion, moral courage, humor and fierce love of peace and social justice

Bilin My Love (Wolgin Award for Documentary Film, Jerusalem International Film Festival 2006) is a dynamic point-of-view documentary about the struggle of the Palestinian village of Bilin, in the West Bank, over its land. The Israeli government divided the village as part of the construction of the separation barrier, and appended half of the land to a neighboring Jewish settlement, Mod’in.

Israeli director Shai Carmeli Pollak did not initially come to Bilin as a filmmaker, but as part of Activists Against the Wall, an international peace activists’ organization. Armed with his camera, for over a year he participated in the nonviolent resistance along with the Palestinian villagers and international activists, while capturing confrontations between protestors and the Israeli army and police. His intrusive and investigative camerawork reveals a complex reality and raises difficult and important questions about human rights.

With stunning guerilla aesthetics, the film depicts the struggles of two Bilin residents: Mohamed, a member of the village’s local committee protesting the wall, and Wagee, farmer and father of ten, who is losing the majority of his land to the wall.

They provide intimate, personal insights into the Palestinian side of the story. Shedding light on this fraught aspect of the Middle East conflict, Bilin My Love is an important documentary about the cooperative efforts of Palestinians, international human rights activists and Israeli Jews who feel morally compelled to protest their government's policies in the West Bank.—Pnina Halfon Lang Co-presented by American Friends Service Committee; Jewish Voice for Peace; and Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley Shai Carmeli Pollak in person at the Castro and Roda.

CineArts JCCSF

Mon, Aug 4 Sun, Aug 10

3:15 PM 11:30 AM

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Castro Roda Rafael

Tue, Jul 29 Sat, Aug 2 Sat, Aug 9

9:45 PM 4:15 PM 12:00 PM

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Close up: HeyMann Brothers

Bl ack Over White

B l e s s e d i s t h e M at c h : T h e L i f e a n d D e at h o f H a n na h S e n e s h Director Tomer Heymann

West Coast Premiere Israel, 2007, 54 min., color, Hebrew, Amharic, English w/ Eng. subtitles

Co-sponsored by Be’chol Lashon (In every T o n g u e ) , a project of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research

Tomer Heymann followed Israeli pop/world-beat band The Idan Raichel Project on a concert tour to Ethiopia and emerged with a documentary that rollicks and rocks. The film, part lighthearted road trip, part examination of multiculturalism in Israel, is a close-up ride with the young Israeli-Ethiopian-Yemenite band members, who muse on their cultural ambivalence, their experience of racism back home in Israel, and their excitement as tourists embracing roots in Africa. They make music with rural villagers and in urban clubs, and, in one poignant sequence, meet future immigrants to Israel.

The culminating concert—a fusion of Middle Eastern multiethnic grooves—is a success and emotional high point, but for the band members, the meaning of home remains elusive.—Deborah Kaufman Followed by

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

B r i d g e ov e r t h e wa di West Coast Premiere Israel, 2006, 55 min., color, Hebrew, Arabic w/ Eng. subtitles

Directors Barak Heymann Tomer Heymann

c o - Sp o n s o r e d b y t h e D a v i d R . St e r n F u n d at t h e Ag a pe F ou n dat ion

Bridge Over the Wadi (“wadi” means valley in Arabic) is one of only three joint Arab-Jewish bilingual, bicultural primary schools in Israel. This unflinchingly honest and riveting film documents one rocky year in the school’s life as teachers, parents and students strive towards understanding and compromise. Can two opposing historical narratives coexist in the same schoolroom? Palestinian children study the Holocaust, Jewish third graders answer the question, “Does Israel have the right to exist?” and teachers struggle with the lesson plan for Israel Independence Day/Palestine Nakba (“catastrophe”) Day. The “Bridge” being built is a moving testament to the political will of citizens who believe they must be the change they seek. —Deborah Kaufman

West Coast Premiere United States, 2008, 85 min., color and black & white, English

Director Roberta Grossman

Sp o n s o r e d b y L a s z l o T a u b e r F a m i l y F o u n d a t i o n

Hannah Senesh was a Hungarian Jewish resistance fighter, an optimist in the face of dire circumstances and a poet. The child of educated parents in Budapest, Hannah’s early years were consumed by her love of literature. Her emotional growth as a teenager paralleled the growth of anti-Semitism in Hungary and led her to fiercely embrace Zionism. After emigrating to Palestine, Hannah volunteered for a special unit trained by the British Army and parachuted into occupied Yugoslavia. She then traveled clandestinely back to Hungary to make contact with the resistance, but was arrested, tortured and subsequently executed. Her group’s bold foray was the only outside rescue mission for Jews attempted during the Holocaust.

Roberta Grossman’s inspirational documentary Blessed Is the Match, narrated by three-time Academy Award nominee Joan Allen, is a paean to Hannah Senesh’s courage and creativity.

Gorgeous images of parachutes float gracefully in the air like Senesh’s words, written days before her capture by the Nazis: Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart/ Blessed is the heart with the strength to stop its beating for honor’s sake/ Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame. Hannah Senesh comes to life in this film through unusually effective re-creations with actresses Meri Roth and Marcela Nohynkova, alongside interviews with kibbutz members, fellow parachutists, historian Sir Martin Gilbert and Hannah’s nephews. But perhaps what brings us closest to this brave young woman are the letters she wrote to her mother, Catherine, which capture a daughter’s hopes and dreams for herself and her people.—Nancy K. Fishman Preceded by Every Day the Impossible: Jewish Women in the Partisans in Berkeley only. See page 29.

Roberta Grossman in person at the Castro.

Co-presented by Facing History and Ourselves; Holocaust Center of Northern California; and Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation

Co-presented by New Israel Fund and The Hub at JCCSF

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Castro Roda CineArts Rafael

Sat, Jul 26 Sat, Aug 2 Tue, Aug 5 Sat, Aug 9

4:30 PM 11:30 AM 9:00 PM 4:00 PM

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Castro Roda

Sun, Jul 27 Sun, Aug 3

11:30 AM 1:15 PM

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Darling! The Pieter-Dirk U y s St o r y Director Julian Shaw

San Francisco Premiere Australia, 2007, 54 min., color, English

Co -sponsored by American Jewish World S e r v i c e and t h e S a n F r a n c i s c o HIV P r e v e n t i o n K l at s c h

When he was just 15, Julian Shaw saw a one-man show in Sydney, Australia, by the outrageous, controversial and brilliant South African political satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys. A half-Jewish, halfAfrikaaner anti-apartheid activist and entertainer, Uys (pronounced “ace”) was renowned for his drag alter ego, a dowager named Evita Bezuidenhout (think of Dame Edna with a political hammer), winning over no less than Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela with his/her wicked satire.

Now Uys is taking on “the new apartheid”: the scourge of HIV/AIDS. His passionate critique of South Africa’s failure to educate children about the epidemic inspired young Shaw to document Uys’s tireless yet hilarious work enlightening highschoolers about AIDS. Darling! is a stirring portrait of a man on a mission—using the double dagger of truth-telling and satire to save the future of his country.—Peter L. Stein Followed by

West Coast Premiere Israel, 2007, 61 min., color and black & white, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Itamar Alcalay

Fabulous archival footage of Tel Aviv’s gay life from the 1950s immerses us in the world of society furrier Stefan Braun and the man who loved, worshipped and stood by him for 39 years, Eliezer Rath. Braun’s charisma and zest fascinated not only Israel’s wealthy matrons, chic models and his many lovers, but also his extended family for whom he was patriarch and benefactor. But soon La Dolce Vita on the Mediterranean becomes a rivalry between family of origin and Braun’s chosen—even if closeted—family, Rath. After Braun’s death, a battle begins for his legacy. The family contests the will, while the bereft Rath sits in Braun’s still-untouched room talking to his lost lover. Everyone has their say in this story, but Braun himself remains a fascinating enigma.—Alan Snitow Co-presented by Frameline and LGBT Alliance Tue, Jul 29 Mon, Aug 4

France, Israel, 1960, 60 min., color, French w/ Eng. subtitles

4:30 PM 2:00 PM

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Director Chris Marker

Sp o n s o r e d b y D e n i s B o u v i e r

A young boy joyfully rides a pushcart down the hilly streets of Haifa, a humped camel crosses a street, and an innocent girl paints an unseen picture in what may best represent the emergence of a new country and its unknown future. These are the arresting images captured by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Chris Marker (La Jetée, Sans Soleil) in his 1960 travels to Israel. Winner of the Golden Bear at the 1961 Berlin Film Festival, Marker’s remarkable documentary thoroughly examined, critiqued and predicted the newly created state’s past, present and future. Striking in the beauty of its images, ranging from the vastness of the desert landscape and the tranquility of the sea to the hubris of Tel Aviv, Description of a Struggle allows a rare and memorable glance at an Israel in the making.—Joshua Moore Followed by

D e s c r i pt i o n o f a M e m o r y U.S. Premiere Israel, 2006, 80 min., color, English, Hebrew, Arabic w/ Eng. subtitles

St e f a n B r a u n

Castro Roda

D e s c r i pt i o n Of a St r u g g l e

Director Dan Geva

Nearly 50 years after Chris Marker’s landmark 1960 documentary about Israel, Description of a Struggle, Dan Geva’s film engages with and pays tribute to its progenitor. Clearly Marker’s film left a lasting impression on the Israeli-born Geva, who uses images from the original film as a springboard to uncovering the many changes that have taken place in the physical and political landscapes of Israel and in its inhabitants. Attempting to answer questions originally raised by Marker, Geva tracks down some of the people featured in Marker’s film (what did happen to that young girl at the easel?), with surprising and emotionally complex results.

Description of a Memory is an intimate portrait of the nature of change in a multifaceted land where history and memories intertwine to create an odyssey both personal and universal.

—Joshua Moore Co-presented by the Pacific Film Archive and San Francisco Cinematheque Roda

Sat, Aug 9

11:30 AM

DESC09B

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F l i pp i n g O u t

Fac i n g W i n d ow s Italy, Portugal, Turkey, United Kingdom, 2003, 102 min., color, Italian w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Ferzan Ozpetek

Principal Cast Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo Nigro, Massimo Girotti, Raoul Bova

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

Co-sponsored by Craig Harrison's Expressions o f E x c e l l e n c e ! ™ and B J E J e w i s h C o m m u n i t y L i b r a r y ; presented in collaboration with t h e It a l i a n C u lt u r a l I n s t i t u t e , S a n F r a n c i s c o

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Ferzan Ozpetek’s Facing Windows is a stirring example of a contemporary Italian film exploring the legacy of fascism. This award-winning drama (four Donatello Awards, the Italian Oscar equivalent) features dual love stories, one from the 1940s between two Italian Jews and one contemporary story of neighbors who watch each other furtively from facing windows across a street.

The erotic tension between a sexy but routine-weary woman (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) and her hunky Italian Clark Kent look-alike neighbor (Raoul Bova) gives way to quiet communication and a profound experience when together they befriend an elderly Jewish man with memory problems. Davide (played to perfection by veteran Italian actor Massimo Girotti) turns out to be a master baker, a metaphor for the alchemy of creation not lost on Giovanna, who bakes to supplement her income working in a factory. Davide lived through the October 16, 1943, roundup of Jews in the Rome ghetto and the subsequent deportation and loss of his family and his lover.

Ozpetek, an accomplished director, captures the weight of a lifetime of memories as well as the quotidian intimacy and brief exchanges that really make up our lives. His dual cultural background (Turkish and Italian) gives him both an outsider’s and insider’s perspective on how the history of fascism impacts Italians today: perhaps not very much on the surface, but lurking metaphysically in the crevices of their consciousness and in the piazze—which in their mute inertia do not miss the Jews who were deported but witnessed their leaving.—Nancy K. Fishman

U.S. Premiere Israel, 2007, 87 min., color, Hebrew, English w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Yoav Shamir

Every year, the cloud forests of India’s Himalayan foothills provide the ideal escape for some 30,000 young Israelis just released from mandatory military service. With a pocketful of discharge money and a socially sanctioned time-out from concerns back home, 90 percent of these travelers will take drugs, and some 2,000 will end up needing psychiatric care for what has become known, even in Hebrew, as “flipping out.”

Talented verité documentary filmmaker Yoav Shamir follows up on his two earlier, extraordinary accounts of Israeli military life— Checkpoint (SFJFF 2004) and 5 Days (SFJFF 2006)—by hanging out in the mountains (and, during the rainy season, in coastal Goa) with these young men and women as they decompress from the impossible stresses of military service during the occupation and clashes with Lebanon. Stories unfold before his ever-present camera; recently “ex-” soldiers try to express their feelings, but most are still far too close to the experience—or they are far too stoned—to offer much insight. That perspective is provided by the small band of Israeli social workers, barefoot rabbis, guidance counselors and consular officials who have followed what they fear is a “lost generation” to their Shangri-La in order to keep them from going off the edge. Most fascinating is Hilik Magnus, a former Mossad agent hired by Israeli families to find their wayward children and bring them safely home. Flipping Out is an unsettling picture of collective numbing-out, and of the peculiar safety net provided by a tight-knit society to its members in free fall.—Peter L. Stein Co-presented by The Hub at the JCCSF

Co-presented by San Francisco Film Society and Museo ItaloAmericano

Castro Roda

Wed, Jul 30 Mon, Aug 4

6:30 PM 7:00 PM

FACI30C FACI04B

JCCSF RODA

Sat, Aug 2 Sun, Aug 3

9:30 PM 9:30 PM

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A F o o l’ s D r e a m

A Hebrew Lesson Directors Daniel Syrkin Ido Bahat

North American Premiere Israel, 2007, 60 min., color, Hebrew, Russian w/ Eng. subtitles

Lev Syrkin was a successful artist in Moscow who dreamed of pursuing artistic and personal freedom in Israel. He abandoned his reputable status in Russia and moved to Israel with his entire family, only to be welcomed by indifference toward the mosaic art he practiced. Director Daniel Syrkin takes a journey through Israel, lovingly tracing his tenacious immigrant father’s struggles, accomplishments and hopes as an artist. Along the way, his father’s biggest dream becomes Daniel’s own: the creation of a huge mosaic portraying the dove of peace in the heart of Jerusalem.

As this dream is revived, father and son encounter apathy and disappointment, but with a twist of optimism, which only fuels their dedication to public art.—Kay Sato Preceded by

Georgia My Love U.S. Premiere Israel, 2007, 53 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Noga Gamlieli

Noga Gamlieli playfully captures the beauty and spunk of Maya and Manana, Georgian immigrants to Israel who express their love for Georgia through their strongest talents: music and dance.

Growing up in Israel was not easy; like many immigrants from the former Soviet Union, they faced rejection from mainstream Israeli society. Attached to both countries, Maya, a singer, resists going down a new, trendy artistic path and instead pursues her love for traditional Georgian songs. Manana, a graceful dancer, works hard at polishing her moves with fellow Georgians. Setting aside time from their work at a bridal salon, they prepare for the big day—a performance of Georgian dance in front of a large audience. And supporting them through all of their endeavors is their lovable Georgian mama.—Kay Sato

Northern California Premiere Israel, 2006, 123 min., color, English, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, Chinese w/ Eng. subtitles

Director David Ofek

The process of learning a language is always fraught with humor, frustration—and pantomime. A Hebrew Lesson opens with a scene that might seem familiar, as Yoela, the teacher at a Hebrew immersion class (or ulpan) in Tel Aviv, introduces herself in Hebrew relying on simple body language. Her students are Oleh Chadashim, “New Ascenders,” who have come to Israel from all five continents, with different backgrounds, religions and reasons for being in Israel.

Yoela, who was once in the same position herself, approaches her students from a place of empathy and love. The course, intended to cushion the difficulties of integration into a new culture, serves as a springboard to explore the complexities of immigration in an often contradictory society.

