San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 29

JULY 23–AUGUST 10

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SF/CASTRO/JULY S F/CASTRO / JU LY 2 23–30 3–3 30 SF/JCCSF/AUGUST S F / J C C S F / AU G U ST 8 8–9 –9 9 B E R K E L E Y / AU G U ST 1 –8 8 BERKELEY/AUGUST 1–8 PALO ALTO/AUGUST 1–6 P A LO A LTO/ AUGU ST 1 –6 6 SAN RAFAEL/AUGUST 8–10 S AN R AFAE L/ AU GU ST 8 –1 10 D E S I G N : VO L U M E I N C . / v o l u m e s f. f com

Board of Directors Shana Penn President

Dana Doron Vice President

Gail Dolgin Secretary

Frederick Hertz Treasurer

Ron Blatman Pamela Burdman Nancy Goldberg Jane Gottesman Cary Kletter Pam Rorke Levy Iris C. Metz Gale Mondry Douglas Okun Rachel Pfeffer Scott Rubin Naomi Seidman Stephen H. Swire Dan Wohlfeiler Staff Peter L. Stein Executive Director

Owen Levin Administrative Director

Nancy K. Fishman Program Director

Allyson Halpern Development Director

Joshua Moore Program Coordinator

Kerri Gawryn Development & Membership Associate

Shira Zucker Marketing Coordinator

Doug Blakely Administrative Coordinator

Ada Chester Bookkeeper

Welcome to the 29th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival!

All art is a matter of interpretation, but if we were pressed to free-associate, Rorschachstyle, to this year’s festival graphics—colorful ribbons threading their way across the page and through our logo—words like “vivid,” “tapestry,” “interconnected” and maybe even “wired” wouldn’t be too far off. How appropriate to this year’s Festival, an extraordinary tapestry of 71 films from 18 countries, weaving together the many communities that cross paths during these 109 screenings extending over 18 days.

We’re especially thrilled to showcase a strong lineup of international fiction features, starting down under with our Opening Night selection Hey, Hey, It’s Esther Blueburger, a smart and surprising coming-of-age feature from Australia; stopping in Israel for our Centerpiece screening A Matter of Size, a poignant comic drama about husky Israelis who start a sumo club; venturing to Kazakhstan and the Slovak Republic for two sweeping sagas (A Gift to Stalin and Broken Promise); and concluding our San Francisco run with the luminous Wedding Song, about a Muslim-Jewish friendship in wartime Tunisia. Broken Lines (U.K) and Seven Minutes in Heaven (Israel) both explore romance and chance meetings, and we even detour to Uruguay (Acné) and the Netherlands (Skin) for two terrific features, unrelated except for their dermatological titles.

This year’s recipient of the SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award is filmmaker and curator Aviva Kempner (page 9), whose new film is a salute to a true American pioneer, the television writer/producer/actor Gertrude Berg (Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg). An archival program of Berg’s landmark sitcom The Goldbergs and a panel about Berg’s contributions to the image of American Jews round out our tribute.

Among the threads you can follow in this year’s diverse lineup is a set of programs focusing on social justice themes: films, filmmakers and documentary subjects reminding us “we are the change we seek.” In a year that has seen our country rise to inspiring heights of civic engagement and disastrous depths of financial and social irresponsibility, social justice filmmaking seems more crucial and relevant than ever. From the zany antics of eco-pranksters in The Yes Men Fix the World to the engaged activism of figures like William Kunstler, Martin Garbus (Shouting Fire) and Rachel Corrie (Rachel), SFJFF’s program Reel Change (page 7) hopes to encourage a spirit of citizen activism and debate through films, educational programs, online resources and networking opportunities.

We are pleased to showcase three top-notch documentaries by Israeli women directors about diverse Israeli women: Desert Brides, which explores the perspective of Bedouin women in polygamous marriages; Lady Kul El-Arab, a portrait of a Druze woman whose entry into two beauty contests is a window into Arab and Israeli cultures; and Chronicle of a Kidnap, which reveals the pain of waiting and the media maelstrom experienced by the wife of a captured Israeli soldier.

Another rewarding through-line to follow is a special focus on animation, including the darkly comic claymation feature from Australia Mary and Max and a program of animated shorts we call Jewtoons. Meanwhile, puppets—foul-mouthed, rock ’n’ rolling life-size musical puppets—are the featured attraction of a special live concert by the Israeli band and cult TV sensation Puppet Folk Revival, making their American debut at SFJFF (page 10).

Finally, we hope you’ll explore the streaming short films, online SFJFF film archive, educational materials and other resources offered at sfjff.org—new ways to extend the experience of the Festival and your encounter with Jewish film throughout the year.

Whatever pathway you take or thread you follow, we’re glad you’re connected to the Festival.

Enjoy!

Peter L. Stein

Nancy K. Fishman

Shana Penn

Executive Director

Program Director

President,

20-Somethings Acne Adam Broken Lines Grown Up Lost Islands Puppet Folk Revival Band Rachel Seven Minutes in Heaven Skin Ten for Grandpa Victoria Day The Yes Men Fix the World Zion and His Brother Zrubavel AFRICAN / NORTH AFRICAN Desert Brides Herskovits At the Heart of Blackness Refugees Wedding Song, The Zrubavel AFRICAN AM E RICAN Heart of Stone Herskovits At the Heart of Blackness a n i m at i o n Jewtoons (15 short films) Mary and Max ANTI - S E MITISM Broken Promise Defamation Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech Skin COM E D Y The Goldbergs Hello Goodbye Hey, Hey It’s Esther Blueburger Joshua A Matter of Size

Keepin’ it Reel: 2 5 o r u n de r ? B u y a Ree l Pa s s , g o o d for all shows a n d o n ly $ 4 0 !

Sidney Turtlebaum The Yes Men Fix the World Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg COMING OF AG E Acne Bait Heart of Stone Hey, Hey It’s Esther Blueburger Lady Kul El-Arab Lost Islands Ma’aleh Film School 20th Anniversary Victoria Day The Wedding Song Zion and His Brother Zrubavel D RAMA Acne Adam Broken Lines Broken Promise Cycles Empty Nest The Gift to Stalin Jews in Shorts Lost Islands Ma’aleh Film School 20th Anniversary Mary and Max Seven Minutes in Heaven Skin Victoria Day The Wedding Song Zion and His Brother Zrubavel E AST E RN E URO P E & FORM E R SOVI E T UNION Broken Promise Gdanski Railway Station The Gift to Stalin Lake 68 The Tale of Nicolai & the Law of Return

FILM & M E D IA HISTORY The Goldbergs A History of Israeli Cinema I Am Von Höfler Variation on Werther Jerusalem Cuts Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg HISTORY Defamation Gdanski Railway Station The Gift to Stalin Herskovits At the Heart of Blackness A History of Israeli Cinema I Am Von Höfler Variation on Werther Jerusalem Cuts Lake 68 Menachem & Fred My Amulet Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg HOLOCAUST & WORL D WAR II Broken Promise I Am Von Höfler Variation on Werther Mama, L’Chaim! (To Life!)

Menachem & Fred Rosenweig - Born to Dance Skin The Wedding Song With a Little Patience ISRA E LI D IV E RSITY Desert Brides Jerusalem Cuts Lady Kul El-Arab Ma’aleh Film School 20th Anniversary A Matter of Size

Refugees The Tale of Nicolai & the Law of Return Zion and His Brother Zrubavel LG B T 575 Castro St. And Thou Shalt Love Sidney Turtlebaum ROMANC E Adam Broken Lines Cycles Eve Hello Goodbye A Matter of Size Seven Minutes in Heaven SOCIAL J USTIC E AN D HUMAN RIGHTS Desert Brides Heart of Stone Herskovits At the Heart of Blackness Rachel Refugees Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe The Yes Men Fix the World women Chronicle of a Kidnap Desert Brides Eve Lady Kul El-Arab My Amulet Rachel The Wedding Song Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

O h , t h e s av i n g s !

Join the Jewish Film Forum for special treatment, yearround. See page 44 1

S p o n s or s PRESENTING SPONSORS

BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY SPONSORS

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MEDIA SPONSORS

Major Foundation and Government Support

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CHARLES H. REVSON FOUNDATION

the bernard osher foundation

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IN-KIND SPONSORS

Bristol markets

f r e e o u t d oor screening Woody Allen’s

MANHATTAN

Fork and Spoon

In the heart of San Francisco In partnership with FILM NIGHT IN THE PARK Pre-festival film and kickoff party!­ July 11, Union Square, San Francisco This year SFJFF partners with the San Francisco Neighborhood Theatre Foundation’s Film Night in the Park to bring you a special evening of a timeless classic. Join us in Union Square for a FREE outdoor screening of Manhattan, now celebrating its 30 th anniversary. Witness Woody Allen’s characteristically complex relationships elegantly reduced to essential black and white…cozy up on the Square while watching Allen and Mariel Hemingway cozy up to Chinese food in bed…and enjoy breathtaking shots of New York cityscapes in the heart of San Francisco.

After the film, join us for a classy festival kick-off party right down the street at Kuleto’s, featuring customized specials on wine and cocktails, including (you guessed it!) Manhattans.

LUCKY YOU: THIS SCREENING IS FREE Bring a blanket, a friend or two, and don’t forget your good luck charms for a chance to win festival passes and more in a delicious fortune cookie giveaway!

Manhattan Saturday, July 11 in Union Square San Francisco Film screens at dusk (approximately 8:45pm) Free Admission

After-Party at Kuleto’s 221 Powell St. San Francisco Post-Film till Midnight

About film night in the park: Film Night in the Park is San Francisco’s premiere outdoor film series. Over 65,000 people have attended Film Night in the Park in San Francisco since 2003. Films are presented in Dolores Park, Washington Square Park and Union Square on a giant outdoor screen.

Film Night in the Park was born out of the civic-minded vision of a handful of volunteers who wanted to bring films to a neighborhood without a movie theater.