Divided into five monthly segments, the film explores Israeli diversity as it seamlessly interweaves five students’ stories of struggle and joy. A former lawyer in Russia, Sasha now pays the rent by working as a dishwasher, while he desperately tries to reconnect with his daughter. The story of Chin, a Chinese immigrant who served as a maid then married her boss, goes beyond the obvious and becomes a story of multicultural love. Dong Dong, once a filmmaker for Chinese television, breaks down in class after visiting illegal Chinese workers on a not-so-happy Chinese New Year. The intimate gaze of David Ofek’s lens sensitively handles the melting pot of Israeli society. Through the eyes of foreigners, the film offers an examination of the ulpan, an Israeli institution through which thousands of students pass every year.—Marie-Jo Mont-Reynaud Co-presented by Lehrhaus Judaica and BJE Jewish Community Library

Co-presented by Kritzer/Ross Emigr Program of the JCCSF and The 79ers, a program of Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco

JCCSF

Sat, Aug 2

2:30 PM

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CineArts JCCSF

Sat, Aug 2 Sun, Aug 10

11:45 AM 9:15 PM

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I n T r e at m e n t

I n t h e F a m i ly

www.sfjff.org

West Coast Premiere United States, 2008, 83 min., color, English

Director Joanna Rudnick

In the Family invites us into the world of Joanna Rudnick, a filmmaker who at the age of 27 discovered that she had BRCA—a genetic mutation that is particularly prevalent among Ashkenazi Jewish women. We join Rudnick as she struggles with an impossible decision—whether to remove her healthy breasts and ovaries preemptively or risk a staggeringly high likelihood of developing a deadly cancer. Rudnick crisscrosses the country, from family dinner tables to hospital research centers to her own private video journal, to explore the medical and emotional implications of this decision—one that thousands of women and their families face.

What results is a gripping documentary that is as life-affirming as it is heartbreaking.

Rudnick, an experienced science reporter, keeps the film deeply personal as well as informative, introducing us to memorable women who have handled the knowledge of their BRCA status (or fear of it) in different ways: the trio of sisters who take their tests together, facing different results; the determined post-op survivor who embraces her post-mastectomy body; and the woman who first discovered the BRCA gene. We also meet the man who holds the lucrative patent on the diagnostic test, and women who are fighting racial and economic disparity to gain access to it.

As Rudnick turns the camera on her boyfriend and herself, revealing the toll that her looming decision is taking on their budding romance, we find ourselves understanding with deeper complexity exactly what is at stake. In the Family is a powerful meditation on what we are willing to sacrifice to survive.

925.275.9490

—Shira Zucker

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San Rafael screening followed by panel discussion on Hereditary Cancer and Genetic Testing with director Joanna Rudnick.

Israel, 2007, 5 x 30 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Directors Hagai Levy Nir Bergman

Principal Cast Assi Dayan, Gila Almagor, Ayelet Zurer, Lior Ashkenazi, Maya Meron, Alma Zack, Rami Heuberger

Sp o n s o r e d b y V e r a & H a r o l d S . St e i n , J r .

Imagine you are in therapy and your shrink is a thoughtful, badly dressed bear of a man who resembles Israeli actor Assi Dayan.

Then imagine that when the transference and countertransference are flying so fast you can see trails, your shrink goes to talk to his shrink—who happens to be the all-knowing Israeli grande dame of cinema, Gila Almagor. Are you dreaming? No, you’re enjoying the afterglow of Israel’s brilliant television series In Treatment (B’Tipul), which was watched raptly by millions of dysfunctional Israelis. Later it was sold to HBO for a remake in the U.S. where millions of equally dysfunctional Americans—certainly half of New York City and at least one of your former shrinks—tuned in to see what it’s like for other people to go to therapy.

Each week you could watch five clients on the couch: a gorgeous woman afraid of commitment (Ayelet Zurer); a hunky pilot (and reticent analysand) with guilty thoughts about bombing in the occupied territories (Lior Ashkenazi); a teenage girl who is a champion swimmer and perfectionist (Maya Meron); a couple who have tried to get pregnant so long using fertility treatments that the romance is gone (Rami Heuberger and Alma Zack); and, finally, the shrink with self-doubts (Dayan) who seeks guidance from his old therapist (Almagor). We will be showing five episodes of the talented Hagai Levy’s delightful homage to psychology, which Israeli daily Ma’ariv called “the closest thing to literature to be found on TV.”—Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by Peninsula Temple Sholom and the Israel Center

Co-presented by Breast Cancer Action and by Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties

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Jerusalem is Proud to Present Northern California Premiere Israel, 2007, 80 min. color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Jews in Shorts

Director Nitzan Gilady

C o - Sp o n s o r e d b y m i c h a e l e h r e n zw e i g & way n e s a l a z a r

In the summer of 2006, Jerusalem was host, for the first time, to the World Pride events, an annual celebration of LGBT freedom and culture, planned to culminate in a traditional gay pride parade.

Nitzan Gilady’s award-winning documentary (Festival Dei Popoli 2007 Audience Award and “Movies That Matter” Human Rights Award, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2007) weaves the passions of gay rights activists and community members (including colorfully dressed, earnest young gay and lesbian folks; seasoned, sequined drag queens; a gay member of the Jerusalem city council; and tourists looking for a hot date) into a compelling documentary with a strong narrative arc and an eye and ear for wonderful interviews. It is hard to imagine that homophobia could create multicultural bonds and quasi-“Kumbaya” moments between ultra-Orthodox rabbis, religious Christians and religious Muslims, but this is exactly what happens when the queer community, located at the center of all three religions, offers itself as the site for World Pride. With more fervor than a Yankees–Red Sox playoff, Israelis (and visitors) wishing to celebrate their sexuality are pitted against Israelis (and visitors) who see homosexuality as an affront to their religion. Steadfast and admirable in the face of heated and violent anti-gay sentiments, the activists of the Open House—Jerusalem’s LGBT community center—deal with threats that escalate beyond just their right to march. Regardless of your sexual identity or religion, check out this outstanding film and feel the love—mixed with a few barbs.—Nancy K. Fishman Following the Castro screening, Nitzan Gilady will participate in a panel on Pride & Prejudice: LGBT Rights in Jewish Life Today.

Co-presented by Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, Frameline and LGBT Alliance SHOW YOUR PRIDE! After the SF screening of Jerusalem Is Proud to Present, head across the street to the Bar on Castro for a deal on drinks. See page 32 for details.

Castro Roda CineArts

Tue, Jul 29 Tue, Aug 5 Wed, Aug 6

7:00 PM 4:30 PM 8:45 PM

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From rapid koshering services to the tale of a macho young man afraid to jump from a high place, and the latest film from SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project, this program is an excellent sample of young Jewish creativity. Total running time: 96 minutes.

R o a d s By Lior Geller, Israel, 22 min.

Thirteen-year-old Ismayil searches for a new life for himself and his brother outside the Arab drug slums of the Israeli city of Lod. 8 8 8 - GO - K OSHER By Lauren Shweder Biel, U.S., 10 min.

A humorous and enlightening day in the life of New York’s only rapid-response koshering service.

T o y l a n d By Jochen Alexander Freydank, Germany, 13 min.

1942: what happens when a German kid believes that his Jewish neighbors are going to Toyland?

A T r i p t o P r a g u e By Neil Needleman, U.S., 4 min.

Does everyone need to meet a nice Jewish girl? This film sports striking illustrations and deadpan narration, and explores the Jewish instinct to make a shiddach (fix-up).

H o m e - M a d e H e r o By Nadav Aronowitz, Israel, 19 min.

A thrilling story of a mad woman soldier who kidnaps an innocent cab driver for a fatal mission.

C h r o n i c l e o f a J u m p By Zohar Lavi, U.S., 11 min.

To jump or not to jump . . . Director Zohar Lavi examines the borders of fear and courage in this creative drama.

T e l l Y o u r C h i l d r e n By Andras Salamon, Hungary, 5 min.

Beautifully crafted, powerful fiction about a little girl surviving the January 1945 mass murders by the Arrow Cross at the Danube’s bank in Hungary.

H o l i d a z e U.S., 12 min. Directed by the New Jewish Filmmaking Project, led by Danny Plotnick

This triptych of stories from the teenage directors of SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project, produced by Citizen Film (see page 31), delivers candid, funny observations of do-it-yourself holiday rituals.

—Pnina Halfon Lang Co-presented by by Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC); East Bay Media Center / Berkely Video & Film Festivals; and Temple Isaiah

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Thu, Aug 7 Sat, Aug 9

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Max MinsKy and me

The Maelstrom: A F a m i ly C h r o n i c l e Director Péter Forgács

Netherlands, 1997, 60 min., Dutch w/ Eng. subtitles

Co -sponsored by george & Sejong Sarlo

Found-footage master Péter Forgács (see page 7) makes extraordinary use of a cache of home movies shot in the Netherlands before and during World War II to tell the story of the Peereboom family, a clan that we meet first at weddings, at the seaside and in intimate moments captured by the talented amateur photographer among them, Max Peereboom. Our foreknowledge of the gathering cloud of the Holocaust casts a grim shadow over the footage, which records even their seemingly cheerful preparations for a trip to a “work camp” in 1942. Underscored by a haunting soundtrack by Tibor Szemzö, The Maelstrom interweaves newsreels and contemporaneous home movies shot by the Nazi governor-general of Holland into a devastating firsthand account of one family’s tragic fate.—Peter L. Stein Followed by

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

The Danube E xodus Hungary, 1998, 60 min., color and black & white, English

Director Péter Forgács

The Danube Exodus received its U.S. premiere at SFJFF in 1999. We are honored to reprise Forgács’s gripping journey into the world of refugees displaced by war, as witnessed by the captain of a Danube cruise ship between 1938 and 1945. The Hungarian riverboat captain filmed the transformation of his elegant ship into a refugee liner that carried Central European Jews desperate to escape the coming conflagration, traveling, by way of the Danube River to the Black Sea and beyond, to Palestine. In deeply moving and personal moments, the captain captures the hopes and anxieties of his passengers as they dance, pray and even find romance. As the war continues, he begins to ferry a different set of refugees in the other direction: Bessarabian Germans expelled by the Russians in 1940.

Northern California Premiere Germany, 2007, 94 min., color, German w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Anne Justice

Principal Cast Zoe Moore, Emil Reinke, Adriana Altaras, Jan Josef Liefers, Monica Bleibtreu

In the world of Jewish film, an often serious and mature genre, it’s rather rare to come across fun, gentle, family-oriented comedies— so imagine our delight to find Max Minsky and Me, a little gem of a story set, of all places, in modern Berlin.

Nelly Sue Edelmeister is a supersmart, rail-thin 12-year-old whose twin obsessions are astronomy and her distant heartthrob (and fellow stargazer), young Edouard, Prince of Luxembourg. Nelly lives in Berlin with her German Christian dad and American Jewish mom, who is very eager for Nelly to crack down on her bat mitzvah studies. Nelly doesn’t take much interest in them, and has even less patience for the very unbookish concerns of her schoolmates, whose lives center on the girls’ basketball team.

But when Nelly learns that those who make the basketball team will go to a tournament in Luxembourg hosted by her favorite prince, she negotiates a deal with a 15-year-old neighbor, Max: she’ll do his homework for him if he coaches her to become a clutch basketball player.

Thus begins the delicate and unlikely friendship between gawky Nelly and reluctant Max, brought charmingly to life by Zoe Moore and Emil Reinke. The film’s glimpses of today’s Jewish Berlin—Nelly’s gossipy great-aunt, an overearnest rabbi, an insecure mother—are handled with an easy nonchalance, aided

by Holly-Jane Rahlens’s jaunty script, full of sharply observed adolescent angst laced with the occasional cosmic fantasy taking us into the outer spaces of Nelly’s vivid imagination.—Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Brandeis Hillel Day School, Goethe-Institut, and Zeum

—Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Contemporary Jewish Museum and Contra Costa JCC Péter Forgács in person at the Castro.

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Tue, Jul 29 Thu, Aug 7

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Sat, Jul 26 Thu, Aug 7

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M i s s U n i v e r s e 19 2 9 — L i s l Goldarbe ite r , A Que e n in Wie n San Francisco Premiere Hungary, 2006, 70 min., color and black & white, English, Hungarian w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Péter Forgács

C o - Sp o n s o r e d b y J a n e G o tt e s m a n & G e o ff r e y B i d d l e

Lisl Goldarbeiter was an especially attractive Jewish teenage girl living in Vienna in the 1920s who eventually was crowned Austria’s first—and only—Miss Universe. Her Hungarian cousin and childhood friend, Maritz (Marci) Tenczer, had followed her to Vienna with two equal obsessions: his movie camera and Lisl. Now, with the distance of nearly eight decades, SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award winner Péter Forgács (see page 7) weaves together Tenczer’s vivid memories and the precious home movies of his gorgeous cousin into a film that says as much about the power of abiding unrequited love as about the dramatic life of Lisl herself.

It was cousin Marci who, unbeknownst to Lisl, had submitted her application to the prestigious pageant that she eventually won in Galveston, Texas. Soon the shy, serious girl was an international sensation, with the possibility of an American modeling career (we are treated to clips of one of the earliest talking films, a press conference with Lisl, who speaks in formal, halting English, charmingly undercut here by outtakes). Cousin Marci was with her all along, filming from a distance, proud and smitten. But Lisl married a bon vivant and returned to Europe during the gathering storm of fascism. Forgács’s unique style of reworking amateur home movies is here deployed to reveal not only a story of lives ruptured by forces of history, but also the triumph of survival and (big surprise) even the occasional happy ending.

—Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Contemporary Jewish Museum Freedom of Expression Award presentation with Péter Forgács follows the San Francisco screening.

M y F at h e r ’ s P a l e s t i n i a n S l av e North American Premiere Israel, Sweden, 2007, 52 min., color, Hebrew, Swedish w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Nathanel Goldman Amirav, Uri Appenzeller

This intimate documentary portrays the unlikely friendship between an undocumented Palestinian worker and his Israeli employer, veteran peace activist Moshe Amirav. Their relationship unfolds before the camera of Moshe’s 19-year-old Swedish Israeli son, who comes to Jerusalem for a year to live with his father and study film at Hebrew University. Nathanel becomes fascinated by his father’s attachment to Morad, the young Palestinian landscaper who sneaks across the border from East Jerusalem to come to work every day.

As the two young men grow closer, Nathanel begins to question some of his father’s attitudes toward Morad; Moshe, while well intentioned, is accustomed to having the upper hand. Nathanel’s growing comprehension of the political and moral conflicts in Israel parallels his increasing awareness of his own life of privilege.

—Leah Wolchok Followed by

E y e s W i d e Op e n West Coast Premiere Israel, United States, 2008, 60 min., color, English, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Paula Weiman-Kelman

What does Israel mean to American Jews today? Veteran filmmaker Paula Weiman-Kelman goes behind the scenes of the ubiquitous bus tours that clog Israel’s ancient landmarks to explore the complex relationship between the American Jewish community and the 60-year-old Jewish state. She interviews tourists and transplants from a wide variety of backgrounds who have made aliyah (immigrated to Israel), from Orthodox to secular, liberal to conservative, all of whom share their honest opinions about this politically and emotionally charged country. As the war with Lebanon breaks out, the American visitors must face their fears of terrorism while struggling with Israel’s dual identity as victim and aggressor. Eyes Wide Open is a thought-provoking documentary that is sure to stimulate dialogue about American Jews’ increasingly complicated feelings about the Jewish homeland.—Leah Wolchok Co-presented by American Friends Service Committee

Castro CineArts Roda Rafael

Mon, Jul 28 Sun, Aug 3 Wed, Aug 6 Sat, Aug 9

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Directors in person.

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Op e r at i o n M u r a l C a s a b l a n c a 19 61

T h e O l d St o r e s Director Yoav Gurfinkel

West Coast Premiere Israel, 2006, 53 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

On the streets of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, chances are you would hardly notice the old shops tucked between mega-malls and franchised businesses. But step into the time warp of these neighborhood merchants and time itself slows down: not much has changed for decades, except the owners and longtime customers, aging slowly. Exquisitely shot, The Old Stores provides a rare glimpse of a nostalgic world beyond commercialism, where people have survived hard times but face an indifferent present: the barber shop’s last day before closure; generations of Arab pharmacists who have witnessed Jaffa’s transformation; an old man who refuses to sell his button specialty store; and a watch repair shop in an era of digital products. Each business has wrestled with its fast-paced competitors. Some give in and move on; others resist and end up retreating into their own enclave or espousing old-fashioned service. Director Yoav Gurfinkel wistfully captures the dilemma of adapting to modernization. In The Old Stores, a clock is relentlessly ticking away tradition in the face of change.—Kay Sato

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

Preceded by

Alice and I Director Micha Wald

San Francisco Premiere Belgium, 2004, 19 min., black & white, French w/ Eng, subtitles

What would a brokenhearted French guy do with three older Jewish ladies in one car? Find out as Simon, while driving his aunt and her two friends, gets a phone call from his irritable girlfriend.

Concluding with

Interschriber Northern California Premiere Israel, 2006, 6 min., color, Hebrew, Yiddish w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Regev Contas

Never heard of an interschriber? Uri Kowalski talks passionately about his obscure profession: designing signatures. Each signature, like choreography, expresses the essence of a human life through its shape and movement.—Kay Sato Roda JCCSF

Wed, Aug 6 Sat, Aug 9

Director Yehuda Kaveh

Free Wednesday matinees are generously supported by the Bernard Osher Jewish Ph i l a n t h r o pi e s F ou n dat io n

Operation Mural is the incredible but true story of the smuggling of 530 Jewish Moroccan children to Israel, under the guise of a holiday trip to Switzerland, in the spring of 1961. Forty-five years after their participation in the clandestine operation, three men return to Casablanca to retrace the unfolding of this humanitarian mission—a precursor to the emigration of 100,000 Moroccan Jews between 1962 and 1964.

At the age of 27, David G. Littman, a charming British Jew (he looks uncannily like a Scotland Yard bloke summoned from central casting) was recruited to this mission by a humanitarian organization that in fact was a front for Mossad. In the film, he and the other key players relive their undercover activities, in which they were assisted by a dedicated local group of Jewish youth, the Misgeret. Director Yehuda Kaveh uses compelling interviews with Littman and his wife, grown children of Operation Mural, and Mossad figures to reveal a fascinating chapter in Moroccan Jewish history and Israel’s secret efforts to bring immigrants to a new homeland.—Pnina Halfon Lang Preceded by

Co-presented by Bay Area Women in Film and Television 22

West Coast Premiere Israel, Switzerland, 2007, 55 min., color and black & white, English, Hebrew, French w/ Eng. subtitles

2:30 PM 3:30 PM

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Baghdad Twist West Coast Premiere Canada, 2007, 33 min., color and black & white, English

Director Joe Balass

Joining a small but growing number of films about the Jews of Iraq, Baghdad Twist—by Baghdad-born Joe Balass (Nana, George and Me, SFJFF 1998)—is an evocation of a lost world, one of reed boat rafting on the Euphrates, spice markets and doing the Twist. Wonderful archival footage melds with the recollections of Valentine, the director’s mother, in exploring one family’s choices and the way historical realities shaped them.—Alon Raab Co-presented by Anti-Defamation League, Central Pacific Region; and JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North America) JCCSF CineArts

Sat, Aug 2 Wed, Aug 6

12:30 PM 2:00 PM

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Close up: HeyMann Brothers

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P e r l a s c a , A n Ita l i a n H e r o

U.S. Premiere Israel, United States, 2007, 52 min., color, Hebrew, English w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Tomer Heymann

Ohad Naharin is Israel’s “rock star” choreographer and artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company. He specializes in getting world-class dancers to move from their guts—not the mirror—by teaching them what he playfully calls “Gaga,” his unique language of movement. In this dynamic close-up documentary, veteran Israeli filmmaker Tomer Heymann renders a candid portrait of the movement and the man through an in-depth look at Naharin’s rehearsal process with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet of New York City. Heymann masterfully elicits a series of “Notes on Dance” from his subject, for a denouement reminiscent of My Dinner with André in leotards and tights. See some of the world’s greatest dancers let go of everything they know as they strive to fulfill Naharin’s vision, and their own deepest desires. —Nina Haft Followed by

Dancing Alfonso West Coast Premiere Israel, 2007, 52 min., color, Hebrew, French, Spanish, w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Barak Heymann

Dancing Alfonso is a pitch-perfect portrait of a vital widower who finds a physical practice that sustains him, and community and creativity, in the rhythms and movement of flamenco. Alfonso is a powerful dancer in a troupe of older flamenco dancers; the troupe is serious, and preparing for a performance at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv. After the death of his wife, Alfonso begins to court one of the other dancers, Sima, much to the surprise of his children, who are still mourning the loss of their mother.

When things don’t work out with Sima, Alfonso, imbued with an unquenchable life force, starts searching for another woman with whom he can dance and share his life.—Nina Haft Co-presented by Dancers’ Group and by World Arts West­­­­­­­—producer of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival Barak & Tomer Heymann in person at the Castro Screening

Castro Roda CineArts

Sun, Jul 27 Sun, Aug 3 Wed, Aug 6

2:00 PM 11:00 AM 4:00 PM

Northern California Premiere Hungary, Italy, 2001, 126 min., color, Italian w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Alberto Negrin

Principal Cast Luca Zingaretti, Jerome Anger, Amanda Sandrelli

Sp o n s o r e d b y R a y L i f c h e z ; presented in collaboration with t h e i t a l i a n c u l t u r a l i n s t i t u t e , San francisco

What makes a man risk his life for people he doesn’t know?

Perlasca, An Italian Hero is a taut drama about one man’s remarkable courage in saving 5,200 Hungarian Jews from deportation to Auschwitz. This account of an Italian’s resistance to Fascism is based on the true story of Giorgio Perlasca (dynamically played by Luca Zingaretti), a businessman who masqueraded as a Spanish diplomat in Budapest in the last years of World War II. Perlasca was consumed by moral outrage after witnessing the persecution of Jews in Budapest. An Italian Fascist during the Spanish Civil War, was able to use his fascist background as an entree to the Spanish Embassy. Perhaps as drawn to outwitting the Nazis as he was to saving the Jews, Perlasca displayed extraordinary courage and cunning in outmaneuvering the Germans, and even thwarting a last-minute plan to burn down the Budapest ghetto along with its inhabitants.

Italian scholar Millicent Marcus comments about Perlasca, An Italian Hero, “Not only does Negrin’s film exemplify Italy’s recent willingness to confront Holocaust history, but it adds another element to that difficult confrontation. Giorgio Perlasca was an ardent Fascist. . . . In proposing Perlasca as un eroe Italiano, the film invites viewers to consider this man’s strange yoking of Fascism and heroic humanitarianism, with all of the challenges that such a coupling poses for a study of postwar national identity.” In 1988, Giorgio Perlasca was found living modestly in Padua by some of the Hungarian women he had saved.

In 1989, Perlasca was awarded the Grand Golden Star of Hungary and a Medal of Honour from the state of Israel that declared him “Just Among the Just.” He died in Padua in 1992.

—Nancy K. Fishman

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Co-presented by Holocaust Center of Northern California, Jewish Family and Children's Services of the East Bay and Museo ItaloAmericano Castro Roda

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P r ay i n g I n H e r Ow n V o i c e Director Yael Katzir

www.sfjff.org

California Premiere Israel, 2007, 60 min., color, Hebrew, English w/ Eng. subtitles

When the Western Wall was captured by Israel in 1967, it may have been unthinkable that Orthodox women would years later assert their right to participate fully in religious life there. Praying in Her Own Voice documents the contentious struggle of Women of the Wall for the right to wear prayer shawls and read aloud from a Torah scroll—acts that Jewish law permits women to perform but are fiercely objected to by the Orthodox authority that has jurisdiction over this national symbol and public space. Director Yael Katzir explained her motivation for making the film: “I was moved or to be precise provoked by the fact that the ultra-Orthodox rabbi of the Wall opposes the voices of women”—quite literally, ultra Orthodox men don't want to hear women praying. Following the group for two years, the film includes affecting footage of the women praying aloud, negotiating for equal treatment, pursuing their case to the Supreme Court and enduring violent confrontations with their ultraOrthodox opponents. Women of the Wall’s legal battle is a test case that marks the intersection of religious and secular life in Israel.

This excellent documentary highlights the power and conviction of women seeking religious freedom.—Nancy K. Fishman Director Yael Katzir will be in person at the Castro and participate in a panel discussion, Women and Judaism: Questions of Equality, after the Berkeley screening.

Preceded by

F o u r Q u e s t i o n s F o r a R a bb i

925.275.9490

World Premiere United States, 2008, 11 min., color, English

Directors Jay Rosenblatt Stacey Ross

Four Questions for a Rabbi is a poignant and thoughtful documentary begun by Bay Area filmmaker Stacey Ross and completed after her death by renowned documentarian and master found-footage alchemist Jay Rosenblatt (2005 SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award). Ross asks profound questions, including: What is the role of Judaism and the Jewish soul?—Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by Temple Sinai of Oakland and Hadassah, San Francisco Chapter

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Thu, Jul 31 Sat, Aug 2 Sun, Aug 3

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The Que st for the Missing Piece Director Oded Lotan

Northern California Premiere Israel, 2007, 52 min., color, Hebrew, German, Russian w/ Eng. subtitles

Sp o n s o r e d B y F r e d e r i c k H e r tz & Randolph Langenbach

The Quest for the Missing Piece could also be titled “the unkindest cut of all.” It’s a funny, disconcerting romp through the debate over circumcision. Using a gentle touch in a sensitive area, filmmaker Oded Lotan takes us on a bris tour: a Jewish baby, a Muslim seven-year-old, and an adult Russian-Israeli soldier.

Circumcision may be a Biblical mitzvah, but many commandments are routinely ignored by most Jews. Why not this one? Lotan introduces us to his gay, goy lover (oy); to his mother, who endorses circumcision, but not gay love (oy yoy); and to a Tel Aviv anticircumcision group dedicated to having “intact” Jewish children (oy yoy yoy!). Does secular circumcision survive because Jews are afraid their children will no longer “look like” them or because this sign carved in flesh is really what binds the tribe? —Alan Snitow Followed by

Mom , I Didn’ t Kill Your Daughte r Israel, 2007, 50 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Orna Ben Dor

Lior and Yuval are a couple; Lior comes from a kibbutz near the Dead Sea and Yuval was born in central Israel. Like many couples, they are opposites: Lior is opinionated and Yuval is introverted.

Both were born as women, but throughout their lives they identified as male. Yuval underwent gender transition years ago; Lior is just starting out on this journey. Lior turns a camera on himself, and his video diaries—raw and brave—capture the fear, doubts, hope and excitement that come with change. Orna Ben Dor’s superb documentary lovingly captures Yuval’s battle to be legally recognized as male, Lior’s transformation and surgery, and his mother’s struggle to accept her new son—a difficulty ultimately overshadowed by the depth of her love.—Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, Frameline and LGBT Alliance Roda JCCSF

Sat, Aug 2 Sun, Aug 3

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S av e d B y D e p o r tat i o n : A n Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews West Coast Premiere Poland, Russia, United States, 2006, 89 min., color and black & white, English, Yiddish, Polish, Russian, Uzbek w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Slawomir Grünberg Producer Robert Podgursky

Well-known fact: Of Poland’s 3.3 million Jews, only 300,000 survived the Holocaust. Little-known fact: 80 percent of those who survived did so because of being deported to Stalin’s gulags following the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland in 1939. Amazing fact: For some, this grim hardship was a gift, not only of life, but of their humanity.

“While in Russia,” says Asher Scharf, protagonist of this lively documentary, “I thought, ‘I’m going to write a book.’” About the forced marches, the hard labor, the illness and death, the bedbugs that, like the Soviets, were “more clever than we gave them credit for.” Asher recounts, “When I got back to Poland, I realized I had been in heaven.”

Saved by Deportation interviews seven articulate and philosophical individuals who, as youths, survived the war in this strange way. But only Asher and his wife Shyfra return with the filmmakers to Chelyabinsk, in southern Siberia. They go on to Uzbekistan and Tajikstan, where, in yet another historical anomaly, many of the deportees were unceremoniously dumped in 1941.

There, in a largely Muslim society, they started lives, and became citizens of the world.

Saved by Deportation has wit and charm, as the camera tries to keep up with the pixie-like Asher, unstoppable at 80 years old. In him, we see the results of life given, and lived, as a gift.

—Judy Bloch Director and producer in person at the Castro Preceded by

D e r S o l d at World Premiere United States, 2008, 4 min., black & white, English

Director Max Cohen

In deceptively naive black & white line drawings, animator Max Cohen (Tale of the Goat, SFJFF 2005) limns a soldier’s tale—a wordless, haunting miniature that is equal parts Beckett and Kafka.

The Secrets Northern California Premiere Israel, France, 2006, 120 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Avi Nesher

Principal Cast Ania Bukstein, Michal Shtamler, Fanny Ardant

C o - Sp o n s o r e d B y LG B T A l l i a n c e and t h e i s r a e l c e n t e r of t h e j e w i s h c om m u n i t y f e d e r at ion

This entertaining religious mystery is a remarkable and dramatic inside view of women and their struggle to be heard in the patriarchal world of the ultra-Orthodox. The Secrets is set in Safed, where the mystical texts of the Kabala were first received.

In this closed world a vibrant religious community of scholars is nourished by the sun-drenched hillsides and the holy burial caves of the pious. Naomi, daughter of a revered rabbi, comes to Safed to study in an Orthodox women’s seminary. She manages to throw off the yoke of an arranged marriage and eagerly dives into serious Torah study. Naomi impresses her teachers and catches the eye of Michelle, a rebellious new arrival from France. The headmistress assigns Michelle and Naomi to bring meals to the mysterious Anouk (veteran French actress Fanny Ardant), thinking they will learn the lesson of loving-kindness. When Anouk reveals that she is ill and seeking spiritual redemption, Naomi and Michelle start upon a secret journey of purifying rituals. This journey into the forbidden grows ever more intense when they discover their growing attraction to each other.

Screenwriter Hadar Galron grew up as one of the ultraOrthodox. Her story opens a dialogue among religious women who would rather possess themselves than be seen as a man’s possession. With a keen sensitivity to the need to maintain tradition and the need to keep evolving, The Secrets puts faith before religion. The film’s enchanting score incorporates liturgical music sung by women, challenging the traditional custom of forbidding religious women to sing in public.—Janis Plotkin Co-presented by Frameline and Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay

—Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Holocaust Center of Northern California and Lehrhaus Judaica Castro Roda CineArts

Sat, Jul 26 Tue, Aug 5 Thu, Aug 7

1:45 PM 2:00 PM 2:00 PM

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Castro Roda CineArts

Mon, Jul 28 Tue, Aug 5 Thu, Aug 7

9:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:00 PM

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Sp e l l Y o u r N a m e

Sixty Six Northern California Premiere United Kingdom, 2006, 93 min., color, English

Director Paul Weiland

North American Premiere Ukraine, United States, 2006, 89 min., color and black & white, Russian, Ukrainian w/ Eng. subtitles .