It has since grown into one of San Francisco’s most popular and unique summer traditions.

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opening night

Hey, Hey It’s Esther Blueberger Hey, Hey It’s Esther Bay Area Premiere Australia, 2008, 103 min., color, English

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Director/Screenwriter: Cathy Randall Cinematographer: Anna Howard

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Editor: Dany Cooper Principal Cast: Danielle Catanzariti, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Toni Collette

Note: This film contains some sexual content.

Cathy randall IN PERSON AT THE CASTRO.

Esther Blueberger has thick glasses, parents who don’t understand her, a pet duck, and no friends at her hoity-toity school where her classmates are mostly blond and look identical. She and her twin brother are approaching their bar/bat mitzvah, a rite of passage that coincides with Esther’s inner turmoil. When befriended by Sunni, who goes to the local public school, Esther begins to blossom under the affirmation of friendship. Hilariously, she goes undercover and pretends to be a Swedish exchange student at Sunni’s school, hanging out with Sunni and her posse of “bad” girls and spending time with Sunni’s super-hip mom. On the road to greater self-awareness, Esther encounters kissing, sex, class differences, questions of loyalty and an indestructible urge to be herself.

Director Cathy Randall’s wacky/ serious coming-of-age comedy mining the phenomenon of good girls going bad—or rather, finding themselves—sports sunlit, color-drenched production design, some movement sequences that Busby Berkeley would have been proud of and peerless acting by leads Diane Catanzariti (in her first feature role) as Esther, Keisha Castle-Hughes (quite grown up since her stunning debut in Whale Rider) and Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine; this year’s Mary and Max).

Randall was awarded a fellowship to the Los Angeles Film School’s Feature Development Program to create Hey, Hey It’s Esther Blueberger. In 2003, her screenplay received an Australian Writer’s Guild award nomination for best unproduced screenplay, after which she teamed up with producer Miriam Stein.

Randall was a writer for Home and Away, an internationally successful soap opera, and an intern at Tony and Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free. Previous to her work in film she was a journalist in Sydney. —Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by Building Jewish Bridges: Outreach to Interfaith Couples; Interfaith Connection of the JCCSF; and Project Welcome

Castro CineArts Roda Rafael

Thu, Jul 23 Tue, Aug 4 Thu, Aug 6 Sat, Aug 8

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

closing night

The Wedding Wedding Song Song France, Tunisia, 2008, 100 min., Arabic, French, German, w/ Eng. Subtitles

Closing Night is sponsored by a generous grant from the Bonnie and Mart y Tenenbaum Foundation

Director/Screenwriter: Karin Albou Editor: Camille Cotte

Tunis, 1942: Against the Allied bombs and the goosesteps of the Nazi occupiers, two teenage girlfriends, one Muslim, the other Jewish, cling to the bond they’ve shared since childhood. Between these two, there are no secrets. In her bold second feature, Karin Albou returns to the themes of her first, La Petite Jerusalem: mapping the intersection of Jewish and Arab cultures and exploring female sexuality. Nour (Olympe Borval) is engaged to handsome Khaled, a physical attraction that Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré) takes vicarious pleasure in abetting. Myriam, for her part, has opportunity Nour lacks, namely an education, until the outspoken girl gets herself expelled from school. Outside the female quarters of home and hammam, the world shared by Jews and Arabs is being split by German promises of liberation—they’ll rid Tunis of the French and the Jews. The propaganda seeps through the gender wall; the Germans, after all, are “polite and blond,” Arab girls remark. Now between Nour and Myriam there are secrets. Myriam and her mother Tita (played by director Albou) are no longer safe, and Tita attempts to marry her reluctant daughter to a wealthy doctor to save them both. How thoroughly Jewish and Arab female worlds are merged is evident in the elaborate, intimate preparation of the bride for her wedding night, “Oriental style”; how thoroughly politics have infused the personal is evidenced by what happens after the wedding. Marriage, like friendship, becomes a test of ethics and courage.

In beautifully limning a multifold micro-universe, Tunisian-French writerdirector Karin Albou follows on the success of La Petite Jerusalem (SFJFF 2006), which won Best Screenplay in the Cannes Critics’ Week. Her documentary My Country Left Me (SFJFF 1998) described the transplantation of Tunisian JudeoArabic culture to Paris. Her shorts include Aïd El Kebir (1999), set in Algeria, her parents’ country of origin. –Judy Bloch

Principal Cast: Karin Albou, Lizzie Brocheré, Najib Oudghiri, Olympe Borval

K arin Albou IN PERSON AT THE CASTRO.

Co-presented by JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North America), Alliance Française de San Francisco and Holocaust Center of Northern California

Castro Theatre Thu, Jul 30 Roda Sat, Aug 1

8:30 PM 9:30 PM

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CENTERP I ECE F I L M

A Matter of Size Size California Premiere France, Germany, Israel, 2009, 92 min., color, Hebrew, Japanese Directors: Erez Tadmor, Sharon Maymon Screenwriter: Sharon Maymon Cinematographer: David Gurfinkel

Editor: Einat Glaser-Zarhin Principal Cast: Dvir Benedek, Itzik Cohen, Shaul Azar

Poor Herzl is a big fish out of water. A 340-pound chef living with his mother, he’s been gamely diving into a sea of perpetual diet groups and fitness regimes, and belly flopping. He’s fired from a restaurant salad bar because of his “unpresentable” image; then his rigid weight-loss class dumps him because he keeps gaining pounds instead of shedding them. The relentless pursuit of slim is frustrating for him and for his three seriously overweight buddies in the working-class town of Ramle, Israel. But all that starts to change when Herzl discovers the one place where fat guys can be rock stars: the world of sumo wrestling.

In this endearing and poignant comedy, co-directors Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor (co-director of SFJFF 2008’s Opening Night film Strangers) find both wit and soul in their four big guys’ efforts to master an ancient sport and accept themselves for the (large) people they are. With echoes of The Full Monty in both its blue-collar setting and its themes, A Matter of Size follows its own tender and funny (and Jewish) path from body shame to body celebration, and from loneliness to love. The unlikely sport Herzl encourages his skeptical friends to take up (“two fatsos in diapers with girly hairdos,” snorts one) turns out to have life lessons far beyond the ring and is rich fodder for visual antics: you won’t soon forget veteran cinematographer David Gurfinkel’s gorgeous long shot of the men pounding through green fields clad only in bright red loincloths. But the humor of the film is never at the expense of these likeable, flawed guys and the women who put up with (and feed) them. Inside this funny movie beats a plus-size heart. —Peter L. Stein Preceded by

Joshua Germany, 2009, 12 min., color, German

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Director: Dani Levy

German director and enfant terrible Dani Lev y (My Fuehrer, Go for Zucker!) returns with a wild and wacky farce in which he attempts to define what Germany means to Germans while experiencing a nervous breakdown and the disappearance of his infant son, last seen flying blissfully through the air. Joshua was part of the short-film compilation Deutschland 09, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.

special program

r e e l c h a n g e : s o c i a l j u s t i c e f i l m s “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof—Justice, justice shalt thou pursue.”

—Deuteronomy 16:20 In embracing the precept that pursuing social justice is in itself a deeply held Jewish value, SFJFF brings to the Bay Area an exciting array of films, filmmakers, activists and organizations addressing critical social issues. We are excited to showcase these potent examples of social-action filmmaking—and even more pleased that we are providing opportunities for audiences to engage with the causes and organizations they learn about via in-theatre discussions, post-film gatherings, expanded online resources and post-festival service and learning opportunities.

The six films in our series Reel Change illuminate issues ranging from immigration to inner-city education, from civil and human rights activism to environmentalism; they take us from Gaza and the Egyptian-Israeli border to Newark, New Jersey . . . and from post-Katrina New Orleans to our own Bay Area neighborhoods.

Socially engaged filmmaking is hardly a new interest of SFJFF—the festival has a longstanding tradition of showcasing landmark films dealing with such issues as black-Jewish relations, environmental activism, Arab-Jewish coexistence and gay rights in Judaism. But in this extraordinary year in the American political and economic climate, we feel a special obligation to help create at SFJFF not only a welcoming forum for films and filmmakers, but a place for taking a personal stake in the issues that concern all of us, whether in theaters or cafes, online or in living rooms. —Peter L. Stein

reel change films Heart of Stone In a troubled urban high school, Jewish and African American alumni work to get kids out of gangs and into college. See page 16.

Rachel Explores the controversial death of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist killed in Gaza.

See page 23.

Refugees Documents the plight of African refugees in Israel.

See page 23.

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech The state of free speech in post-9/11 America.

See page 24.

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe The story of controversial civil rights lawyer William Kunstler as told by his daughters.

See page 26.

The Yes Men Fix the World Two eco-prankster/activists hilariously expose corporate greed and its environmental impact.

See page 27.

Please join us on Sunday, July 26, for social justice films, programs and learning opportunities, including a discussion “Social Justice as a Jewish Value” following the 2:00pm screening of William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe and preceding The Yes Men Fix the World. See page xx for details, and check www.sfjff.org for an ever-growing list of resources and service and learning opportunities connected to the subjects of this year’s films.

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spotlight on:

g e r t r u d e b e r g & i s r a e l i wom e n

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SALUTE TO GERTRUDE BERG

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The play wright Leonard Spigelgass once remarked that Gertrude Berg was a “phenomenon in her own century, interpreting it, through another.” Indeed, through the Jewish matriarch Molly Goldberg, Berg voiced her opinion on any number of subjects and social issues, including women’s rights, public education, the New Deal and, most notably, the Holocaust. As producer, writer and star of The Goldbergs, one of radio and television’s most enduring and popular programs, Berg created a world in which the Jewish experience was celebrated, and people from all walks of life were welcome.

Quite simply, Berg was a prolific entertainer. The radio version of The Goldbergs, a precursor to the modern-day soap opera, spanned two decades, from its initial broadcast on NBC in 1929 until its final broadcast on CBS in the late 1940s.