Principal Cast Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Marsan, Gregg Sulkin, Stephen Rea

Co -sponsored by Fred levin & Nancy Livingston, T h e S h e n s on F ou n dat ion

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

Marin Opening Night is co-sponsored by t h e o s h e r Marin Jewish Community Center

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Bernie Reuben has big plans for his bar mitzvah. Though a bit nerdy by nature and mildly asthmatic, he is a whiz when it comes to menu planning, table decorations, even cocktail service. To shore up his popularity, Bernie’s going to throw a party to remember for all his North London family and school chums.

Unfortunately, Bernie may have a little competition. For it is July 1966, and Bernie’s bar mitzvah is scheduled to fall precisely on the day of the final soccer match of the World Cup, which England is hosting. If England’s admittedly shaky team were to end up in the finals, it would spell disaster for his party plans. Encouraged by his doctor (Stephen Rea), Bernie takes a sudden and nearly obsessive interest in England’s preliminary matches, rooting (nearly alone in the nation) for defeat.

But there are also obstacles Bernie doesn’t know about: his hapless dad’s grocery business is being hurt by a newly opened supermarket, and his mother (the delightful and unexpectedly cast Helena Bonham Carter) wonders if they are going to have to cancel the party for lack of funds.

Paul Weiland’s autobiographical and sweetly nostalgic comedy depicts a gently assimilating Jewish family whose desire to fit in sometimes runs counter to their observance of traditions. It’s a theme often expressed in American Jewish stories (from Chaim Potok to Brooklyn Bridge) so there is a fun frisson of recognition in seeing this accomplished transatlantic version play out in such distinctive, charming ways. No knowledge of sports history or soccer required.—Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Jewish Milestones and Kung Pao Kosher Comedy

Castro Rafael

Sat, Jul 26 Sat, Aug 9

7:30 PM 8:50 PM

SIX26C SIX09R

Director Sergey Bukovsky Producers Steven Spielberg Victor Pinchuk

In today’s Kiev, masked characters in colorful traditional attire dance in a circle for the winter celebration of Koliada; one dancer steps forward, pulls fake products from his pockets and begins a barter monologue, enacting the traditional stereotype of “the Jew.” A white onion sits on a glass of water. A rusted-to-flakes mezuzah barely clings to a boarded-up doorway. A gray, icy river flows past nondescript Soviet-era apartment blocks as an elderly woman’s voice articulates each letter of her name.

Sergey Bukovsky is one of Ukraine’s leading documentary filmmakers, with more than 50 works to his credit. His new impressionistic documentary explores the fragile legacy of the Holocaust in Ukraine, as crafted from survivors’ and rescuers’ testimonies preserved in the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. It’s a history that has been nearly erased by time and political forces; to reclaim it, Bukovksy combines contemporary images and Soviet World War II footage into a visually poetic mashup of Jewish history, personal witness, post-Soviet society and contemporary Ukraine.

Bukovsky takes the viewer on a journey of discovery as he and several Ukrainian students absorb the testimony of people who escaped execution (including at the notorious mass grave Babi Yar), and those who rescued friends and neighbors. An elderly couple, Zlata and Haim Mednick, welcome the filmmakers into their apartment, converted from a former synagogue in an anonymous town, but decline to talk about the past. They silently pop up in sepia-toned stop-action throughout the film, like ghosts. Coproduced by Steven Spielberg, whose grandparents emigrated from Ukraine, and Victor Pinchuk.—Brian Freeman Co-presented by The 79ers, a program of Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco; and Kritzer/Ross Emigré Program of the JCCSF

JCCSF CineArts

Sun, Aug 3 Tue, Aug 5

11:30 AM 2:00 PM

SPEL03J SPEL05P

Close up: HeyMann Brothers

Sta l a g s ­— H o l o c a u s t a n d Pornography in Israel Director Ari Libsker Producer Barak Heymann

West Coast Premiere Israel, 2007, 62 min., color and black & white, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

During the early 1960s in the wake of the Adolf Eichmann trial, when the horrors of the Holocaust were coming into focus for the world, a new form of “entertainment” entered the popular culture of Israel. Boasting such colorful and outrageous titles as I Was Colonel Schultz’s Private Bitch, the cheap pocketbooks known as Stalags featured plots in which concentration camp prisoners were sexually assaulted by buxom female SS officers. Often pornographic in their depictions of sex and violence, the books, though controversial (and ultimately banned), were immensely popular with a new generation of adolescent males, for whom they were not only the sole available erotic literature but also, perversely, an introduction to Holocaust narratives. Director Ari Libsker interviews Stalag writers and collectors, scholars and camp survivors to weigh in on the cultural implications of the Stalag phenomenon. Are they mere porn, or do they reveal something deeper about Israel’s response to the Shoah?—Joshua Moore

Preceded by

It K i n d a S c a r e s M e Israel, 2001, 60 min., color, English, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Tomer Heymann

It Kinda Scares Me is a gritty, funny documentary about a drama coach and the “delinquent” boys he teaches. In their world, bravado is everything and Friday nights are for getting into fights.

Tomer Heymann, both filmmaker and drama coach, encourages the boys to create something from their pain and marginalization, while they struggle in rehearsals not to sacrifice their much-prized Israeli machismo. When Tomer announces to the group that he is gay, they are shocked, but his commitment to their play wins the day as they prepare for a performance that will give voice to the lives of disaffected Israeli youth.—Nancy K. Fishman

Tehilim West Coast Premiere France, Israel, 2007, 104 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Raphaël Nadjari

Principal Cast Michael Moshonov, Limor Goldstein, Shmuel Vilozni, Ilan Dar

Sp o n s o r e d b y A m y & M o r t F r i e d k i n and C h a r l o tt e & E l d a d M a t i t y a h u

When we first meet the Frankel family in Raphaël Nadjari’s beautifully acted drama, they are leading a fairly normal existence in one of Jerusalem’s “in-between” neighborhoods—not strictly Orthodox, but not entirely secular either. It’s a keen metaphor for the Frankels’ own Jewish identity: Eli, the father, is from a pious, observant family that delights in daily debating the spiritual questions sparked by Jewish liturgy; mother Alma is from a more secular background and has clearly made compromises to fit in to Eli’s world. Teenage son Menachem is comfortable wearing his kippah (skullcap) around the house, but tucks it away as soon as he goes out the door to meet his girlfriend. And little David may be too young to sort out his own place on the spectrum . . . but not for long.

One day, Eli simply disappears from the scene of an accident. Uncertain whether he is dead or alive, the family copes with their confusion and grief in ways that test their faith and family bonds. Alma, focusing on the practical survival of her household, chafes at her in-laws’ insistence on filling her house with ritual visits and prayers from the Psalms (tehilim). Her boys, desperate for solace, embark on a religious scheme that precipitates a moral and spiritual crisis.

Shot in the immediacy of handheld HD video but with film lenses that give depth and warmth to this extraordinary ensemble piece, Tehilim is a moving, complex and thoroughly rewarding journey into the searching soul of a modern family.—Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Israel Center and Peninsula Jewish Community Center

Co-presented by The Hub at the JCCSF and Israel Center Roda JCCSF Rafael

Wed, Aug 6 Sat, Aug 9 Sun, Aug 10

9:30 PM 8:45 PM 5:00 PM

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Castro CineArts Rafael

Thu, Jul 31 Sun, Aug 3 Mon, Aug 11

6:00 PM 6:15 PM 6:15 PM

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Thre e Time s Divorce d

T e l Av i v b y G i r l s World Premiere France, 2007, 98 min., color, Hebrew, French w/ Eng. subtitles

Directors Eliette Abecassis Tiffany Tavernier

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

Principal Cast Eliette Abecassis, Tiffany Tavernier, Aurel Messas, Edouard Baer, Alexandre Sorrentino

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Tiffany and Eliette are two women on the verge of change. Lifelong friends in Paris, they meet in Tel Aviv for one week of soulsearching and spiritual awakening. Eliette has just walked out on her husband and young daughter. Tiffany is a recent divorcee hoping to reconnect with an old fling in Israel. The two thirtysomethings spend the week squatting in a dusty, abandoned apartment that becomes their makeshift hideout as they party, check out guys and avoid any responsibility. They indulge in the local nightclub scene and lounge on the beach with French expats who philosophize about Israel as a graceful and conflicted country. The two women on the lam go to the Dead Sea to float and chat—how very French! They share stories about happiness, desire, intimacy and love. As Tiffany’s romantic pursuits begin to unravel, Eliette must confront an ultimatum from her husband: come home or face divorce. Will she continue to explore her newfound freedom? Or will she return to her domesticated life and resume her responsibility as a wife and mother?

In cinema-verité style, the camera wanders from character to character as they journey through the streets of Tel Aviv attempting to find themselves. The few moments when Tiffany turns and looks straight into the camera to divulge her impressions of Israel are truly priceless. Tel Aviv by Girls is an unpretentious and mesmerizing docu-fiction hybrid that deftly conveys the spontaneity of life. At times whimsical, at times profound, this compelling film explores the complexity of modern womanhood and the fragility of human relationships.—Leah Wolchok Co-presented by Alliance FranÇaise de San Francisco and Bay Area Women in Film and Television

West Coast Premiere Israel, 2007, 75 min., color, Hebrew, Arabic w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Ibtisam Mara’ana

“Every woman knows what her husband’s worth,” says Khitam, the protagonist of this all-too-real story; it’s a comment that invites multiple interpretations. This Gaza-born mother of six is in the fight of her life for custody of her children in a country where she has practically no rights. “Catch 22” doesn’t begin to describe her situation. The wife of an Arab Israeli in the Muslim Bedouin city of Rahat, Khitam was radicalized and emboldened by the violence, both overt and subtle, of their loveless marriage. Filmmaker Ibtisam Mara’ana becomes part of Khitam’s story, helping her find a women’s shelter, visiting the kids on the sly and driving her, getaway style, from the family compound to an uncertain future. Winner of DocAviv and FIPA prizes.—Judy Bloch Preceded by

The Film Class Bay Area Premiere Israel, 2006, 63 min., color, English, Hebrew, Arabic w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Uri Rosenwaks

Racial differences in the Muslim Bedouin community are not recognized by the state, but to everyone else in Rahat, in southern Israel, they’re as plain as black and white. The Film Class explores the black Bedouin population through the astonished eyes of its young women, several of whom are taking the eponymous filmmaking class taught by Uri Rosenwaks, of Beersheva. Together teacher, students and we make a series of amazing discoveries about the origins of this tribal community, whose history of slavery goes back only two generations and explains a great deal about the poverty and racism that persist today. We wouldn’t want this spontaneous film to be more polished than it is; the pain and joy of these delightful, adventurous women as they uncover the secrets of their grandfathers is palpable.—Judy Bloch Co-presented by Jewish Family and Children's Services of the East Bay, Shalom Bayit and the Arab Film Festival

JCCSF CineArts Roda

Sat, Aug 2 Sun, Aug 3 Tue, Aug 5

7:00 PM 8:45 PM 9:00 PM

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Castro CineArts Roda

Mon, Jul 28 Sun, Aug 3 Thu, Aug 7

1:30 PM 1:15 PM 4:00 PM

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To See if I’m Smiling

T u l i p T i m e —t h e r i s e a n d fa l l o f t h e t r i o l e s c a n o

Director Tamar Yarom

West Coast Premiere Israel, 2007, 59 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Emotional scars, repression, trauma and guilt: these symptoms are the fate not only of male Israeli combat soldiers, but of women as well. To See If I’m Smiling (Silver Wolf Award, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and Best Documentary, Haifa International Film Festival) profiles six women former soldiers who performed their compulsory army service in the occupied territories, and reveals the aftereffects that have lingered for years. The traumatic experiences they carry with them are memories they would rather erase. Director Tamar Yarom, who served in the occupied territories during the late 1980s, presents strong and frank testimonials, and exposes another dark side of the occupation—this time a feminine side. The psychological and emotional transformation these soldiers underwent is both unsettling and riveting; the dulling of sensitivity and humaneness seems to be the only way the women could deal with and be integrated into the surrounding (masculine) machinery of war and defense.—Pnina Halfon Lang Preceded by

Fac i n g t h e W i n d North American Premiere Israel, 2006, 50 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Gilad Reshef

Northern California Premiere Italy, Netherlands, 2007, 53 min., color and black & white, Dutch, Italian w/ Eng. subtitles

Directors Marco De Stefanis Tonino Boniotti

Presented in collaboration with t h e i t a l i a n c u l t u r a l institute, san francisco

Tulip Time is a fascinating profile of The Trio Lescano, a musical group of Dutch Jewish sisters who could really swing. Stylistically similar to the Andrews Sisters, the three Lescanos were enormously popular in Italy in the 1930s and 1940s, Sandra, Giuditta and Caterinetta, daughters of Hungarian circus artist Alexander and Dutch operetta singer Eva Leschan, grew up in Holland but performed widely. They were discovered in a circus near Verona by Italian impresario Carlo Prato, who changed their name to Lescano.

Their meteoric rise was simultaneous to the ascent of the Fascist regime and was surprising even to the sisters, one of whom said, “We were welcomed in the best houses; us—the Jewish daughters of a clown.” Ultimately their recording contract was cancelled in 1943 because their songs were declared anti-Fascist. The Trio was arrested and held in custody for weeks. The sisters had a complex relationship to their Judaism, which was at times downplayed when convenient. Marco De Stefanis and Tonino Boniotti’s first-rate documentary features rare found footage from the Fascist period in Italy and entertaining film sequences of these unique performers.

—Nancy K. Fishman Followed by

The life of 13-year-old Oran Almog was diverted from its course during a suicide bombing attack at Maxim restaurant in Haifa. Oran lost his father, his brother, his grandparents and his cousin as well as his eyesight. Facing the Wind follows this charming and mature young man and illustrates the unique way in which he deals with the world around him and adjusts to his new reality. His love for the sea, which he inherited from his grandfather, leads him to become a blind mariner and to follow his dream of establishing a sailing club in memory of his grandfather.—Pnina Halfon Lang Co-presented by Jewish Community Center of the East Bay and Jewish Voice for Peace

E v e r y D ay T h e I m p o s s i b l e : Jewish Wome n in t h e Pa r t i s a n s Northern California Premiere United States, 2007, 15 min., color, English

Director Mitch Braff

Of 30,000 Jewish partisans fighting the Nazis and their allies, 10 percent were women. This little gem of a documentary recognizes the unique contributions of women partisans during World War II. The stories of these courageous women, who had to battle sexism within their ranks as well as fascism in Europe, are riveting.

—Nancy K. Fishman

Castro CineArts Roda

Wed, Jul 30 Tue, Aug 5 Thu, Aug 7

4:00 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM

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Co-presented by Jewish Music Festival, Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation and Museo ItaloAmericano Castro

Wed, Jul 30

2:00 PM

FREE

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Volevo Solo Vive re ( I O n ly W a n t e d t o L i v e )

T wo Li ve s Plus One North American Premiere France, 2007, 88 min., color, French w/ Eng. subtitles

Director Idit Cebula

Principal Cast Emmanuelle Devos, Gérard Darmon

www.sfjff.org 925.275.9490

Director Mimmo Calopresti

C o - Sp o n s o r e d b y D e b o r a h B l a n k ; presented in collaboration with t h e It a l i a n C u l t u r a l I n s t i t u t e , San francisco

Palo Alto Opening Night is co -sponsored by t h e a l b e r t l .

S c h u l tz j e w i s h c o m m u n i t y c e n t e r

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Northern California Premiere Italy, 2006, 75 min., color and black & white, Italian w/ Eng. subtitles

Eliane Weiss (almond-eyed, mischievous-under-a-smooth-surface Emmanuelle Devos) is an elementary schoolteacher in Paris who is fiercely attentive to the needs of everyone in her life, from her old-fashioned husband, to her daughter, to her neurotic widowed mother, to her pupils. Attentive to everyone, that is, except herself.