Never content with her station in life, Berg was one of the few performers who recognized television’s untapped potential. She charged headlong into the upstart medium, taking Molly and her family—husband Jake and their children, Sammy and Rosie—with her. The Goldbergs premiered on CBS in January 1949, becoming the blueprint for a new form of entertainment: the television situation comedy.

Behind the scenes of her successful media franchise, Berg ran a tight ship—more than one observer recalled the “iron fist” she used in holding together each radio or television production— but she was also quick to rise to any colleague’s defense. Berg’s decision to stand by co-star Philip Loeb, who was blacklisted in 1950, cost her dearly—CBS yanked The Goldbergs from the network lineup in June 1951—and she spent the rest of her life piecing together her shattered career. However, Berg’s stance against McCarthyism remains the most heroic, and tragic, part of a legacy that spans almost four decades, thousands of radio and television scripts and countless memories.

—Professor Glenn D. Smith, Jr. Professor Glenn D. Smith, Jr., author of Something on My Own: Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting, 1929–1956, will participate in a Q&A after the screening of The Goldbergs and a panel discussion after the screening of Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg on Tuesday, July 28, at the Castro Theatre. To learn more about Gertrude Berg, visit www. sfjff.org for a longer article by Professor Smith.

WOMEN SHOOTING WOMEN: ISRAELI DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS I am fascinated by the investigation of women by women. Is a woman film director’s perspective unique?

As we consider an answer to that question (which inevitably raises more questions), what we can say is that a number of films about women in this festival benefited enormously and in very particular ways from being directed by women. They are Desert Brides by Ada Ushpiz, Lady Kul-El Arab by Ibitisam Mara’ana and Chronicle of a Kidnap by Nurit Kedar. Desert Brides, which was named Best Film at last year’s Doc Aviv Festival, is a captivating documentary about Bedouin women in the Negev struggling with a polygamist system of marriage.

There is a double level of access afforded female directors in this film; Ushpiz gains entrée to the Bedouin community, particulary Bedouin women, while one of the main subjects of her film, Miriam El Kwader, is herself a Bedouin wedding photographer and videographer who sees the women of her community through a sharp lens. Lady Kul El-Arab, which won the Special Jury Award–Silver Wolf competition at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, is a beautifully shot film about Duah Fares, a young Druze woman from the village of Sagur in the Galilee. Fares was one of 12 finalists in the Lady of the Arabs beauty pageant for Israeli Arab women. When she decides to enter the nationwide Israeli pageant, the clash between her family, culture and dreams mirrors the conflict faced by women all over the world who step outside norms set for them by others.

Chronicle of a Kidnap follows Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of kidnapped Israeli soldier Ehud Goldwasser, as she navigates the media, government obfuscation about her husband’s status, and her own tremendous grief. The result is a skillful, dignified portrait of a woman who is at once vulnerable and tough as nails. Director Kedar’s deep compassion for her subject is rendered with her usual skill and dignity, resonating with a woman who longs to bring her husband home.

It is not a surprise that some of the greatest documentaries about women are by women. Would Chronicle of a Kidnap have been different if it had been about a man whose wife had been kidnapped? Would it have been different if it had been made by a man? I don’t have the answers, but I suspect these films are unique because of the vantage point of their directors. —Nancy K. Fishman Please join us for a panel discussion about women documentary filmmakers making films about women on Sunday, August 2, at xxx tme at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, following the screening of Desert Brides. Panelists will include Ada Ushpiz, director of Desert Brides; Ibitisam Mara’ana, director of Lady Kul-El Arab; and Nurit Kedar, director of Chronicle of a Kidnap.

2 0 0 9 S a n F r a n c i s c o J e wi s h F i l m F e s t i va l F r e e d o m o f E x p r e s s i o n Awa r d

AVIVA KEMPNER Aviva Kempner chronicles tales of Jewish heroism with tenacity, skill and endless passion. Her documentaries are artfully and painstakingly researched; the results celebrate and illuminate little-known stories of Jews who had heart and chutzpah.

She has mastered that rare, miraculous phenomenon that great documentarians strive for: being a magical matchmaker between legends of the past and curious audiences of today who collectively fall head over heels for their newly discovered heroes, warts and all. In addition to her work as a veteran documentary filmmaker, Kempner is an accomplished curator and a journalist.

Kempner was the scriptwriter, director and producer of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (SFJFF 1999), a highly entertaining documentary about the Jewish baseball slugger who fought anti-Semitism in the 1930s and ’40s. The film received a Peabody Award and was nominated for a national Emmy, among many other honors. She produced and co-wrote Partisans of Vilna (1986, directed by Joshua Waletzky), a documentary on Jewish resistance against the Nazis (SFJFF 1986) in Vilna, Lithuania. She was also the executive producer of the 1989 Grammy Award–nominated record Partisans of Vilna: The Songs of World War II Jewish Resistance.

Her newest documentary, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (see also page 27), is the humorous and eye-opening story of television pioneer Gertrude Berg. Berg was the creator, principal writer and star of The Goldbergs, a popular radio show (starting in 1929) that became television’s first character-driven sitcom in 1949. Berg received the first Best Actress Emmy, paving the way for women in the entertainment industry. In her own way, Kempner is a worthy successor to Berg’s legacy.

Kempner is a founder and curator of the Washington, D.C. Jewish Film Festival, one of the country’s best. Born in Berlin, she is the child of a Holocaust survivor and a U.S. army officer.

In her current hometown of Washington, she is an activist for voting rights for the District of Columbia. She was the recipient of a 1996 Guggenheim fellowship, 2000 D.C. Mayor’s Art Award, 2001 Women of Vision Award from D.C.’s Women in Film and Video chapter and 2001 Media Art award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. —Nancy K. Fishman Hats off to Aviva Kempner for her significant contribution to Jewish cinema!

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Freedom of Expression Award honors the unfettered imagination, which is the cornerstone of a free, just and open society. Aviva Kempner will accept her award following the San Francisco screening of Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg on Tuesday, July 28.

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

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special music event

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P u p p e t Fo l k R e v i va l B a n d : U . S . D e b u t Co n c e r t !

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When the playfulness of the Muppets comes together with the hedonistic machismo of faded rock demigods like Spinal Tap, mixed with the crude humor of South Park and a dash of the inventiveness of Flight of the Conchords . . . well, you just might end up with something like the PFR Band (Puppet Folk Revival), making their American debut at SFJFF with a live musical performance and clip show at San Francisco’s CELLspace. Ari Feffer, Micha Duman and Ami Wiesel—the PFR Band puppetmaster-musicians— bring their bizarrely unique and bitingly funny live musical puppet act to San Francisco for a night of rockin’ music, riotous clips and surefire puppet mayhem.

Already a cult sensation in Israel, the PFR Band are the creators and stars of the raucous mockumentary-style television show Red Band, based on their live act. The trio are friends who attended Tel Aviv University Film School and are first-generation Israelis born of American parents. Their show follows washedup ’60s rock ’n’ roller Red Orbach’s inept attempts at staging a comeback in Tel Aviv with former band mates Lefty and Poncho and tagalong drug supplier Phillip, all of whom happen to be

life-size puppets. A mashup of American pop culture (Red being the only English speaker) and Tel Aviv hipdom, the show has featured many of Israel’s biggest musical stars (Aviv Geffen, Shalom Hanoch, Efrat Gosh) as guest musicians in hilarious selfskewering depictions of celebrity where no one is safe from the wrath of Red’s foul mouth. As he describes it, the PFR Band is “kick ass fucking rock ’n’ roll!”—Joshua Moore Friday, July 31 9:00pm CELLspace 2050 Bryant St. (btwn 19th/20th Sts.), San Francisco $10/$9 Members (All-Festival Pass not valid for this event) Ticket code XXXXXXX 21 and over

spotlight on:

a n i m at i o n Jewish-themed animation has landed center stage with the recent success of Ari Folman’s multi-award-winning Waltz with Bashir, Israel’s first animated feature; the soon-to-be-released stop-motion feature $9.99, based on the short stories of acclaimed Israeli author and filmmaker Etgar Keret (The Girl on the Fridge, Jellyfish); and Sundance opener Mary and Max from Australia. Part of this year’s focus on animation, Mary and Max, the creation of Oscar-winning filmmaker Adam Elliot, is a bittersweet comic tale of an unlikely yet extraordinary friendship between a middle-aged, obese New York Jew with Asperger’s syndrome and his eight-year-old Australian pen pal. Brought to life by bravura voice performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette, Mary and Max is a brilliant stop-motion animated feature with extraordinary heart for two oddballs at wits’ end with the world, but at peace with each other.

Prestigious Israeli schools such as the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and Minshar School of the Arts in Tel Aviv are producing many of the world’s most talented

up-and-coming animators, some of whom are featured in the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival’s first-ever animated shorts program, Jewtoons (see page 19), a collection of 15 films from Israel and the United States. A diverse lineup showcases a multitude of techniques including 3-D, 2-D computer animation, pixilation, still photos, hand-drawn, stop-motion and puppetry.

The collected shorts cover the political (Michal and Uri Kranot’s prize-winning The Heart of Amos Klein), the introspective (Idan Vardi’s Woods), the abstract (Michal Ronen’s In Aporia), the satirical (Nick Fox-Gieg’s I Wanna Be Famous), the playful (Aiv Ofer’s Sandbox) and the folkloric (Andrea Deszo’s The Demon Bridegroom).—Joshua Moore

Acne

ADA M

California Premiere Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay (East Republic), 2008, 87 min., color, Spanish

Director/Screenwriter: Federico Veiroj Cinematographer: Barbara Alvarez Editor: Fernando Epstein Principal Cast: Alejandro Tocar, Yoel Bercovici

Co -sponsored by Lenny & Carol Lieberman, K athy Fields & Garry R ayant, and Amnon & K atie Rodan

To be plagued by pimples during the awkward identity crisis that is adolescence is a cruel irony at best. At thirteen, young Rafa Bregman, having just celebrated his bar mitzvah, is poised precariously on the edge of youth’s clumsy innocence and the expectations of now being a man—namely, the expectation of a young man’s “first time.” Only it isn’t sex that is a mystery for Rafa, who, with the help of his older brother, is initiated into that realm by the attractive family housekeeper, Angélica.

Instead Rafa searches among the females in his life for his very first kiss. He dreams of a kiss with his classmate Nicole, desperately tries to make a connection with Angélica, visits a brothel and has a rather clever encounter with a fur rug and an adult magazine, all in an attempt to quiet the raging hormones of his burgeoning sexuality. Meanwhile, his family structure is shifting, his friends are changing and his acne is flaring out of control. How does a young man balance the upheaval of body and life all at once? Award-winning short-film director Federico Veiroj’s debut feature film Acne is a poignant and charmingly melancholic look back at the tiny battles of youth. — Rachel Aloy

Bay Area Premiere United States, 2009, 99 min., color, English

Director/Screenwriter: Max Mayer Cinematographer: Seamus Tierney Editor: Grant Myers

When nice Jewish girl Beth (Rose Byrne) moves into a Manhattan apartment, the outspoken smarty next door, Adam (Hugh Dancy), is probably not what her upper-middle-class Jewish mom (Amy Irving) and dad (Peter Gallagher) had in mind for her. Adam takes her to Central Park to watch the playful antics of raccoons at night and has more planets and stars stuck on his ceiling than the entire geek squad of MIT. But cupid’s arrow strikes these two different denizens of Gotham hard; they have major chemistry, and within minutes we find ourselves rooting for them to overcome differences in culture and communication styles. Beth’s parents try to dissuade their daughter from pursuing the relationship, but like most adult children, that only makes her want him more. Adam’s down-toearth buddy Harlan (Frankie Faison) offers advice on women, but Adam is not lacking in the charm department. Max Mayer’s romantic drama mines the story of twentysomething lovers in New York with refreshing dialogue and a wicked sense of humor.

Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan prize for a feature film with science as a theme at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, Mayer’s script sparkles and shines even more than the stars on Adam’s ceiling. —Nancy K. Fishman Preceded by

Eve

Preceded by

Bait California Premiere Israel, 2008, 12 min., color, Hebrew

Director/Screenwriter: Michal Vinik

On their way to the seashore to fish on a sweltering summer afternoon, edgy tomboy Nitzan and her bubbly, attractive sister hitch a ride with a young Filipino guest worker; sexual tensions boil to unexpected results. Talented newcomer Michal Vinik crafts an honest portrayal of teenage sexuality in this superb slice-of-life story.

California Premiere United States, 2008, 17 min., color, English

Director/Screenwriter: Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman’s directorial debut is a charming, nuanced portrayal of age and beauty starring legendary performers Lauren Bacall and Ben Gazzara. A young woman (Olivia Thirlby) finds herself chaperoning her grandmother’s date night.—Joshua Moore Co-presented by The Hub at JCCSF, Interfaith Connection of the JCCSF and Jewish Welcome Network

Co-presented by the Contemporay Jewish Museum

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B rok e n L i n e s

B rok e n Prom i s e

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United States Premiere United Kingdom, 2008, 112 min., color, English Director: Sallie Aprahamian Screenwriters: Dan Fredenburgh, Doraly Rosa

Cinematographer: Jean-Louis Bompoint Editor: Brand Thumim Principal Cast: Dan Fredenburgh, Olivia Williams, Paul Bettany

In Broken Lines, a dark and erotic drama set in North London, two people from different worlds, each trapped in stunted relationships, are drawn together by grief and sexual desire.

Jake (Dan Fredenburgh), a well-to-do property developer, and B (Doraly Rosa), a waitress in a café, meet by chance when Jake returns to his native Finsbury Park following the death of his father. While Jake winds up his father’s affairs, his lust for B develops to a boil, and he puts off facing long-avoided family issues. The two lonely souls begin an illicit affair, he cheating on his uptight fiancée Zoe (Olivia Williams), she cheating on her boyfriend Chester (Paul Bettany), a former boxer who is paralyzed after an injury. Jake and B’s smoldering liaison provides them a welcome escape from their troubled relationships, and their sense of despair begins to give way to freedom. Written by co-stars Fredenburgh and Rosa, and directed with eloquence by Sallie Aprahamian against the vivid backdrop of multicultural North London, Broken Lines shows sparks of hope and passion igniting even in suffering souls, as they navigate life and the surprises that come with it.

— Elizabeth Biddlecomb

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Preceded by

M y Am u l e t North American Premiere United Kingdom, 2008, 8 min., English

Director: Leah Thorn

Slovak Republic, 2008, 111 min., color, Slovak Director: Jiri Chlumsky Cinematographer: Ján Duris

Editor: Vassilis Skalenakis Principal Cast: Ina Marojevic, Lubomir Bukovy, Ondrej Vetch

Broken Promise is a superb offering from the expanding universe of Slovak film production. Based on the true story of teenager Martin Friedman’s escape from deportation—several times between 1938 and 1945—the film lays bare choices that people made as Hitler’s power fomented hatred with impunity.

Despite the pleading of Martin’s prescient elder brother, their father refuses to leave his village for Palestine at a critical juncture before transports begin moving masses of human cargo to unseen camps. Meanwhile, the local soccer club forbids Jews to play in mixed teams; Martin forms a Jewish team, only to have it attacked by a mob when they win a match. For many Jewish youth and their families, this marks the end of bewilderment, the beginning of terror and destruction of their communities. Yet innocence is an unyielding birthright. From work camp to Catholic infirmary to a monastery, Martin wins deliverance from mandated extinction by hiding his identity, through naked chance and with aid from sympathizers. By 1943, as Martin Petrasek, he joins the social-nationalist Partisan resistance to take up arms against the Germans. But not even the Partisans are immune from viewing Jews as “other.” With unusual candor, Broken Promise explores collective and individual anti-Semitism among invaders and liberators alike.

—Elsa E’der Co-presented by Jewish Partisans Educational Foundation and Holocaust Center of Northern California

The London suburbs of the ’60s and ’70s, complete with beehives and high heels, fur stoles and Ford Zephyrs, are captured full spectrum in Leah Thorn’s handheld Super 8 home movies. The director, also a spoken word poet, creates a lyrical and rhythmic take on Anglo-Jewish Ashkenazi identity. — Joshua Moore Co-presented by YLD of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay and Jewish Community Center of the East Bay

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C h ro n i c l e o f a K i d n a p

Cycles

United States Premiere Israel, 2008, 55 min., color, Hebrew w/ Eng. Subtitles

Bay Area Premiere France, 2008, 92 min., color, French Director/Screenwriter: Cyril Gelblat Cinematographer: Jean-Marc Fabre

Director/Screenwriter: Nurit Kedar Cinematographer: Mika Orr Editor: Shimon Spector

On July 12, 2006, Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by Hezbollah, an event that triggered the second Lebanon war. This is the story of the families left behind and their struggle to bring their loved ones home, told with the deft hand and keen eye of documentarian Nurit Kedar (Wasted, SFJFF 2007; Borders, SFJFF 2007).

Politicians’ empty promises, the conflict between individual desires and government calculations of “cost effectiveness,” and the necessity to, in the words of the families’ media consultant, “sell sorrow and market pain,” add layers of complexity. The heroine, however, is Karnit Goldwasser, Ehud’s wife, who lobbies and speaks out tirelessly. As she rides her bicycle along the border trying to find signs, any way to overcome the obstacles to the soldiers’ return, Karnit, like Marianne Pearl, refuses to give up, maintaining her faith that one day she will wake up from the nightmare. — Alon Raab Preceded by

Gi l a d Sh a l i t: 2 Y e a r s in Captivit y Israel, 2008, 50 min., Hebrew

Director: Irit Gal

Aviva and Noam Shalit campaign to free their son Gilad, captured by Gazan militants on June 25, 2006. “The sky collapsed,” says Aviva, who reads a parable about a fish and a shark becoming friends that Gilad wrote in fifth grade. “In the Middle East, every side thinks it is the fish, but now Gilad is the fish, and I hope he managed to form friendly ties, and that eventually we will all be friends.” One of the kidnappers and the mother of a Palestinian prisoner held by Israel are also interviewed. —Alon Raab Co-presented by Congregation Sherith Israel, Anmerican Friends Service Committee and Temple Sinai of Oakland

Editor: Emmanuelle Castro Principal Cast: Charles Berling, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Miou-Miou

Co -sponsored by Debor ah Bl ank

The film’s French title, “Les Murs Porteurs”—bearing walls— conveys how life’s passages can rattle your foundation. It’s happening to a Parisian divorcée, Judith, whose mother is slipping into a world of memories just as her child slips into adulthood, and away. She’s surprised to be facing middle age in this way; not so her brother Simon, a peripatetic political pundit who prefers not to face anything. Cyril Gelblat’s accomplished debut uses a refreshingly light hand to show the special nature of this kind of loss for the children of Holocaust survivors as their mother, Frida, increasingly confuses the present with a past they have no access to. Gelblat deftly sketches the family: the casual physicality, as a daughter rubs lotion into her mother’s translucent skin; the sexuality, as a wily old woman instinctively acts smarter for her son; the possessiveness, in the grasping of a neglectful father. In the stellar ensemble cast there are no debuts: Miou-Miou, the intellectual gamine of the 1970s, is all grown up now, and as Judith, nails the “sandwich” generation. Charles Berling tempers any threat of pathos with Simon’s absurdity, a drama of a ridiculous man. But it is Shulamit Adar, as Frida, who wordlessly conveys the mercurial nature of dementia and, metaphorically, the fragility of cultural heritage. —Judy Bloch Preceded by

W i t h a Li t t l e P at i e n c e Bay Area Premiere Hungary, 2007, 14 min., color

Director: Laszlo Nemes

Director Laszlo Nemes keeps his camera fixed on the evocatively stoic face of a young female office clerk, capturing her every nuance as she scrupulously goes about her daily routine, which leads to a solemn revelation just outside the window, where a man is waiting for her. —Joshua Moore Co-presented by Alliance Française de San Francisco, Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties and Holocaust Center of Northern California

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D e fa m at i o n

Desert Brides

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Bay Area Premiere Israel, 2009, 91 min., color, Hebrew

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Director/Screenwriter/ Cinematographer: Yoav Shamir Editor: Morten Hojbjorg

The first time Israeli Jewish director Yoav Shamir was called an anti-Semite was by an American Jewish reviewer of his film Checkpoint (SFJFF 2004), who deemed Shamir too critical of Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians. “Until then,” says Shamir, “I had never considered the central role that antiSemitism plays in our lives. As a young Israeli, having never experienced anti-Semitism myself, I decided to learn something about the subject.”