So her friends and family are puzzled and their tongues sent a-wagging as they notice their obliging Eliane suddenly taking her writing practice seriously and becoming, mon dieu!, independent.

She takes up smoking, buys a laptop, and spends a few too many late nights with a handsome young publisher. What is happening to Eliane?

Idit Cebula’s charming comedic drama tracks Eliane’s gradual awakening to her own voice as a writer (her illustrated journals as well as her personal charm catch the eye of the publisher), set against the conventional stresses of her daily life.

Her husband, a kitchen-equipment salesman (the wonderfully expressive Gérard Darmon), is tolerant of her interests at first but soon comes to resent Eliane’s “other” life, while her needy, funny, Yiddish-speaking mother is clueless about her daughter’s artistic ambitions despite weekly encounters at raucous family Shabbat dinners. Only in poignant graveside conversations with her late father does Eliane find a soul mate and a compass as she navigates the choppy waters of self-fulfillment. Women’s lib should be old news in Eliane’s world, but it is touching to watch Devos’s character bloom, awkwardly, to the befuddlement of those around her (a fine cast, including the director herself in a cameo as Eliane’s writermentor). Trés charmant!—Marie-Jo Mont-Reynaud

Volevo Solo Vivere offers a unique window into the Italian Jewish experience of the Shoah (Holocaust). This outstanding documentary follows nine Italian citizens who endured Mussolini and the Racial Laws of 1938, then survived deportation and internment in the Auschwitz death camps. Masterfully directed by veteran helmer Mimmo Calopresti and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Volevo Solo Vivere screened to critical acclaim in the Cannes and Jerusalem Film Festivals and was nominated for Italy’s Donatello Award. It features searing testimonies, carefully sifted by Calopresti from the archives of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. Most compelling is the story of Liliana Segre of Milan, whose dignity and articulation of her experience are quite remarkable. At the end of the war, Segre watched in horror and disbelief as some of the Nazis at Auschwitz shed their uniforms and tried to blend in with the prisoners. For a brief moment, Segre had the opportunity to grab a pistol and shoot a former camp guard, but her decision to maintain her own moral code triumphed over her desire for revenge.

Upon liberation, dried apricots were one of the first foods that Segre ate, and whose taste she still associates with freedom.

Her story is a gift—like those apricots—bursting with flavor and full of an irrepressible will to live.—Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by Holocaust Center of Northern California; Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties; and Museo ItaloAmericano The screening of Volevo Solo Vivere at the Castro Theatre on July 27 will be followed by an onstage interview with Liliana Segre and Mimmo Calopresti.

Part of Italian Jews during Fascism, page 8.

Co-presented by Alliance FranÇaise de San Francisco and Jewish Singles Over Forty (JSOF)

Castro CineArts Rafael

Sun, Jul 27 Sat, Aug 2 Sun, Aug 10

10:15 PM 8:45 PM 9:30 PM

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Castro CineArts Roda Rafael

Sun, Jul 27 Sun, Aug 3 Mon, Aug 4 Sun, Aug 10

4:45 PM 4:15 PM 4:30 PM 12:00 PM

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We Were E xodus World Premiere France, 2007, 80 min., color, English, French, Hebrew w/ Eng, subtitles

Director Jean-Michel Vecchiet

The men who volunteered to crew the Exodus were a ragtag team of Jewish World War II veterans from several countries and mariners with a conscience from all over the world. Their recollections are the masts upon which Jean-Michel Vecchiet hangs the structure of his impeccably researched documentary about the ship Exodus ’47, which was both haven and prison to thousands of Holocaust survivors.

The journey of the Exodus was the boldest clandestine immigration event following World War II. In July 1947, 4,551 survivors boarded the ship in Sète, France, and left secretly for Palestine. Intercepted by the British navy, the passengers were transferred to three English boats, which after nine days of a difficult journey returned to Port-de-Bouc in Provence. The desperate but determined passengers were confined for three weeks aboard these British boat “cages” (literally floating prisons), and were sustained by the generosity of the French townspeople who brought food to the passengers and loaded it on board in a human chain. The crew of the Exodus and the residents of this little port witnessed a test of strength between the English and the French governments—and the unwavering will of the survivors—at a moment in history when Israel was on the brink of creation.

France’s role and the remarkable solidarity of her citizens were instrumental to the goal of reaching Palestine. Among the most moving images in the film is the contemporary footage of a meeting between former passengers and the French townspeople who came to their aid.—Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by Holocaust Center of Northern California

The New Jewish Filmmaking Project Holidaze Sneak Preview | United States | 2008 | 12 Min. | Color | English

Since 2002, the New Jewish Filmmaking Project (NJFP) of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival has been exploring the borderlands of Jewish identity from the point of view of Bay Area Jewish teens, many of whom come from multi-cultural and/or immigrant families.

In close collaboration with an accomplished team of professional filmmakers, teenagers turn the camera on their families, friends and hangouts to consider what Jewish culture means today. The resulting fully realized, uniquely authentic documentary shorts poignantly describe what it means to come of age between Jewish identity and mainstream American life.

This year’s offering delivers candid, often funny, observations of do-it-yourself family rituals. Teenaged co-directors interview their family members and consider the mysterious relevance of faith in secular, multi-cultural lives.

Holidaze is co-directed by Nelia Barkhordar, Doria Charlson, Andrew Herwitz, Sivan Rachmany, Rachel Schoenbrun, Stephanie Uchino, Anna Vignet, Karni Zemel and led by Danny Plotnick.

Screens in Jews in Shorts (see page 19) in Berkeley and San Francisco The New Jewish Filmmaking Project is produced by Citizen Film.

Sam Ball Sophia Constantinou Produce r: Danny Plotnick Program Director: Produce r:

415.206.1880 www.citizenfilm.org WANT TO JOIN IN? Visit www.njfp.org for information about how to participate in NJFP projects and contests. Party with us!

Make movies, or just hang out.

CineArts

Mon, Aug 4

1:00 PM

WEWE04P

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J OIN US F OR PAR T IES , PANELS , Saturday July 19 3rd Annual “Warehouse” Pre-Party It may not be in a warehouse anymore, but we can still throw one heck of a pre-party. Join us as we gear up for the Festival with a screening of some of our most highly anticipated shorts and top off the evening with drinks, DJ, and dancing! This year we’ve joined forces with The Hub to double your fun.

The Space Gallery 1141 Polk Street, San Francisco Doors open at 8:30/Short Films screen at 9:00/DJs at 10:00 pm 21 and over/Tickets available at the door/$10 A program of the JCCSF, The Hub promotes the revolution of Jewish identity through arts, culture and community. The Hub is for those searching, questioning and celebrating Jewish identity in a modern world.

Thursday July 24 Opening Night Pre-Film Bash Fabulous food, flowing drinks and fun tunes by local fave Gaucho are yours at the all-new SFJFF Opening Night Bash, this year moving down Market Street to the historic and spacious Swedish American Hall, upstairs from the Café du Nord at Market/ Sanchez. Tickets $75/$65 for Jewish Film Forum members— includes reserved seat for film at the Castro.

Thursday July 24 Opening Night After-Party Your Opening Night film or party ticket gets you free entry to the live music and fun atmosphere downstairs at Café du Nord. Stay for drinks and talk about the film with your friends!

Café du Nord 2174 Market (@ Sanchez) Downstairs, San Francisco 10:00 pm - ?

Tuesday July 29 The Bar Is Proud to Present!

Keep the celebration alive! After the 7:00 screening of Jerusalem Is Proud to Present at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, head across the street to The Bar. The first round of drinks is 2-for-1! Just show your pride and your ticket stub.

The Bar on Castro 456 Castro Street, San Francisco

Thursday July 31 Closing Night Celebration at the Castro Join us for pre-film goodies, unique festivities, live music on the Mighty Wurlitzer and an on-stage conversation with Paolo Barzman, director of Emotional Arithmetic.

Castro Theatre 8:30 pm

Saturday August 2 Berkeley Opening Night

www.sfjff.org

All audience members at the Berkeley screening of Love Comes Lately enjoy a delicious post-film reception in the courtyard of the Roda Theatre, catered by beloved Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen of Berkeley.

Roda Theatre (@ Berkeley Rep) Reception follows the 6:45 screening of Love Comes Lately

925.275.9490

Swedish American Hall/Café du Nord 2174 Market (@ Sanchez), Main Floor & Upstairs, San Francisco Party: 6:00–7:30 pm Film program starts at 8:00 pm at the Castro.

Event parking available for $10 at Everett Middle School on 17th St. between Church and Sanchez, a 5-minute walk from both the party venue and the Castro Theatre!

Delectable savories and delicious sweets featuring: Betty Zlatchin Catering / Flying Falafel/ Galaxy Desserts Hosted bars pouring: Hangar One Vodka / Hagafen Cellars …and much more!

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Saturday August 9 See ANVIL! Rock On! The night will still be young when the 10:15 Berkeley screening of Anvil! The Story of Anvil lets out. Slam down a couple of pints at Berkeley’s favorite punk/metal dive bar! Show your Anvil! ticket stub and get $1 off draft and well drinks.

Acme Bar 2115 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley

P ROMO T ION s AND MORE ! ! !

Pa n e l D i s c u s s i o n s a n d O n - St a g e C o n v e r s a t i o n s Many of SFJFF’s screenings are followed by Q&A’s with visiting artists, directors and producers. In addition, we have planned the following extended conversations and panel discussions. Free to ticket holders for the film that precedes the panel.

Saturday July 26 & Sunday July 27 Meet the Filmmakers: Close Up on Barak & Tomer Heymann Join special guest directors Barak & Tomer Heymann (see page 10) for Q&A’s following the San Francisco screenings of Black Over White and Bridge Over the Wadi (July 26—see page 14) and Out of Focus and Dancing Alfonso (July 27—see page 23).

Sunday July 27 Italian Jews during Fascism: One Woman’s Story Join us for a conversation with Liliana Segre, an Italian survivor featured in Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live), following the 4:45 screening at the Castro Theatre. See page 30. Director Mimmo Calopresti is also invited.

Saturday August 9 & Sunday August 10 Double Vision: Seeing Israel from an Insider/Outsider Perspective Directors Nathanel Goldman Amirav (My Father’s Palestinian Slave) and Paula Weiman-Kelman (Eyes Wide Open) discuss their binational perspectives following the Berkeley (August 9) and San Francisco (August 10) screenings. See page 21.

Sunday August 10 In the Family: Hereditary Cancer and Genetic Testing Director Joanna Rudnick and a panel of women’s health advocates discuss the issues raised in In the Family following the 2:00 screening in San Rafael. See page 18.

P RE T T Y S W EE T DEALS Save a pretty penny while satisfying that pre or post-screening sweet tooth at these great ice cream and gelato purveyors—all located within a stone’s throw of our screening theaters! These delicious discounts are only honored with presentation of an SFJFF ticket stub at the following locations during the dates listed below: SAN FRANCISCO

Sunday July 27 Conversation with Centerpiece director Jan Schütte

July 24–31 / Gelateria Naia 451 Castro St., San Francisco Free size upgrade and special SFJFF flavor

Following the 7:45 screening of Love Comes Lately, Castro Theatre.

See Page 6.

BERKELEY

Monday July 28 2008 SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award Q&A with director Péter Forgács and award presentation following the 7:00 screening of Miss Universe 1929 at the Castro Theatre. See page 21.

Tuesday July 29 Pride and Prejudice: LGBT Rights in Jewish Life Today Join documentary director Nitzan Gilady, SFJFF Executive Director Peter L. Stein and Bay Area Jewish/LGBT scholars for a discussion following the 7:00 screening of Jerusalem Is Proud to Present, Castro Theatre. See page 19.

Sunday August 3 Women and Judaism: Questions of Equality Join us for a panel discussion including director Yael Katzir following the 4:15 screening of Praying in Her Own Voice, Roda Theatre, Berkeley. See page 24.

Monday August 4 & Wednesday August 6 Italian Film in the Shadow of Auschwitz Introductions and Q&A’s with Professor Millicent Marcus (Chair, Department of Italian, Yale University), at Berkeley screenings of Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live) (page 30), Facing Windows (page 16) and Perlasca, An Italian Hero (page 23).

August 2–9 / Gelateria Naia 2016 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley Free size upgrade and special SFJFF flavor PALO ALTO

August 2–7 / CineArts @ Palo Alto Square Free size upgrade on ice cream at the theatre concessions stand SAN RAFAEL

August 9–11 / Double Rainbow 860 4th Street, San Rafael 2 for 1 discount (ice cream only)

T IC K E T DEALS DISCOUNT 10-FLIX CARD

The more you see, the more you save! Buy a 10-Flix card, good for 10 regular-priced tickets of your choice, and save $20. See page 48 for details.

REEL PASS

It’s a REEL bargain if you’re 25 or under! One pass for $40 is good for all shows and all theaters—including Opening and Closing Night films and special programs. See page 48 for details.

33

C a s t r o T h e at r e

San Francisco

J u l y 2 4 – 31

s

DATE

TIME

FILM

PAGE

Event Code

Thursday, July 24, 2008

6:00 PM

Opening Night Bash at Swedish American Hall (tickets include film)

4

OPEN24C

8:00 PM

Strangers (film only)

4

STRA24C

11:45 AM

Max Minsky and Me

20

MAX26C

1:45 PM

Saved By Deportation: An Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews with Der Soldat

25

SAVE26C

4:30 PM

Black Over White with Bridge Over the Wadi

14

BLAC26C

7:30 PM

Sixty Six

26

SIX26C

10:00 PM

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

11

ANVI26C

11:30 AM

Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh

14

BLES27C

2:00 PM

Out of Focus with Dancing Alfonso

23

OUT27C

4:45 PM

Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live) followed by discussion

30

VOLE27C

7:45 PM

Centerpiece Film: Love Comes Lately

6

LOVE27C

10:15 PM

Two Lives Plus One

30

TWO27C

1:30 PM

Three Times Divorced with The Film Class

28

THRE28C

4:30 PM

At Home in Utopia with My Olympic Summer

12

ATHO28C

7:00 PM

Miss Universe 1929­—Lisl Goldarbeiter, A Queen in Wien Freedom of Expression Award

21

MISS28C

9:30 PM

The Secrets

25

SECR28C

1:15 PM

The Maelstrom: A Family Chronicle with The Danube Exodus

20

MAEL29C

4:30 PM

Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story with Stefan Braun

15

DARL29C

7:00 PM

Jerusalem Is Proud to Present followed by panel and party

19

JERU29C

9:45 PM

Bilin My Love

13

BILI29C

2:00 PM

Tulip Time—The Rise and Fall of the Trio Lescano with Every Day the Impossible: Jewish Women in the Partisans

29

FREE

4:00 PM

To See if I'm Smiling with Facing the Wind

29

TOSE30C

6:30 PM

Facing Windows

16

FACI30C

9:30 PM

Arab Labor (Episodes 1,2,3)

11

ARAB30C

12:30 PM

Perlasca, An Italian Hero

23

PERL31C

3:15 PM

Praying in Her Own Voice with Four Questions for a Rabbi

24

PRAY31C

6:00 PM

Tehilim

27

TEHI31C

8:30 PM

Emotional Arithmetic Closing Night includes pre-film extras and the Mighty Wurlitzer

5

EMOT31C

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Monday, July 28, 2008

www.sfjff.org

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

925.275.9490

Thursday, July 31, 2008

34

R o d a T h e at r e

(at Berkeley Repertory Theatre) Berkeley

AUGUS T 2 – 9

DATE

TIME

FILM

PAGE

Event Code

Saturday, August 02, 2008

11:30 AM

Black Over White with Bridge Over the Wadi

14

BLAC02B

2:00 PM

The Quest for the Missing Piece with Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter

24

QUES02B

4:15 PM

Bilin My Love

13

BILI02B

6:45 PM

Love Comes Lately Berkeley Opening Night followed by reception

6

LOVE02B

9:15 PM

Emotional Arithmetic

5

EMOT02B

11:00 AM

Out of Focus with Dancing Alfonso

23

OUTO03B

1:15 PM

Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh with Every Day 14 the Impossible: Jewish Women in the Partisans

BLESo3B

4:15 PM

Praying in Her Own Voice with Four Questions for a Rabbi followed by panel

24

PRAY03B

7:15 PM

At Home in Utopia with My Olympic Summer

12

ATHO03B

9:30 PM

Flipping Out

16

FLIP03B

2:00 PM

Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story with Stefan Braun

15

DARL04B

4:30 PM

Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live)

30

VOLE04B

7:00 PM

Facing Windows

16

FACI04B

9:45 PM

Arab Labor (Episodes 1,4,5)

11

ARAB04B

2:00 PM

Saved By Deportation: An Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews with Der Soldat 25

SAVE05B

4:30 PM

Jerusalem Is Proud to Present

19

JERU05B

6:30 PM

The Secrets

25

SECR05B

9:00 PM

Tel Aviv by Girls

28

TELA05B

2:30 PM

The Old Stores with Alice and I and Interschriber

22

FREE

4:30 PM

Miss Universe 1929—Lisl Goldarbeiter, A Queen in Wien

21

MISS06B

6:15 PM

Perlasca, An Italian Hero

23

PERL06B

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Monday, August 04, 2008

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Saturday, August 09, 2008

9:30 PM

Stalags—Holocaust and Pornography in Israel with It Kinda Scares Me

27

STAL06B

1:30 PM

The Maelstrom: A Family Chronicle with The Danube Exodus

20

MAEL07B

4:00 PM

Three Times Divorced with The Film Class

28

THRE07B

7:00 PM

To See if I'm Smiling with Facing the Wind

29

TOSE07B

9:30 PM

Jews in Shorts

19

JEWS07B

11:30 AM

Description of a Struggle with Description of a Memory

15

DESC09B

2:20 PM

My Father's Palestinian Slave with Eyes Wide Open followed by discussion

21

MYFA09B

5:45 PM

In the Family

18

INTH09B

8:15 PM

Strangers

4

STRA09B

10:15 PM

Anvil! The Story of Anvil followed by party at Acme Bar

11

ANVI09B

35

CineArts

@ Palo Alto Square

TIME

FILM

PAGE

Event Code

Saturday, August 02, 2008

11:45 AM

A Hebrew Lesson

17

HEBR02P

2:30 PM

At Home in Utopia with My Olympic Summer

12

ATHO02P

4:30 PM

Praying in Her Own Voice with Four Questions for a Rabbi

24

PRAY02P

6:45 PM

Strangers

4

STRA02P

8:45 PM

Two Lives Plus One

30

TWO02P

11:30 AM

Miss Universe 1929—Lisl Goldarbeiter, A Queen in Wien

21

MISS03P

1:15 PM

Three Times Divorced with The Film Class

28

THRE03P

4:15 PM

Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live)

30

VOLE03P

6:15 PM

Tehilim

27

TEHI03P

8:45 PM

Tel Aviv by Girls

28

TELA03P

1:00 PM

We Were Exodus

31

WEWE04P

3:15 PM

Being Jewish in France

13

BEIN04P

7:00 PM

Love Comes Lately

6

LOVE04P

9:00 PM

In Treatment

18

INTR04P

2:00 PM

Spell Your Name

26

SPEL05P

4:15 PM

To See if I'm Smiling with Facing the Wind

29

TOSE05P

6:45 PM

Emotional Arithmetic

5

EMOT05P

9:00 PM

Black Over White with Bridge Over the Wadi

14

BLAC05P

2:00 PM

Operation Mural Casablanca 1961 with Baghdad Twist

22

FREE

4:00 PM

Out of Focus with Dancing Alfonso

23

OUTO06P

6:30 PM

Arab Labor (Episodes 1,4,5)

11

ARAB06P

8:45 AM

Jerusalem Is Proud to Present

19

JERU06P

2:00 PM

Saved By Deportation: An Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews with Der Soldat 25

SAVE07P

4:15 PM

In the Family

18

INTH07P

6:45 PM

Max Minsky and Me

20

MAX07P

9:00 PM

The Secrets

25

SECRo7P

Monday, August 04, 2008

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

www.sfjff.org

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

925.275.9490

AUGUS T 2 –7

DATE

Sunday, August 03, 2008

36

PALO ALTO

Thursday, August 07, 2008

JEWIsh Community Center of San Francisco

San Francisco

AUGUS T 2 – 3 , 9 –10

DATE

TIME

FILM

PAGE

Event Code

Saturday, August 02, 2008

12:30 PM

Operation Mural Casablanca 1961 with Baghdad Twist

22

OPER02J

2:30 PM

A Fool’s Dream with Georgia My Love

17

FOOL02J

5:00 PM

In the Family

18

INTH02J

7:00 PM

Tel Aviv by Girls

28

TELA02J

9:30 PM

Flipping Out

16

FLIP02J

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Sunday, August 10, 2008

11:30 AM

Spell Your Name

26

SPEL03J

1:30 PM

Arab Labor (Episodes 1,2,3)

11

ARA103J

4:00 PM

Arab Labor (Episodes 4,5,6)

11

ARA203J

6:30 PM

Arab Labor (Episodes 7,8,9)

11

ARA303J

9:00 PM

The Quest for the Missing Piece with Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter

24

QUES03J

1:00 PM

Jews in Shorts

19

JEWS09J

3:30 PM

The Old Stores with Alice and I and Interschriber

22

OLD09J

5:30 PM

In Treatment

18

INTR09J

8:45 PM

Stalags—Holocaust and Pornography in Israel with It Kinda Scares Me

27

STAL09J

11:30 AM

Being Jewish in France

13

BEIN10J

3:15 PM

Ashkenaz with In Search of the Bene Israel

12

ASHK10J

6:00 PM

My Father's Palestinian Slave with Eyes Wide Open

21

MYFA10J

9:15 PM

A Hebrew Lesson

17

HEBR10J

S m i t h R a fa e l F i l m C e n t e r

San Rafael

AUGUS T 9 –11

DATE

TIME

FILM

PAGE

Event Code

Saturday, August 09, 2008

12:00 PM

Bilin My Love

13

BILI09R

2:00 PM

Miss Universe 1929—Lisl Goldarbeiter, A Queen in Wien

21

MISS09R

4:00 PM

Black Over White with Bridge Over the Wadi

14

BLAC09R

6:45 PM

Love Comes Lately

6

LOVE09R

8:50 PM

Sixty Six

26

SIX09R

12:00 PM

Volevo Solo Vivere (I Only Wanted to Live)

30

VOLE10R

2:00 PM

In the Family followed by panel

18

INTH10R

5:00 PM

Stalags—Holocaust and Pornography in Israel with It Kinda Scares Me

27

STAL10R

7:30 PM

Strangers

4

STRA10R

9:30 PM

Two Lives Plus One

30

TWO10R

6:15 PM

Tehilim

27

TEHI11R

8:45 PM

Emotional Arithmetic

5

EMOT11R

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Monday, August 11, 2008

37

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The Berkeley Station on Shattuck Avenue is around the corner from the Theatre. Coming FROM from any station other than Richmond, Del Norte, El Cerrito Plaza or North Berkeley, take a SAN FRANCISCO Richmond-bound train and get off at Berkeley Station. (If you are coming from one of those 4 stations, you can take a Fremont or Colma train to Berkeley.) On the upper level of the station look for the “Shattuck/Addison West” exit. At the top of the stairs, turn left on Addison Street, and you will see the Theatre on the right. vE ERSITy A 0 Palo alTo

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S F J F F SCREENS YEAR ROUND Now that you’ve whetted your palate, dive in to the buffet!

Join us for year-round presentations and screenings.

S FJ F F @ J CCS F This fall brings two sets of SFJFF-programmed screenings to Kanbar Hall at the JCCSF: a continuation of our series Italian Jews during Fascism (see page 8), and a new film series celebrating sports, in anticipation of the 2009 Maccabi games to be held in the Bay Area.

Program details at www.sfjff.org or www.jccsf.org.

CO - P RESEN TAT IONS SFJFF co-presents Jewish-themed films year round with other film festivals and arts organizations. From the Goethe-Institut to the Latino Film Festival, we promote great Jewish films with our Bay Area colleagues all year.

S FJ F F @ Y B CA Monthly screenings at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts resume on the last Wednesday in October. Stay tuned for detailed program and ticket information at www.sfjff.org or 415.978.ARTS. You can also sign up for our email newsletter at www.sfjff.org.

ISRAEL IN MO T ION @ 9 t h S T REE T Enjoy new and classic features and documentaries from Israel on the last Saturday of every month in the screening room of SFJFF’s headquarters in the 9th Street Independent Film Center, 145 9th Street, San Francisco. This series is co-presented with the Tzavta Young Adult program of the San Francisco Israel Center. Program and ticket details at www.sfjff.org.

SNEA K P REVIE W S O F HO T NE W F ILMS SFJFF offers our supporters and friends occasional sneak preview screenings throughout the year. Join the Jewish Film Forum (see page 44) and sign up for our monthly E-News at sfjff.org to make sure you are notified about these private screenings.

NE W J E W ISH F ILMMA K ING P RO J EC T Learn more about SFJFF’s innovative teen film program, produced by Citizen Film, on page 31.

CHEC K OU T S FJ F F ONLINE SFJFF’s website, www.sfjff.org, is a rich site of film information covering our 28-year history—and in the coming year we will be revamping our online offerings to bring you more media, background information, access to SFJFF’s archive and some exciting social networking and media-sharing tools as well. Keep up with the latest at SFJFF by visiting www.sfjff.org, and be sure to sign up for our monthly E-Newsletter.

39

T h a n k YOU !

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival extends heartfelt thanks to all of our generous donors.

Gifts of $100 or more received between May 15, 2007 and May 15, 2008 are listed below. For information on how you can support SFJFF, please contact the development department at 415.621.0556, x305 or kerri@sfjff.org.

PRESENTING SPONSORS Opening Night Sponsor Wells Fargo Closing Night Sponsor The Bonnie and Marty Tenenbaum Foundation Regional Sponsor Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

BUSINESS AND COMMUNIT Y SPONSORS Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center American Jewish World Service Be’chol Lashon (In Every Tongue), a project of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research BJE Jewish Community Library Consulate General of Israel, Pacific Northwest Region Craig Harrison’s Expressions of Excellence! ™ Crane Pest Control Goethe-Institut The Hub at the JCCSF The Israel Center of the Jewish Community Federation Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco Kletter & Peretz LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation Microsoft Giving Campaign New Israel Fund Osher Marin Jewish Community Center Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen Zaentz Media Center

40

MEDIA SPONSORS ABC7/KGO-TV Heeb Magazine indieWIRE J. Weekly KALW 91.7 Local Public Radio KDFC Classical 102.1 KQED Public Broadcasting Pinger, Inc. San Francisco Bay Guardian Yelp.com IN-K IND SPONSORS Adolph Gasser Inc. Alpha Cine Arch Architectural Supplies Betty Zlatchin Catering Café du Nord/ The Swedish American Hall Catch Restaurant Continental Caterers Craft Distillers Dolby Laboratories FedEx Firewood

Flying Falafel Misha Frid Gensler Hagafen Cellars Hangar One IZZE Beverage Company Judy's Breadsticks Marketing by Storm Melon’s Catering Metro PCS Peet’s Coffee & Tea Philo Television Pixar Animation Studios Popchips San Francisco Toyota SpyPost Susan Drell Creative Design Villa Florence Volume Inc. Westin St. Francis Dan Wohlfeiler IN-K IND CONTRIBUTORS Abbey Rents Bi-Rite Bobby G’s Pizzeria Calistoga Beverage Company Classic Party Rentals Espresso Subito Extreme Pizza Galaxy Desserts Grand Bakery Have Your Cake He’brew Beer Izzy’s Bagels Jazz Cafe La Tempesta Maker’s Mark Kentucky Bourbon Michele Friedman Design Nabolom Bakery Pasta Pomodoro Semifreddi's Starbucks INDIVIDUAL DONORS Visionary Circle: Benefactors Anonymous (2) Jane Gottesman and Geoffrey Biddle The Kanbar Charitable Trust, administered by the Jewish Community Endowment Fund The Laszlo Tauber Family Foundation Ray Lifchez Gale Mondry and Bruce Cohen Bonnie and Marty Tenenbaum

Visionary Circle: Directors Anonymous Denis Bouvier Nancy and Lawrence Goldberg Sally Gottesman Frederick Hertz and Randolph Langenbach Victor and Lorraine Honig

Susan and Moses Libitzky Eldad and Charlotte Matityahu Orli and Zack Rinat Lela and Gerry Sarnat Vera and Harold S. Stein, Jr. Stephen Swire and Jacqueline Neuwirth Swire Executive Producer Deborah Blank Pamela Burdman The Coliver Family Michael Ehrenzweig and Wayne Salazar Amy and Mort Friedkin Carl and Gay Grunfeld Fred Levin and Nancy Livingston, The Shenson Foundation Pam Rorke Levy Iris and Henry Metz Doug Okun and Eric Ethington Shana Penn John and Lisa Pritzker George & Sejong Sarlo Abraham D. and Marian Scheuer Sofaer Lisa Szer Producers Anonymous Ronald Abileah and Marlene Winograd Liki and Joe Abrams Robert and Judith Aptekar Orit Atzmon Michael Bernstein Ronald Blatman and Emerald Yeh Sanford and Jean Colen William B. Dickey Dana Doron Irwin and Concepcion Federman Linda and Sanford Gallanter Rabbi Valerie Joseph Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow Virginia King and Stuart Rickey Wendy and Howard Kleckner Charles and Helene Linker Greta Livingston Reed and Jennifer Maltzman Richard Nagler and Sheila Sosnow Dr. Raquel H. Newman Sara Newman Alec Pauluck Janis and Richard Popp Alan Ramo and Leslie Rose Ruth Reffkin and Robert Reffkin Mark Reisman Tobey Roland Alan and Susan Rothenberg Scott Rubin and Stephen Moore Alice and Bill Russell-Shapiro Harry and Carol Saal Joan Sarnat and David Hoffman Danny Scher Edward and Liliane Schneider Albert Schultz

Leonard Shustek and Donna Dobinsky Eta and Sasson Somekh Peter L. Stein Roselyne Swig Barry and Marjorie Traub Marilyn and Murry Waldman Carol and Terry Winograd Dan Wohlfeiler Walter Wohlfeiler Patrons Anonymous Nancy Ackerman Peter and Kathi Arnow Mark W. Bernstein Lee K. Bevis Shosh Blachman and Joel Biatch Sherry Brown Richard and Babette Burdman Bonnie Burt and Mark Liss Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Caston Norman Coliver Susan David Genevieve and Norman Dishotsky Sandra and Conrad Donner Robert Feirman and Rochelle Somers Hal Fischer Bruce Fodiman Jeffrey Fraenkel and Alan Mark Myrna and Thomas Frankel Michael Geschwind Jan Goodman and Maggie Riddle Natalie Gubb and David Arpi Valerie Haimowitz Allyson Halpern and Dan Cohen Daniel Haro Howard Herman and Claudia Bernard Beth Harris Hoenninger Ron and Barbara Kaufman Donna A. Korones David and Julie Levine Andra Lichtenstein and William Glover Howard and Siesel Maibach Sanford and Dawn Margolin Craig Newmark Samuel and Daphne Noily Rabbi Stephen Pearce, Congregation Emanu-El Sue and Arthur Rinsky Gerald Rosenstein Peter Samis and Mary Ratcliff RuthEllen and Monte Toole Laura Tow Janet Traub Lonnie J. Weiss Robert Weston Diane Wexler and Bruce Beron Constance Wolf and Clara Basile Richard and Sue Wollack

Friends Anonymous Daniel Altman Nancy Blachman and David desJardins Margaret Blatman Yvette Chalom and Paul Fogel Helen Clawson Gail Dolgin Shelley Friedman and Tania Lowenthal Penelope A. Goldsmith Frances and William Green Ralph and Marsha Guggenheim Alan Kates Gloria and Hans Kolbe-Saltzman Ilene Levinson and Rem Van Tijen Susan and Jon Mall Barbara Meislin Gary and Cathy Meyer James Newman and Jane Ivory Katherine O'Hanlan and Leonie Walker Emily Rosenberg Scott Seaman Victoria Slone Dena Stein Martin Stebben Janie Tyre Ronald and Anita Wornick Associates Anonymous (3) Betty and Jacques Adler Matt and Marcia Allen Ann Gabor Arancio and Remo Arancio Joel Armstrong Kristen Ayer and Paul Dubin Charna Ball Deborah Banks and Randy Porter Ralph and Eileen Battat Sheila and Murray Baumgarten Irwin Bear Joseph and Joyce Behar Buzz Bense John Bielenberg Kim Belfor and Judi Kramer Ariella Ben-David and Alan Morgenstern Sandra Blair Stanley Berger Sharon and Theodore Block Sara Bolder Denah S. Bookstein Dr. Susan E. Boxer David and Eva Bradford Martin Brandfon David and Suzanne Broad Martin and Geraldine Brownstein Arthur Brunwasser Emily Campbell Libi and Ron Cape Laura and Robert Caplan Katherine Catlos and Christi Azevedo Lisa and Matthew Chanoff Pat Christen and René Durazzo Sarah Clark

Sol Coffino Richard and Sandra Cohen Irene Cohn Jeannie Colbert Chris Collins Adele Corvin Gabriela Crane and Ada Burke Sebastien Csapo Sandra Curtis Glenn Davis and James Takagi Susan Diamond Stuart Dick and Joseph Sieger David Donner Joanne Donsky and Stuart Oremland Richard and Robin Edwards Janet Falk Netta Fedor Myra and Jerry Feiger Denise Field and Lisa Haage Richard Fikes Cathy R. Fischer Louise and Max Fiszer Eleanor and Albert Fraenkel Linda Frank Thomas and Sandra Friedland Nancy Friedman and Terry Eli Hill Jack Gardner and Candy Rupp Ewa and Moshe Gavrielov Marjorie Gelb and Mark Aaronson Laura Geller and Richard Siegel Marlene and Steve Gerbsman Barry and Elaine Gilbert Arthur Gilbert Jameson Goldner Diane Goldstein Ellen Goldstein Susan Goldstein and Andy Kivel Daniel and Hilary Goldstine Stephen Gong and Susan Avila Theodore J. Gradman and Hilary Perr Joan and Donald Green Gary Greenfield Juliana Grenzeback and Leah Harnik Nancy Hair Alan Hakimi and Rachel Stone Martin Hassner and Jacqueline Drucker Lorraine Hertz Craig and Deborah Hoffman Stephanie and Rudy Hoffman Russell and Susan Holdstein Annette Insdorf Lois and Jerome Jacobs Merle Jacobson Loisann Jacovitz Adrienne Jonas Svetlana Kaff Daniel and Valerie Kalb Natalie Kaniel Susan Karp Marcia and Richard Kashnow Ronald and Tobye Kaye James G. Kahn and Rani Marx George and Doris Krevsky

Les Pappas David Leventhal Beryl and Leonard Levine Deb Levine and Richard Foxall Corrine Levy Matthew Levy Sharon Linker Carrie and Ronald Ludwig Gloria and Karl Lyon Edith R. Marks The Family of Gerda S. Mathan Nadine May Ann McCabe Diane Mintz Robert and Barbara Morrison Laura Murra Lance and Dalia Nagel Debra Nelson Edward K. Newman Laurie Nierenberg and Avi Weil Steven and Anne Padover Marcia Peterzell Bernard and Anne Peuto Janis Plotkin Enid Pollack Ora Prochovnick and Rena Frantz Uri Rabin Marsha Raleigh Carol Reif and Jeffrey Gilman Susan Roane Ruth and David Rosen Howard Rosenberg Paul Rosenberg Esther Rosha-Stadtler and Jason Rosha Maureen and Paul Roskoph Steve S. Rothman Sylvia Sabel Joan and Robert Saffa Alan Sanstad and Katherine Haynes Sanstad Judith Schaefer Norman Schlossberg Michael and Gretchen Schnitzer Matthew and Monica Schreiber Heather and Norman Silverman Joanie Silverstein Judith Singer Bob Skinkle and Felix Vega Marc Snyder Sharman Spector-Angel and Gary Angel Gary Stein and Catherine Colcord Stein Donald and Elise Stone Carol Suveda Peter S. Tabak Reesa Tansey and Gary Greenfield Fern Tiger Catherine Trimbur and Mal Burnstein Susan Tubbesing and Sarah Nathe Irvin Ungar Dana Van Gorder Mark Warnick Ilene Weinreb and Sam Mesnick

Marilyn and Raymond Weisberg Barbara and Paul Weiss Harriet Weiss Dr. David Werdegar Alan Werz Bracken and Polly White Ruth Donig White and Robert White Larry Wisch Peter Wohlfeiler Jerry Wolfe and Anna Fisher Janice Wood Peter Yolles and Jill Einstein Barry Zack Jeannette and Abraham Zeif Jon Zimman FOUNDATION AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORT Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation Common Counsel Foundation The Columbia Foundation David R. Stern Fund at the Agape Foundation Funding Exchange Gaia Fund Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund Jewish Community Endowment Fund of San Francisco Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties Koret Foundation Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund National Endowment for the Arts Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund San Francisco Foundation Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund Tides Foundation Walter and Elise Haas Fund William and Flora Hewlett Foundation NEW JEWISH FILMMAK ING PROJECT Covenant Foundation Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties The Chris Holter/Ron Merk Fund, administered by the Metro Theatre Center Foundation Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund

41

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

Ack nowle dgme nts 2007 8

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Kate Adams Ahimsa Films: Rebecca Yeldham Damon Ainsworth Alliance Française de San Francisco: Gregory Douet-Lasne Joaquin Alvarado Amsterdam Jewish Film Festival: Jack Weil Arab Film Festival: Sonia El-Feki Archivio Nazionale Cinematigrafico della Resistenza: Paula Olivetti Armstrong & Armstrong: Todd Armstrong Moshe Arzt Freddie Baggerman Steven Barclay Dick Bartel Norma Barzman Sheila Baumgarten Berkeley Repertory Theatre: Susie Medak, Amanda Williams O’Steen Berlin International Film Festival: Wieland Speck Berlin Jewish Film Festival: Nicola Galliner Rick Bird Tanya Booth Boston Jewish Film Festival: Sara Rubin, Kaj Wilson Jane Breyer California Film Institute: Mark Fishkin, Zoë Elton, Richard Peterson, Janis Plotkin, Dan Zastrow Castro Theatre: The Nasser Family, Bill Longen, Mark Gantor, Gary Oliver, The Candy Kidz Celluloid Dreams: Pascale Ramonda Center for Asian American Media: Stephen Gong, Chi-hui Yang, Taro Goto Center for Jewish Studies at Graduate Theological Union: Naomi Seidman Cinemark: Donna Bradford, Rebecca Dilworth Cinephil: Philippa Kowarsky, Ori Bader, Assaf Mor Citizen Film: Sam Ball, Sophie Constantinou, Kate Stilley Claudius Films Ltd.: Claudia Levin, Gili Nadav Gary Coates Consulate General of Germany: Rolf Schütte, Karsten Tietz Consulate General of Israel: David Akov, Tamar Akov, Ishmael Khaldi Costello Ninfa Dawson Delphis Films: Marie-Soleil Courcy Doc Aviv Film Festival: Ilana Tsur Dolby Labs: Ioan Allen, Tom Bruchs, Jane Ng Eden Productions: Michal Eliav, Estty Sade Moy Eng Jeannette Etheredge Festival of Jewish Cinema (Australia): Les Rabinowicz Filmakers Library: Andrea Traubner Film Arts Foundation: Diana Fuller, Steve Ramirez, Jane Clemmons Films Distribution: Martin Caraux, Pamela Wisnia Leu Debbie Findling First Independent Pictures: Gary Rubin Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC): Irene De Francesco, Liliana Picciotto F.P.A.D - Films, TV formats: Merav Gamliel Frameline: Michael Lumpkin, Jennifer Morris, Matt Westendorf, Desiree Buford Brian Freeman Gensler: Jennifer Galvin Alison Geballe Go2 Films: Hedva Goldschmidt, Rena Sherbill Goethe-Institut: Ingrid Eggers, Ulrich Everding Gary Goldstein Gon Production: Nitza Gonen

Green Light Productions: Jonathon Green Ashley Greene & Costello Haifa Film Festival: Pnina Blayer, Amalia Rosen Nina Haft Allyson Halpern Tim Hanlon Robin Herman Frederick Hertz & Randolph Langenbach Mary Ellen Hester Beth Harris Hoenninger Independent Film Channel (IFC): Kim Kalyka Institute for Jewish & Community Research: Gary Tobin, Diane Kaufmann Tobin Israel Center: Neal Levy, Donny Inbar, Lital Carmel Israel Film Fund: Katriel Schory IsraeliFilms: Dov Gil-Har, Efrat Cohen-Magen Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco: Valeria Rumori, Onofrio Speciale ITVS: Claire Aguilar, Cathy Fischer, Cynthia Kane, Richard Saiz Jerusalem Cinematheque: Lia van Leer, Gilli Mendel, Avinoam Harpak, Meir Russo Jewish Community Center of San Francisco: Sandee Blechman, Lenore Naxon, Susie Crumpler, Brett Metzger, Dan Wolf Jewish Community Endowment Fund: Phyllis Cook, Mark Reisbaum, Lisa Gurwitch Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco: Karen Bluestone, Travis Bernard Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay: Roberta Bear, Lisa Tabak Jewish Community Relations Council: Rabbi Doug Kahn, Abby Michelson Porth Jewish Media Fund: Eli Evans, Carol Japha JMT Films: Jean-Michel Treves Kartemquin Films: Beth Iams Katahdin Foundation: Deann Borshay Liem, Daven Gee Katzir Productions: Dan Katzir Deborah Kaufman & Alan Snitow Kino International: Don Krim, Jessica Rosner, Gary Palmucci Koret Foundation: Jeffrey Farber, Gale Mondry, Susan Wolfe Hannah Kranzberg Landmark Theatres: Steve Indig, Chris Hatfield Yeshai Lang Rachel Levin LGBT Alliance: Lisa Finkelstein Ma’ale School of Television & the Arts: Neta Ariel, Tamar Perlstein Kathy MacDonald Millicent Marcus Memphis Film & Television: Cecile van Eijk, Remco van Esch, Eline van Wees Gary Meyer Greg Minshall Mischief Films: Georg Misch, Nina Goodman Anita Monga & Peter Moore Monterey Media: Darrell Rae, Jennifer Manocchio Marie-Josée Mont-Reynaud Museo Nazionale del Cinema: Stefano Boni Nashville International Film Festival: Brian Gordon National Center for Jewish Film: Sharon P. Rivo, Juliet Burch National Film Board of Canada: Johanne St-Arnauld, Danielle Viau New Israel Fund: Orli Bein New Israeli Foundation for Cinema & TV: David Fisher New York Jewish Film Festival: Aviva Weintraub, Richard Peña New Yorker Films: Jonathan Howell

Brian Newman Ninth Street Independent Film Center: K.C. Price, Kevin Wong, Adam Ashworth Pacific Film Archive: Judy Bloch, Kathy Geritz, Nancy Goldman, Susan Oxtoby Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival: Karen Davis Peace Arch Entertainment: Ian Wildman Philo TV: Lenny Lieberman, Evan Stewart, Carolyn Bush Pixar Animation Studios: M.T. Silvia Janis Plotkin Stephanie Rapp Raymar Educational Films: Erica Marcus Reel Café Bakery: Sharon Dinkin Ruth Diskin Films: Ruth Diskin, Tal Shanny Sam Spiegel Film & Television School: Renen Schorr, Noemi Schory, Noa Ron San Francisco International Film Festival: Graham Leggat, Linda Blackaby, Hilary Hart, Sean Uyehara, Rod Armstrong San Francisco Toyota: John Horton, Doug Donnellan Sapir Academy: Avner Feingelernt, Noa Levy Kary Schulman Seventh Arts: Udi Epstein, Nick Barbieri Jill & Richard Sheinberg Sheleg Productions: Noa Levy Tiffany Shlain Skirball Cultural Center: Jordan Peimer, April Dobson Gail Stern Jennifer Stott Sundance Channel: Sarah Eaton Sundance Film Festival: John Cooper, Shari Frilot, Geoffrey Gilmore, Caroline Libresco, David Courier, Shane Smith Alysanne Taylor Tel Aviv Cinematheque: Alon Garbuz Tel Aviv University Film Department: Noa Chen Karen Topakian Topia: Sigal Torino Film Festival: Luca Andreotti, Davide Oberto Torino GLBT Film Festival: Giovanni Minerba Toronto Jewish Film Festival: Ellie Skrow, Helen Zuckerman Trabelsi Productions Ltd.: Osnat Trabelsi Triptych Media Inc.: Anna Stratton TTV Productions: Zafrir Kochanovsky Leah Turchin UK Jewish Film Festival: Judy Ironside, Gali Gold United King Films: David Silber, Limor Edery United Studios of Israel: Mor Tregger Delarya USC Shoah Foundation, Institute for Visual History and Education: Sonya Sharp Versus Production: Caroline Thirion, Marina Haverland Marc Vogl Washington Jewish Film Festival: Josh Ford Cara White Wareham Development: Rich Robbins, Anna Sternberg, Sheila Bosco Westin: Gena Egelston Wide Management: Claire Zambaux Women Make Movies: Kristen Fitzpatrick, Debra Zimmerman Leo Wong Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Ken Foster, Joel Shepard, Kara Herold, Calvin Souther Yoga Mandala

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Wells Fargo Is Proud To Recognize San Francisco Jewish Film Festival When people work together, there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished.

We’re proud to be a part of the team.

© 2008 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. (116303_9098)

wellsfargo.com 43

M e m b e r S h i p I n f o r m at i o n

SUpp o r t S FJ F F : Join the Jewish F i l m F o r u m T o d ay !

MEM B ERSHI P LEVELS AND B ENE F I T S Joining the Jewish Film Forum can save you money on yearround and Festival screenings while also supporting the mission and programs of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the world’s premier advocate for independent Jewish cinema.