The bracing result is Shamir’s most personal and perhaps most daring film, in which he explores the ways contemporary Jews in Israel, Europe and America learn and think about antiSemitism, both real and perceived. Shamir takes his probing camera and (almost) innocent questions to the halls of the AntiDefamation League, where he is granted intimate access to the fierce crusading of its globe-trotting director, Abe Foxman. Next, Shamir tags along with Israeli teens on a trip to Auschwitz, only to wonder if growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust is healthful for these young people, who are quick to assume that “everybody hates the Jews.” And he visits controversial critics of the supposed Jewish focus on persecution, like author Norman Finkelstein, allowing them enough rope to hang themselves as well. In worrying about the future of the Jewish soul, Shamir is willing to poke a stick at a few sacred cows, but he’s too gifted a filmmaker to let ideology trump thought. Defamation is an audacious film, certain to provoke discussion and debate . . . and how Jewish is that? —Peter L. Stein

California Premiere Israel, 2008, 90 min., color, Arabic, Hebrew

Director/Screenwriter: Ada Ushpiz Cinematographer: Danor Glazer Editor: Ron Goldman

In the settlement of Rahat in the Negev Desert, seductively festive wedding images become a portal to women’s struggles with polygamy; close-ups hint at the realities of becoming a first wife, second wife or lover in Bedouin culture. Through wedding photographer Mariam Al-Quader’s eyes, Desert Brides (Best Film, Doc Aviv Festival 2008) reveals rare emotional spaces of women who must compete for value and status relative to the desires of men. There is Miriam Al-Nimer, a strong and independent divorcee, who refuses to become a second wife, yet has fallen in love with a married man. First wife Aliya endures in silence while her heart breaks as her husband diverts time, attention and resources (slaughtered lambs) away from her and their children to Al-Nimer. Meanwhile, the older-generation men passionately endorse polygamy to Al-Quader’s husband, who simultaneously refuses to allow his daughter to marry someone she loves. One third of Bedouin women live in polygamous households fueled by a relentless drive back to religion for minority survival in the larger Israeli culture. Displacement, tradition and survival remain colliding forces for women and children. —Elsa E’der Co-presented by Bay Area Women in Film and Television and Women’s Film Festival

Co-presented by the Contemporary Jewish Museum and DOC Film Institute at San Francisco State

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Em p t y N e s t Bay Area Premiere Argentina, France, Italy, Spain, 2008, 91 min., color, Spanish Director/Screenwriter: Daniel Burman

T h e G i f t t o S ta l i n Cinematographer: Hugo Colace Editor: Alejandro Brodersohn Principal Cast: Arturo Goetz, Oscar Martinez

California Premiere Israel, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, 2008, 99 min., Kazakh, Russian Director: Rustem Abdrashitov Screenwriter: Pavel Finn

Cinematographer: Khasan Kidiraliev Editor: Sylvain Coutandin Principal Cast: Bakhtiar Khoja, Nurzhuman Ikhtymbayev, Yekaterina Rednikova

In a witty and sophisticated farce, middle-aged play wright Leonardo Vindel (the marvelous Oscar Martínez) descends into a world where fantasy and reality interlace seamlessly. Reality would be his advancing age, his midriff bulge, the departure of his grown-up children, and the unraveling of his marriage to the still-gorgeous and sexy Martha (Pedro Almodóvar star Cecilia Roth). Fantasy is his May-December affair with a beautiful young dental assistant, and his intimate conversations with a secret buddy who not only listens sympathetically to his kvetching but follows him to the shores of the Dead Sea to visit his daughter and machine-gun-toting Israeli son-in-law. This is a confrontation with a reality far different from his comfortable life back home. One of Argentina’s leading directors, Daniel Burman takes a new approach to the intertwined issues of aging and identity following his earlier trilogy of films on Jewish life in Buenos Aires, Waiting for the Messiah (SFJFF 2001), Lost Embrace, and Family Law. In Empty Nest he plays with film’s ability to alter time and reveal the unconscious. His characters struggle to deny the passage of time, but their rich inner lives bring them to the edge of understanding and acceptance. Will they learn in time? —Alan Snitow

Rustem Abdrashev, whose Rebirth Island was the first film from Kazakhstan to win the prestigious FIPRESCI (international critics) prize, sets his new drama in a tiny village in the vast Kazakh steppes. The inhabitants are all considered enemies of the state, but they refuse to allow their outcast status to quash their rebellious acts privileging life and human connectedness.

In 1949, railcars holding Jews and other deportees creep eastward into oblivion. Or is it? For young Sasha, salvation comes through a rubric of chance, defiance and love. His enforced rebirth finds him surrounded by a makeshift new clan: his savior and new grandfather, Kasym (veteran actor Nurzhuman Ikhtimbaev), who is Muslim; Verka, the wife of a traitor; Ezhik, a Polish resister; and a gang of orphans—a wilderness family with deep bonds despite habitual harassment from authorities. Rare news comes from Moscow announcing a children’s contest celebrating Stalin’s 70th birthday. If Sasha’s original gift wins, he hopes to achieve his parents’ freedom. Decades pass, and Sasha questions history and his fate: “Who are you in the land of your God if a part of your soul was left behind?” Gift’s allegorical ending will linger long in your heart and mind, likely to raise questions, yet perhaps answer others, such as Kasym’s early query, “Whose flock are you from? —Elsa E’der

Co-presented by Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills and Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay

Preceded by

M a m a , L’ Ch a im ! ( T o Lif e ! ) Bay Area Premiere United States, 2008, 5 min.

Director: Elkan Spiller

Chaim Lubelski has dedicated three years of his life to being his 95-year-old mother’s caretaker as the two share the confines of a one-bedroom apartment. The mother, a Holocaust survivor, brings out the joyfulness in her son with her gregarious and refreshing optimism for life, as the Jewish toast (and Chaim’s name) reaffirm. —Joshua Moore Co-presented by Kritzer/Ross Émigré Program of the JCCSF, The 79ers, a program of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco and Peninsula Jewish Community Center

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T h e Go l d b e r g ’ s Ar c h i va l

Heart of Stone

United States, English

Bay Area Premiere United States, 2008, 84 min., color, English Director: Beth Toni Kruvant

Cinematographer: David Harges Editor: Anand Kamalaker Principal Cast: Karl Steudel, Matt Heron-Duranti

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Sponsored by Ver a & Harold S. Stein, Jr.

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The Goldbergs, a brilliant show written and directed by and starring Gertrude Berg, premiered on radio in 1929 and on TV in 1949, when it became television’s first character-driven domestic sitcom. Berg (subject of this year’s Freedom of Expression Award–winner Aviva Kempner’s new documentary Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg) received the first Best Actress Emmy for her portrayal of the lovable, buxom baleboste from the Bronx Molly Goldberg, who dispenses advice, gossip and a whole lot of common sense. She talks from her window to her neighbors and via the airwaves to millions of immigrant and first-generation families who were struggling to become American. By the end of each show, as she leans out and says goodnight “from our family to your family,” you feel like Molly has become your tante and that, regardless of your ethnicity, you are part of a larger American family. We will be showing four archival episodes: “Matchmaker,” in which Molly’s cousin Hannah Leah copes with gallstones and a single daughter; “ (need title),” starring a young Anne Bancroft, who can’t quite bring herself to call her motherin-law “Mom”; “Molly’s Fish,” how not every recipe can be mass produced; and “Rent Strike,” a vehicle for Jake Goldberg’s (played by actor Philip Loeb) sense of justice when confronted with a new landlord. –Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by KQED Public Broadcasting, BJE Jewish Community Library and Anti-Defamation League, Central Pacific Region

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Heart of Stone is a moving documentary about a passionate principal in Newark, New Jersey, who inspires dueling gang members to put down their weapons and come together for education’s sake. Before 1960, Weequahic High School was one of the most prestigious in the country. The predominantly Jewish student body went on to become doctors, law yers and public figures (like novelist Philip Roth, Rabbi Michael Lerner, NBA star Al Attles); then, like many urban achievers, they took their success to the suburbs. Fast-forward to 2000, and the school has devolved into a breeding ground for gang violence in one of the nation’s most dangerous cities. But all that changes when Ron Stone becomes principal. Stone develops a conflict resolution program for rival gangs and gains the respect of teenagers dismissed as criminals by local police. He partners with the old Jewish leadership of the school’s alumni association to create a college scholarship fund. As they reminisce about the old days of Yiddish football cheers and kosher franks, they raise money to help return their alma mater to its former glory. What starts as one man’s fight to save a troubled school becomes a story about a community reaching across ethnic and generational lines to preserve a historic neighborhood in a city that author Roth once portrayed as a turn-of-the-century Camelot. —Leah Wolchok Co-presented by Facing History and Ourselves

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H e l l o Goo d b y e France, Israel, 2008, 99 min., French Director: Graham Guit Screenwriter: Michael Lellouche

A H i s t or y o f I s r a e l i C i n e m a Cinematographer: Gérard Sterin Principal Cast: Fanny Ardant, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Benguigui Benguigui

Co -sponsored by Cr aig Harrison’s Expressions of Excellence! ™ ; and by Fred Lev in & Nancy Li v ingston, The Shenson Foundation

In this entertaining romantic comedy, Alain (Gerard Depardieu) and Gisele (Fanny Ardant) are a comfortable, middle-aged Jewish French couple whose marriage needs a spark. Their son’s decision to marry a non-Jewish girl—in a church, no less—inspires them to do what other couples may only have thought about: pack up and move to the Land of Milk and Honey.

Alain, a prominent gynecologist in Paris, is promised a job at a Tel Aviv hospital, but when that falls through he is forced to find a new way to make a living, while navigating a new language and missing his favorite French soccer team. Meanwhile Gisele, a converted and dedicated Jew, falls in love with Israel and its people almost immediately, developing a close friendship with a handsome rabbi (Lior Ashkenazi of Walk on Water). The cultural obstacles they face threaten to force the couple apart; as their upper-middle-class ambitions melt in the Mideast sun, will Tel Aviv and Israeli culture bring them closer together back into the reality they left behind? Hello Goodbye is a charming and at times hilarious story of spontaneous adventures during a midlife crisis. —Grant Stevens Preceded by

Si d n e y T u r t l e b a u m Bay Area Premiere United Kingdom, 2008, 18 min., color, English

North American Premiere 2009, 210 min., black & white Director: Raphael Nadjari

Cinematographer: Frederic Lefebvre Editor: Sean Foley

Co -sponsored by Reuven & Zehava Itelman

Israel as a nation is far younger than motion pictures; in fact, its modern identity has been formed in parallel with the medium of film. Israeli films, when seen unfolding over time as they do in this engrossing retrospective documentary, reveal a cinematic national identity that encapsulates the emotional reality of a country often torn by ethnic, religious and political conflicts.

Award-winning filmmaker Raphaël Nadjari (Tehilim, SFJFF 2008) weaves together in-depth research and extraordinary film clips spanning more than 60 years to give us a kaleidoscopic visual retelling of the history of a national cinema. Dividing his film chronologically, Nadjari has crafted an assemblage of fascinating interviews with leading Israeli actors, producers, film critics, scholars and filmmakers, laced with film sequences spanning early silent films to the presentday renaissance of the Israeli film industry. Part One begins in 1933 with visions of the Zionist dream and takes us to1978, when themes of memory and loss share the spotlight. The second part, from 1978 to 2005, vibrantly depicts the wave of political films from the 1980s contrasted to the more personal cinema of today. Interviewees include Amos Gitai, Joseph Cedar, Avi Mograbi, Yehuda Ne’eman, Menachem Golan, Moshe Ivgy and Zeev Revach. A “must see” for any fan of Israeli cinema and a fabulous introduction for the uninitiated. —Janis Plotkin Note: The film will be screened with a brief intermission.

Director: Tristram Shapeero

Co-presented by Friend Center for the Arts at the JCCSF, San Francisco Film Society and BJE Jewish Community Library

In this delightfully dark comedy of manners, Derek Jacobi stars as Sidney, a smooth-talking elderly gay man in the twilight of his life who ekes out a living as a pickpocket, robbing grieving strangers at shivas where he pawns himself off as a loving and genteel distant relative. —Joshua Moore Co-presented by Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay, Alliance Française de San Francisco and Building Jewish Bridges

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I Am Vo n H ö f l e r Va r i at i o n s o n W e r t h e r

Jerusalem Cuts

North American Premiere Hungary, 2008, 160 min., English, Hungarian

Israel, 2009, 52 min., black & white, Hebrew

Director/Screenwriter/ Cinematographer/Editor: Péter Forgács

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Co -sponsored by Michael Ehrenzweig

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If you have never seen a Péter Forgács’s film, you are missing one of cinema’s most virtuosic, genre-bending practitioners.

Immerse yourself in found-footage alchemist Forgács’s 15th film in the “Private Hungary” series—films artfully assembled from archival collections of home movies. I Am Von Höfler is a beautiful fusion of footage shot by Hungarian Tibor Von Höfler—the son of a Christian industrialist father and a Jewish mother—and photos, letters and contemporary interviews. Von Höfler, a bon vivant, chemist, piano-playing dilettante and cad, was spectator to a history that included the German invasion of Hungary, the Holocaust and the rise and fall of Communism.

Like a medium leading a séance, Forgács uncannily brings to life the past and the flawed humanity that even witnesses to the gravest events of world history display. He edits the voice of Tibor’s mistress begging for money over images of Tibor jauntily playing his piano; Tibor’s mother’s letters over his erotic photos of women; and, in a coup de grace, an image of Tibor floating happily in a lake with voice over from his Aunt Szera’s letter describing conditions in the Jewish Ghetto.

Forgács (2008 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Freedom of Expression Award) once again slices through the vortex of time with this extraordinary documentary elegantly scored by Tibor Szemzö and László Melis. —Nancy K. Fishman There will be a brief intermission during this screening.

Co-presented by California Film Institute and San Francisco Cinenmatheque

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Director: Liran Atzmor Cinematographer: Roni Katzenelson Editor: Haim Tabacmen

Three different narratives of Israel’s 1948 war of independence unfold side by side through the images of a British photojournalist, a Zionist movie producer and a Palestinian photographer in Liran Atzmor’s revelatory film about the ways images shape our view of history. Life Magazine photographer John Phillips’s stunning shots of the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem’s Old City later found their fictional expression in Israel’s first internationally successful feature film, Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer; meanwhile, Ali Zaarour’s obscure photo album of the same period tells a another tale . . .

—Peter L. Stein Preceded by

H e r s k o v i t s : At t h e H e a r t o f Bl ackness Bay Area Premiere United States, 2009, 56 min., black & white, English

Director: Llew Smith Editor: James Rutenbeck

This fascinating, visually innovative documentary reveals the pioneering work and controversial legacy of American Jewish anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits, a towering scholar often credited with inventing the field of African studies in the 1920s through the 50s. Herskovits’s groundbreaking field research, conducted in an era when Jews and blacks were unwelcome either as academics or as subjects of dignified study, dared to find that African American cultures are distinct and Africanbased—a tidal shift in the image (and self-image) of blacks in America. Ironically, his very authority also sparked an ongoing, racially charged power struggle over who gets to tell the story of a people. —Peter L. Stein

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Great things come in small packages in this year’s exceptional shorts program including flying babies, Soviet agents, pickpockets, drumbeats and raging teenage hormones, and with appearances by such Holly wood luminaries Lauren Bacall, Derek Jacobi and Ben Gazzara, as well as Dani Lev y’s latest satire and Natalie Portman’s directorial debut. Total running time 93 minutes. —Joshua Moore

Rabid jackals, lonely stalkers, bored and disgruntled IDF soldiers, demon bridegrooms, schoolyard crushes, falling bombs, crazy cats and severed limbs are just a small sample of what’s in store for you in the SFJFF’s first-ever animated shorts program.

Total running time: 90 minutes. —Joshua Moore S a n d B o x Israel, 2006, 3 min., Director: Avi Ofer H a r d c o v e r & P a p e rb a c k Israel, 2008, 3 min.

T e n f or Gr a n d p a Bay Area Premiere, Canada, United States, 2008, 7 min., color, English, Director: Doug Karr

Tr a c e Israel, 4 min.

See page 26.

T h e D e mo n B r i d e g room United States, 2009, 15 min., color, Director: Andrea Dezso

Bait

I W a n n a B e F a mo u s California Premiere, United States, 3 min.,

Israel, 2008, 12 min., color, Hebrew, Director/Screenwriter: Michal Vinik

Director: Nick Fox-Gieg

See page 11.

T h e O p t i o n o f W a r California Premiere, United States, 7 min., English

Jo s h u a Germany, 2009, 12 min., color, German, Director: Dani Levy

See page 6

W oo d s Israel, 2008, 9 min., color, Director: Idan Vardi Tr u e Lo v e Ho t e l 2008, 7 min.

Grow n U p California Premiere, Israel, 2008, 20 min., color, English, Director: Dana Neuberg

See page 20.

B e t o n Israel, 2008, 7 min., color, Director: Ariel Belinco, Director/Screenwriter: Michael Faust

T h e Fo x h o l e M a n i f e s t o United States, 4 min., English

Prrr i d e United States Premiere, Israel, 2008, 3 min., Hebrew, Director: Eitan Efrat

I n A p or i a Israel, 2008, 4 min.

See page 23.

L i n e 9 Israel, 2008, 7 min.

Sidney Turtlebaum

E s c a p i s m Israel, 2002, 7 min., Director: Avi Ofer

Bay Area Premiere, United Kingdom, 2008, 18 min., color, English, Director: Tristram Shapeero

M y M e mor i e s Ar e E n t w i n e d W i t h Yo u Israel, 4 min.

See page 17.

H e a r t o f Amo s K l e i n Denmark, France, Israel, Netherlands, 2008, 15 min. silent, Directors/Screenwriters: Michael Pfeffer, Uri Kranot

Eve United States, 2008, 17 min., color, English, Director/Screenwriter: Natalie Portman

See page 11.

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L a d y K u l E l - Ar a b

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California Premiere Israel, 2008, 56 min., color, Arabic, Hebrew

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Lake 68 Director/Screenwriter/ Cinematographer: Ibtisam Mara’ana Editor: Miri Laufer

Duah Fares, a spirited Druze Arab from Israel’s Galilee, prepares for the annual Lady of the Arabs beauty pageant.

Her avuncular coach and sympathetic family offer her loving support in what appears at first to be a documentary about the dreams of Arab girls in Israel. But this film veers rapidly towards edge-of-your-seat suspense when Duah changes her name to Angelina and applies to enter the Miss Israel pageant.