MEM B ERSHI P LEVELS AND B ENE F I T S

$50 SUPPORTER

$1,000 PRODUCER

Exclusive discounts on Festival tickets and passes

All benefits at the Patron level plus:

(some limits may apply)

One additional Premiere All-Festival Pass* (2 total) Invitations to Visiting Filmmaker Dinner SFJFF Curator’s Choice DVD

SFJFF Catalog mailed early to your home Early ticket-buying privileges Subscription to SFJFF E-News and newsletter Advance notification of year-round screenings Discounts at select partner screenings/events

Acknowledgment in the Festival Catalog Invitations to donors-only sneak previews Invitations to post-screening Festival party

$250 FRIEND

$5,000 DIRECTOR

All benefits at the Associate level plus:

All benefits at the Executive Producer level plus:

Limited-edition DVD of SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project shorts Two tickets to SF Closing Night film and party One 4-Flix card for four free Festival admissions

One additional Premiere All-Festival Pass* (4 total) Recognition in the Visionary Circle Opportunity for an exclusive personal film dedication in the Festival catalog Four reserved seats at your dedicated film in all venues Opportunity to host private party in SFJFF screening room On-site access to the SFJFF film archive

www.sfjff.org

All benefits at the Supporter level plus:

925.275.9490

All benefits at the Producer level plus:

One additional Premiere All-Festival Pass* (3 total) One additional SF Opening Night and Closing Night ticket Invitation to a private Festival Shabbat dinner Opportunity for a shared personal film dedication in the Festival catalog Two reserved seats at your dedicated film in all venues

$100 ASSOCIATE

44

$2,500 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

$500 PATRON All benefits at the Associate level plus:

One Premiere All-Festival Pass* One additional SF Opening Night and Closing Night ticket Limited-edition DVD of SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project shorts Invitation to private VIP Festival Preview

For inquiries about gifts of stock, bequests or Festival sponsorship, please contact the development department at 415.621.0556 x305.

To join the Jewish Film Forum visit us online at www.sfjff.org or call 415.621.0556 x305

*A Premiere All-Festival Pass entitles the pass holder to one entry at all theaters, including Opening and Closing Night films, parties and special programs!

ENj o y t h e HO T T ES T PAR T IES IN TOWN!!

Jewish Film Forum members receive invitations to attend exclusive SFJFF events! Mingle with local and international filmmakers, special festival celebrities and sexy, sassy SFJFF staff!!

(top) SFJFF Program Director Nancy Fishman, comedian Judy Gold and television newscaster Jan Wahl enjoying SFJFF's closing night festivities. (above left) SFJFF Board Members Dan Wohlfeiler and Scott Rubin celebrating at SFJFF's annual Shabbat dinner party. (above) SFJFF Executive Director Peter L. Stein, local gallery owner George Krevsky and boxing champion Dimitriy Salita.

It p ay s t o j o i n T h e Jewish Film FOrum!

YOUR SU P P OR T MA K ES A DI F F ERENCE Only 25% of SFJFF costs are covered by Festival ticket sales.Your membership in the Jewish Film Forum ensures that high-quality filmed stories reflecting the diversity and vitality of Jewish life will continue to be produced, screened and enjoyed for generations to come.

See the S av i n g s !

Regular Price

Member Price

Festival Screenings Yerba Buena Screenings Opening Night Bash & Film Closing Night Film Centerpiece Film All Festival Pass 10-Flix Card

$12 $8 $75 $25 $14 $225 $100

$10 $6 $65 $22 $12 $195 $90

45

Simply over the top!

A world-class view, stunning decor, culinary masterpieces and unsurpassed service await you on The Imperial Floor in San Francisco’s most renowned historic hotel on Union Square.

0OWELL 3TREET s 5NION 3QUARE s 3AN &RANCISCO #ALIFORNIA /FF 3ITE #ATERING +OSHER #ATERING AND )NDIAN #UISINE !VAILABLE &OR #ATERING )NQUIRIES 0LEASE #ONTACT -AUREEN / $ONNELL $IRECTOR OF #ATERING #ONVENTION 3ERVICES AT

46

47

T i c k e t i n f o r m at i o n Box Office Opens:

ARRIVAL TIME

Jewish Film Forum (JFF) Members: June 24–26 General Admission: June 27

Ticket and pass holders must arrive and be in line 20 minutes prior to show time. Anyone arriving after that may not be admitted, even with a purchased ticket or pass.

How to order:

RUSH LINE

Online: Fax: Mail:

Rush tickets are sometimes available even when advance tickets have sold out. A line for rush tickets will form outside the venue up to one hour prior to show time. Available rush tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis to those in line.

NO DISCOUNTS. CASH ONLY. Discount 10-Flix cards cannot be used in the rush line.

Member, student, senior and group discounts do not apply to rush tickets.

Phone:

Access our website at www.sfjff.org 24 hours/day Completed order form to: 925.866.9597 Completed order form to: SF Jewish Film Festival Ticket Office PO Box 2229, Danville, CA 94526 925.275.9490 Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5 pm

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Please Note

Day of show tickets will be sold at each theatre, beginning one hour prior to the first film of the day. Advance tickets for other days are available at all venues but not within 30 minutes of the start of any screening.

TICKET DELIVERY

Tickets will automatically be mailed to the billing address unless Will Call is chosen.

Orders received 10 days or less prior to each screening will be placed at Will Call. Photo ID will be required when picking up tickets at theatre Will Call table. Only those persons listed on the order will be allowed to pick up that order.

Opening Night Bash WIll Call

Party and film tickets may be be picked up together at the Swedish American Hall Will Call beginning at 5:30 pm.

• All programs are subject to change. Sometimes for reasons beyond our control, screenings must be changed, substituted, rescheduled or canceled. If a screening is canceled, simply return your ticket to the box office within 48 hours of the canceled screening date to exchange for a different screening or for a refund. The processing fee is non-refundable.

• Every person, regardless of age, must have a ticket except for free matinees.

• Only one form of payment per order.

• Each order received is charged a non-refundable processing fee.

• There will be a $25 charge for returned checks.

• SFJFF is not responsible for lost, stolen, forgotten or damaged tickets, or tickets misdirected by the post office. If you experience delivery problems at your address, please choose Will Call.

• All seats are general admission, except for Opening Night at the Castro Theatre, which will be reserved seating.

Ticket prices Become a member of the Jewish Film Forum with a contribution of $50 or more and receive special discounts and invitations to year-round events and have a voice in shaping the future of independent Jewish film. To join, use Order Form opposite or call the box office. (For a detailed list of benefits, see page 44.) If you are a JFF Member, please have your name and membership number available when ordering. Limit two (2) discount tickets per screening.

Questions? Call SFJFF at 415.621.0556.

REGULAR PROGRAMS

Regular Admission Jewish Film Forum (JFF) Members:

General Admission: Seniors (65 or older): Students (25 or under):

$10 (limit 2 per screening)

$12 $10.50 $10.50

925.275.9490

www.sfjff.org

Students must be full-time and present proof of age and current, valid student ID at time of ticket purchase. If ordering in advance by phone, on-line, mail or fax, tickets will automatically be placed at Will Call for ID verification.

Groups are 10 or more tickets purchased in advance for the same film on a single order.

Please call box office for prices and further information.

DISCOUNT 10-FLIX CARD

JFF Members: General Admission:

$90 (LIMIT 2 PER MEMBER) $100

The 10-Flix card is convenient, economical and flexible. Each 10-Flix card is good for 10 regular-priced tickets of your choice. Not good for special programs (see opposite).

Each 10-Flix card has a unique 16-digit number that you may use at any time before and throughout the Festival to redeem your tickets online, by phone, mail, fax or at the box office. Please note: 10-Flix cards cannot guarantee tickets to sold-out shows, so redeem early if you know your selection. 10-Flix cards are fully transferable; share with family and friends. Great for gifts!

MATINEES

Monday - Thursday, up to and including 4pm JFF Members: General Admission (Tickets not required for FREE matinees)

$9 $11

PLEASE CHOOSE CAREFULLY AND CHECK DATES AGAINST YOUR CALENDAR. ALL ORDERS ARE FINAL. WE ARE UNABLE TO REFUND, EXCHANGE OR SUBSTITUTE TICKETS, INCLUDING TICKETS REDEEMED FROM 10-FLIX CARDS. PLEASE ARRIVE AND BE IN LINE 20 MINUTES PRIOR TO SHOWTIME. TICKET OR PASS DOES NOT GUARANTEE SEATING.

48

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

(Student, senior and group discounts do not apply to Special Programs) SF Opening Night Bash at Swedish American Hall and Film at Castro Party and reserved theatre seating JFF Members: $65 General Admission: $75 *Parking available for $10 at Everett Middle School, on Church between 16th and 17th.

Enter the parking lot from 17th.

SF Opening Night Film Only Reserved theatre seating JFF Members: General Admission:

$25 $30

SF Closing Night Celebration & Film JFF Members: General Admission:

$22 $25

Berkeley Opening Night & After-Film Party JFF Members: General Admission:

$22 $25

Centerpiece Film (San Francisco): Love Comes Lately JFF Members: General Admission:

$12 $14

Arab Labor (Special discount for purchase of any 3 screenings) JFF Members: $27 General Admission: $30 SPECIAL TICKET PACKAGES

All-Festival Pass JFF Members: General Admission:

$195 $225

One pass good for all shows at all theatres—including Opening and Closing Night films, parties and special programs. Early-entrance line reserved for pass holders. One name per pass. MUST ARRIVE and be in line 20 minutes prior to show time. Pass does not guarantee seating if late arrival.

Reel Pass

$40

A reel deal if you’re 25 or younger! One pass good for all shows at all theatres—including Opening and Closing Night films and special programs. Early-entrance line reserved for pass holders. Proof of age required. One name per pass. MUST ARRIVE and be in line 20 minutes prior to show time. Pass does not guarantee seating if late arrival.

Pass holders: If attending SF Opening Night, you must call the box office to arrange for reserved seating.

2008 TICKET ORDER FORM NA ME (AS I T APPEARS O N THE CREDIT CA RD)

B I L L I NG ADD RESS C I TY

ZIP

H O ME P H O N E

C OU NTRY

DAYTIME PHONE

E - M A I L (I M PO R TAN T !)

I require wheelchair seating

Number of persons using wheelchairs

S F OP E NI N G NIG H T BASH & FILM @ S W E DI SH AM ERI C AN H ALL / CA FÉ DU NORD

A L L -F E ST I VA L PA SS & RE E L PA SS

Pre-Film Party and Reserved Theatre Seating Members tickets @ $65 ea. = General Admisson tickets @ $75 ea. =

$ $

JFF member pass @ $195 ea.

General Admission @ $225 ea.

Reel Passes @ $40 ea.

S F OP E NI N G NIG H T FI LM ONLY

Reserved Theatre Seating

Members tickets @ $25 ea. = General Admisson tickets @ $30 ea. =

$ $

S F C L O S I N G NIG H T FI LM

Members tickets @ $22 ea. = General Admisson tickets @ $25 ea. =

$ $

Name

(Circle: Member/General/Reel)

Name

(Circle: Member/General/Reel)

Name

(Circle: Member/General/Reel)

SECURITY POLICY—PLEASE READ Bags not permitted in theatres. Please arrive early for screenings to allow ample time for security checks.

B E R KE L EY OPEN I N G NIG HT & A FTER-FILM PA R TY

Members tickets @ $22 ea. = General Admisson tickets @ $25 ea. =

$ $

C E N TE R P I EC E FILM S F (LO VE COMES LATELY)

Members tickets @ $12 ea. = General Admisson tickets @ $14 ea. =

EVENT C ODE

All purses and bags will be subject to inspection prior to admittance to theatres. Large bags, briefcases, backpacks, shopping bags, etc., will not be permitted in theatres. PLEASE DO NOT BRING SUCH ITEMS WITH YOU.

D I S C O UN T 1 0 -F L I X CA RD

$ $

10-Flix members @ $90 ea. (limit 2 per member)

Photo ID must be presented in order to pick up tickets at Will Call.

10-Flix General Admission @ $100 ea. (limit 2 per person)

F I L M TI TL E

DAT E

*Discount Types JFF = Jewish Film Forum member. Please include membership number.

S= Seniors are 65 and older STU = Students (25 and under) must be full-time and present a current valid student ID at time of ticket purchase. If ordering by phone, online, mail or fax, tickets will automatically be placed at Will Call for ID verification.

# OF TIX

P RI CE / T I CKE T

DI SCO UN T T YP E * O R J F F ME MB E R #

T O TA L PRICE

Passes/10-Flix/Special Programs Total Subtotal Processing fee ($1.50/ticket, up to $6; $6/passes or 10-Flix card) JFF Membership (see box below) /Additional Donation (Thank You!) Grand Total

Please let me know about year-round screenings.

I want to volunteer for the 2008 SFJFF; please contact me.

FOR M O F PAYM E N T Check or money order enclosed. Please make payable to SFJFF Ticket Office, PO Box 2229, Danville, CA 94526 Credit card (Visa/MasterCard accepted) fax 925.866.9597 or call 925.275.9490 Discount 10-Flix card

T ICK ET DELIV ERY Tickets will automatically be mailed to the billing address unless Will Call is chosen.

Orders received 10 days or less prior to each screening will be placed at Will Call.

Note: Opening Night Bash & Film tickets may be picked up together at Swedish American Hall beginning at 5:30 pm.

Photo ID will be required when picking up tickets at Theatre Will Call table. Only those persons listed on the order will be allowed to pick up that order.

I want my tickets held at Will Call and will pick them up at the theatre/venue on the day of the first show I attend. Photo ID will be required to pick up tickets at Will Call.

D I S C O U N T 10- FLIX CARD 1 6 DIGIT A CCOU NT NO.

Authorized Signature

Expiration Date

Credit Card No.

CVN (3 digit number on back of card)

PHONE: 925.275.9490 WEBSITE: www.sfjff.org FAX: 925.866.9597 or MAIL TO:

PO Box 2229, Danville, CA 94526

JOIN SFJFF’S JEWISH FILM FORUM Supporter $50 Producer $1,000 Associate $100 Executive Producer $2,500 Friend $250 Director $5,000 Patron $500 For benefits details, see page 44

888- GO- KO S HE R

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EM O TI O N A L A R I T H M ET I C

ALIC E AND I

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ANVIL! T HE STORY O F A NVI L

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AR AB LAB O R

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A SHKENAZ

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AT HOME I N U T O PI A

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BAGHDA D TW I S T

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B EING J EW I S H I N F R A NC E

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B ILIN MY LO VE

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BLACK O VE R W HI T E

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E Y ES W I D E O P EN

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FA C I N G TH E W I N D

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FA C I N G WI N D O W S

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F L I P P I N G O UT

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A F O O L ’S D R EA M

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F O UR Q UES T I O N S FOR A RABBI

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G EO R G I A M Y L O V E

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B LESSED I S THE M AT C H: THE LIFE AND D E ATH OF HANNA H S E NE S H

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A H EB R EW L ES S O N

BR IDGE OVE R T HE WADI

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C HR ONICL E O F A JU M P

L O VE CO ME S L ATE LY

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MA X MI N SKY AN D ME

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4 27

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T E L L YOUR CHI L DRE N

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T HE OL D ST O RE S

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T E L AVI V BY G I RL S

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T O SE E I F I’M SMI L I N G

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23

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H O M E-MA D E H ER O

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ROA DS

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J ER U S A L EM I S P R O U D TO P R ES EN T

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SAVE D B Y DE P O R TATI O N : A N UN KN O W N ODYSSE Y O F PO L I SH J E W S

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San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 145 Ninth Street, Suite 200 San Francisco, CA 94103

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ST RANG E RS

MY OLYMP I C SUMME R

O UT O F FO CUS

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ST E FA N BRA UN T E HI L I M

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D ESC R IPTI O N O F A STRU G G L E

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22

15

26

DE R SO L DAT

24

17

D ESC R IPTI O N O F A MEMO RY

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SI XT Y SI X

MO M, I D I DN ’T KI L L YOUR DA UG HTE R

O P E RATI O N MURAL CA S A B LAN CA 1 9 6 1

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V O L E VO SO L O VI VE RE (I O N LY WANT E D T O LIV E)

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WE W E RE EXO DUS

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