Her family worries about the swimsuit competition, the Israelis force her to choose national loyalties, and the mood turns ominous when village traditionalists get involved. Duah’s father and mother face agonizing choices and sacrifices if they are to support their rebel daughter’s ambition. Against this landscape of runway competition, exploitation and surprising moments of solidarity, Duah will make a decision that is guaranteed to provoke controversy. Special Jury Award winner,IDFA Silver Wolf Competition. —Deborah Kaufman

California Premiere Israel, 2008, 59 min., Hebrew, Polish

Director: Irit Shamgar

In 1967 and 1968, Poland was gripped by a deep political crisis and student unrest. Coming on the heels of Israel’s Six Day War, the government’s response was to launch a wave of official antiZionism, accusing Jewish students, academics and professionals of harboring divided loyalties. By spring of 1968, some 20,000 Jews—nearly 80 percent of the Jewish population at the time, most of them assimilated Polish citizens—were drummed from their jobs and universities and expelled to Israel or beyond.

Some left without looking back; but others stayed, like filmmaker Irit Shangar’s father, a journalist for communist newspapers, who rejected exile in Israel despite separation from his wife and children. Now, each summer, several Polish Jewish families reunite at the lake where they took refuge in 1968 while waiting for exit permits. Shangar has created that rare documentary that is both intellectually thought provoking and visually breathtaking. —Annie Abernethy Followed by

Preceded by

G d a n s k i R a i lway S tat i o n

Grown Up California Premiere Israel, 2008, 20 min., color, English

Director: Dana Neuberg

In the confusing time between childhood and adolescence, 15-yearold Shira discovers the world of sexuality, jealousy and seduction.

When her mother’s date arrives earlier than expected, things get out of control and boundaries are broken. —Joshua Moore Co-presented by Arab Film Festival, Women’s Film Festival and New Israel Fund

World Premiere Poland, 2007, 52 min., Polish, w/ Eng. Subtitles

Director: Maria Koczanowicz Screenwriter: Teresa Toranska Cinematographer: Rafal Paradowski Editor: Grazyna Gradon

Gdanski R ailway is sponsored by a generous gr ant from the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture

The purges of 1968 expelled thousands of Polish Jews to Israel on trains leaving from Warsaw’s Gdanski Station. Reuniting on camera nearly 40 years later, some of these unwilling exiles share moments of poignant reflection about their homeland and the anti-Semitic hysteria they lived through, while archival imagery–including hate-mongering speeches by Polish government leaders and family memorabilia–reveals the experience of rebuilding a life beyond expulsion. —Peter L. Stein Co-presented by Judah L. Magnes Museum and Lehrhaus Judaica

Castro Roda CineArts

Thu, Jul 30 Sat, Aug 1 Wed, Aug 5

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M a’a l e h 2 0 t h A n n i v e r s a r y Pro g r a m

Bay Area Premiere Israel, 2008, 103 min., color, Hebrew Director/Screenwriter: Reshef Levi Cinematographer: Ofer Harari

Editor: Isaak Sehayek Principal Cast: Michael Moshonov, Oshri Cohen, Yuval Sharf

Sponsored by Charlot te & Eldad Matit yahu

Living and laughing away the early 1980s, the Levis are a large, fun-loving Israeli family—at times quirky, but mostly typical. The children’s father lectures them on the merits of honesty, the mysterious world of succulents and the wonders of the Apollo spacecraft. Their mother irons everyone’s clothes and nourishes their dreams, most keenly supporting her son Ofer’s long-cherished goal of entering the Israeli Army’s elite commando unit. But the simplicity of the Levi family’s existence is shattered when Ofer’s twin brother Erez discovers an explosive secret and unwittingly triggers a family tragedy. The twins’ inseparable relationship undergoes a severe test just as Israel haphazardly enters into its bloodiest and most polarizing conflict to date.

Lost Islands became Israel’s box office hit of 2008, due in part to its deft depiction of an intimate family crisis set against the backdrop of a national drama. For the Levi family, their disillusionment is mirrored in the national unease toward the war in Lebanon, and soon the naive bliss of childhood seems generations past. As the family learns to navigate these choppy waters through difficult compromise and newfound empathy, we are offered a suggestion as to how the wildly complex difficulties of the Middle East also might be eased, if not altogether resolved.

Sponsored by Amy & Mort Friedkin

The Ma’aleh School of Television, Film and the Arts is the only film school of its kind in the world. SFJFF celebrates 20 years of the Jerusalem-based academy, which trains filmmakers to produce work inspired by their Jewish heritage, fostering a unique connection between the world of media and Jewish culture. The rigorous and unusual program at Ma’aleh encourages storytelling by gifted young filmmakers, giving voice to the issues and concerns of a new generation of Jews,­many of them Orthodox or more traditionally observant than their counterparts in other film schools worldwide. Ma’aleh creates a safe haven where even difficult subjects such as women’s roles in Orthodox Judaism, spiritual doubt and sexuality can be creatively explored. The school also seeks to build bridges between the religious and secular worlds. SFJFF is honored to present four short films by Ma’aleh filmmakers and to welcome the school’s director, Neta Ariel, to the festival.

S e p a r at i o n North American Premiere, Israel, 17 min.

A S h a bbo s M o t h e r Bay Area Premiere, Israel, 2005, 27 min., color, Director: Inbar Namdar

R o s e n z w e i g - B or n t o D a n c e North American Premiere, Israel, 2008, 17 min., Director: Keren Hakak

A n d T h o u S h a lt Lo v e Israel, 2008, 28 min., color, Hebrew, Director: Chaim Elbaum Co-presented by Congregation Beth Sholom, San Francisco and Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco

Co-presented by East Bay Media Center / Berkeley Video & Film Festivals, Israel Center and Judah L. Magnes Museum

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Mary and Ma x California Premiere Australia, 2008, 92 min., color and black & white, English

M e n a c h e m a n d Fr e d Director: Adam Elliot Principal Cast: Barry Humphries, Philip Hoffman, Toni Collette

Germany, Israel, 2007, 90 min., color, English, French, German, Hebrew

Director/Screenwriter: Ofra Tevet Director/Screenwriter/Editor: Ronit Kerstner Cinematographer: Klaus Sturm

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Sponsored by Denis Bouv ier

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Max Jerry Horovitz wants a friend. Mary Daisy Dinkle wants the same. Only problem is, Max, an obese Jew with Asperger’s syndrome and a compulsion to gorge himself silly on chocolate hotdogs (a homemade recipe), lives in New York, while Mary, an eight-year-old girl with a large poop-colored birthmark on her forehead and a zeal for sweetened condensed milk, lives in Australia. Mary randomly points to a name in the New York City phone book in hopes of gaining an answer to where babies come from in America. In Australia babies are found in beer mugs, or so Mary’s grandfather tells her. After reading Mary’s letter, Max suffers the panic attack that results whenever anything disrupts his orderly routine, but a dozen chocolate hotdogs later and after some sage advice from his shrink, Dr. Bernard Hazelfhoff, Max answers Mary’s question. Babies in America are found in eggs laid by rabbis.

So begins the extraordinary correspondence between Mary and Max, two lonely souls, a little less lonely now. .

Brilliantly animated by Oscar-winning director Adam Elliot and brought to life by the bravura voice work of Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mary and Max is a bittersweet tale of a friendship between oddballs at their wits’ end with the world, but at peace with each other. Opening Night selection, 2009 Sundance Film Festival. —Joshua Moore Co-presented by Travelling Jewish Theater and Jewish Welcome Network

Free Monday matinees are generously supported by the Bernard Osher Jewish Phil anthropies Foundation

Meet Menachem and Fred, an Israeli professor and an American space engineer, brothers who are now reuniting as adults. When they separated during the Holocaust, Fred moved to New York, changed his full name and raised all-American Christians; Menachem is a religious Jew and lives near his children and their West Bank settlement.

The men avoided their history for over sixty years until letters from their mother surfaced and forced them to confront the past. We travel with them to Germany on an emotional tour of the many homes and refuges they had, including their original family home, a hiding place when they were driven out on Kristallnacht, an orphanage and a camp. Both Menachem and Fred have blocked out parts of their youth so that we, as viewers, have the odd feeling that we are learning about their childhoods at the same time as they are, from old neighbors and from each other. The most difficult meeting is with the Hopps family, son and daughter of the Nazi who forced the brothers and their parents from their home. The Hoppses play a pivotal and somewhat controversial part in the reunion in Germany of Menachem and Fred’s families.

This stranger-than-fiction tale is told beautifully, both visually and through Fred’s and the filmmakers’ lyrical narration, inviting viewers to join in questioning the meaning of home, identity and fate. —Annie Abernethy Co-presented by Holocaust Center of Northern California, Peninsula Beth Shalom, Burlingame and Goethe-Institut

Castro Roda Rafael

Sat, Jul 25 Tue, Aug 4 Sat, Aug 8

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Mon, Jul 27 Thu, Aug 6

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Rachel Belgium, France, 2009, 100 min., color, Hebrew Director/Screenwriter: Simone Bitton

Refugees Cinematographer: Jacques Bouquin Editors: Catherine Poitevin, Jean-Michel Perez

In a now-infamous incident in 2003, Rachel Corrie, a 22-yearold peace activist from the Pacific Northwest, attempted to stop a bulldozer operated by the Israeli military from demolishing homes and other buildings in Gaza. Corrie was struck and killed in what some witnesses claimed was a deliberate action, but what an Israeli inquiry ruled was a tragic accident.

Simone Bitton (Wall, SFJFF 2005), a veteran documentary filmmaker who is a citizen of both France and Israel, has crafted a dispassionate but devastating essay investigating the circumstances of Rachel Corrie’s death—including astounding eyewitness testimony from activists, soldiers, army spokespersons and physicians, as well as insights from Corrie’s parents, mentors and diaries. In assembling a thorough and candid account of the event, using both visual and narrative evidence, Bitton’s quietly persistent questioning manages to accomplish what the inadequate legal proceedings and the overheated press coverage did not: an unflinching examination that refuses to exculpate or equivocate. But Bitton’s nonfiction essay is hardly a bloodless tract—in fact, even as it raises troubling questions about the Israeli military’s candor, it also manages to paint a complex portrait of a young, perhaps naive, idealist and the high price some pay in the name of committed activism. —Peter L. Stein Preceded by

Director/Screenwriter: Shai Carmeli Pollak Cinematographer: Keren Shayo Editor: Tanya Raikhlin

Co -sponsored by Carl & Gay Grunfeld

Over the past two years, 8,000 refugees, mostly from warravaged African regions including Darfur and southern Sudan, have risked their lives to cross into Israel via Egypt in search of asylum. The Israeli government has accepted 500 as legitimate, busing the remainder back to Egypt and to unknown fates.

Filmmaker Shai Carmeli Pollak (Bilin My Love, SFJFF 2008) brings us the deeply personal stories of those who have fallen through the cracks in humanitarian responsibility. Combining interviews and news footage with guerilla-style camera tactics, Carmeli Pollak takes us beyond the poised politicians who call the refugees “infiltrators,” past the frustrated social workers with no food or housing to offer, and into the lives of the refugees themselves. Among those we meet is Adam, an English teacher from Darfur who arrived with only his wife’s handbag—a sobering reminder that his wife and children, who did not make it past the border, are imprisoned in Egypt. This powerful documentary that asks whether a country built on the premise of welcoming refugees has a special moral obligation to accept immigrants today, despite very different practical and economic conditions. The parallels to the United States’ own immigration conundrums are lurking just beneath the surface of the film’s humane portrait of a pressing global problem. —Shira Zucker Co-presented by New Israel Fund and United Nations Associated Film Festival (UNAFF)

Prrride United States Premiere Israel, 2008, 3 min., Hebrew

United States Premiere Israel, 2008, 76 min., color, English, Hebrew

Director: Eitan Efrat

A young man sits in a narrow hallway playing a march on a snare drum. His voiceover illuminates his relationship with his mother and describes the convoluted effects that compulsory military service in Israel has had on both of them. —Joshua Moore Co-presented by American Friends Service Committee and Jewish Voice for Peace

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S e v e n M i n u t e s i n H e av e n Director: Omri Givon

Mysticism and memory-play collide in this quietly powerful Israeli neo-noir thriller, brilliantly directed by first-time feature filmmaker Omri Givon. Galia (the captivating Reymonde Amsellem) has spent the last year recovering from a terrorist bus bombing, and as one would imagine, the extent of her trauma is profound. She suffers from unbearable burn scars that cover her back, intermittent panic attacks and a fractured memory. When her boyfriend Oren—also a victim of the attack— is removed from life support, Galia must remember the events that surrounded the bombing in order to move forward with her life. An unfamiliar necklace, a patient and handsome stranger named Boaz (Eldad Fribas) and the newfound knowledge that a rescue worker had pronounced her dead for a total of seven minutes all might help her unlock the key to her past.

Galia is an enigma to herself, to her friends and at times even to us. But Amsellem is mesmerizing, and we cannot take our eyes off her . . . nor should we. With subtle clues woven into a deeply intricate plot that traverses time and space, Seven Minutes in Heaven is the kind of film a Sudoku addict would love. Watching it is like groping for an infinitely satisfying truth under the shroud of darkness. Seven Minutes in Heaven truly earns its title’s delightful double entendre. —Shira Zucker Co-presented by Israel Center

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Bay Area Premiere Israel, 2008, 94 min., color, Hebrew

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S h o u t i n g F i r e : S t or i e s f rom t h e E d g e o f Fr e e S p e e c h California Premiere United States, 2009, 80 min., color, English

Director: Liz Garbus Cinematographer: Tom Hurwitz Editor: Karen Sim

Liz Garbus’s vital and unexpectedly personal accounting of the First Amendment right to free speech explores a profound but fragile and increasingly menaced cornerstone of American democracy. Garbus makes this case with coolheaded assurance and utterly engaging style, letting provocative interviewees— including prominent historians, jurists, activists and ideologues from across the political spectrum—flesh out today’s deeply contested post-9/11 recoil from civil liberties. With deft use of archival footage and pop-cultural references, she traces the embattled history of free expression through flashpoints like the McCarthy era and the Vietnam War, laying particular and instructive emphasis on recent cases like Ward Churchill’s dismissal from the University of Colorado, principal Debbie Almontaser’s forced resignation from a New York EnglishArabic public school (labeled a terrorism-stoking “madrassa” by right-wing critics) and a Christian student’s suspension for a homophobic slogan on his T-shirt. Trial lawyer Martin Garbus, the filmmaker’s father, adds the personal angle as his esteemed career wends through some of the most crucial cases discussed— including his difficult decision as a young Jewish ACLU attorney to defend the rights of American Nazis in Skokie, Illinois. While the film underscores the pivotal role of the Supreme Court, Martin Garbus sums up another key point: Free speech is no gift from above, but a public battle to win or lose each day. —Robert Avila Preceded by

575 C a s t r o S t r e e t United States, 2009, 7 min., English Director: Jenni Olson

Cinematographer: Sophie Constantinou Editor: Marc Henrich

Jenni Olson’s quietly electrifying tribute to Harvey Milk focuses on his camera store at 575 Castro Street. The film’s simple, elegant imagery provides a visual calm in which one acutely hears audio of Harvey, who recorded his thoughts in case he—like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—did not make it to the mountaintop. —Nancy K. Fishman Castro CineArts Roda Rafael

Mon, Jul 27 Sat, Aug 1 Wed, Aug 5 Sun, Aug 9

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Co-presented by Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights

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Thu, Jul 30 Sat, Aug 1 Tue, Aug 4

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Sk i n Bay Area Premiere Netherlands, 2008, 85 min., color, Dutch Director/Screenwriter: Hanro Smitsman

T h e Ta l e o f N i c o l a i a n d t h e L aw o f R e t u r n Screenwriters: Germen Boelens, Philip Delmaar Cinematographer: Joost Rietdijk Editor: Marc Bechtold Principal Cast: John Buijsman, Robert de Hoog, Sylvia Poorta

The self-hating Jew is a recurrent character in both history and fiction, whether due to the critical and analytic nature of the religion itself or some darker aspect of human nature. Figures ranging from Vladimir Lenin and Bobby Fischer to Philip Roth and Woody Allen are often—and often incorrectly—pegged as poster boys for such self-loathing. While fictional, Skin unflinchingly examines the roots and dangers of internalized oppression, acutely and terrifyingly sketching out a heightened portrait of a young Dutch Jewish boy’s journey from an easygoing, fun-loving teenager to a neo-Nazi thrown in prison for committing a serious crime.

Offering a fresh take on themes raised in American History X and The Believer, Skin tells the story of Frankie, a rambunctious but generally well-meaning son of a Holocaust survivor who becomes increasingly unhinged as his mother’s cancer worsens. Grippingly told in parallel time lines—one beginning with Frankie’s first day in prison and the other tracing his downward spiral toward the act that lands him there—the narrative maintains a tense grittiness and an honorable commitment to dramatic objectivity throughout.

While ultimately tightfisted about condemning Frankie for his crime, the film provides a scarily realistic view into his alltoo-believable motives, and refuses to clear any of us of at least some blame or complicity. —Ilya Tovbis Co-presented by Anti-Defamation League, Central Pacific Region and The Hub at JCCSF

Bay Area Premiere Israel, 2008, 54 min., color, Hebrew, Romanian Director/Screenwriter: David Ofek

Cinematographer: Dror Lebendiger Editor: Arik Lahav-Leibovich

Striking up a conversation one day with the contractor plastering his walls, Israeli filmmaker David Ofek (A Hebrew Lesson, SFJFF 2007) found himself moved to retell the Romanian-born man’s story, using the actual persons involved to narrate an immigrant tale suffused with irony. Centered on the so-called law of return, the foundational Israeli law giving all Jews the freedom to immigrate, the story cheekily underscores its unsettling contradictions by unfolding in the manner of a traditional Jewish fable. It opens in a village in the overwhelmingly Catholic region of Moldavia, where Nicolai and fellow workers are still reeling from the postcommunist closure of the local factory; they fan out across Europe and the world in the hunt for work to support their families. Leaving behind his pregnant wife and his first child, Nicolai ends up in Israel as an exploited employee of Manpower. Three years later, a remark on a construction site brings forth Nicolai’s nonchalant reference to his Jewish grandmother, leaving his fellow immigrant laborers—Arabs, Moldavians, Turks and Chinese among them— dumbfounded. Did Nicolai really not know he and his family could immigrate on that basis? For all its lightheartedness, The Tale of Nicolai broaches serious and central questions about the nature of Israel as a Jewish state and a democracy.

Preceded by

Home Israel, 1994, 18 min., color, English, Hebrew, w/ Eng. Subtitles

Director: David Ofek

In this extraordinary, quirky short, television images of bombed-out Baghdad evoke potent memories for an Iraqi-Israeli family, gathered together during the Gulf War to wait out Saddam Hussein’s missile attacks. —Nancy K. Fishman Co-presented by Temple Isaiah, Lafayette

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V i c t or i a D ay

W i l l i a m K u n s t l e r : D i s t u rb i n g the Universe Cinematographer: David Franco Editor: Roderick Deogrades Principal Cast: Holly Deveaux, John Mavrogiannis, Mark Rendall

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Canada, 2009, 82 min., color, English, Russian Director/Screenwriter: David Bezmozgis

Toronto, 1988: As the Victoria Day holiday approaches things are going pretty well for 16-year-old Ben Spektor. The star of his playoff-bound hockey team, he goofs around with a Dazed and Confused cast of pals, counts the days until his musical idol Bob Dylan comes to town and sees surprising signs that the girl he’s silently been eyeing for months might notice his existence. Even the stereotypically turbulent teenage home life is nowhere to be found—Ben bonds with his gruffly charming Russian-emigré father over the excitement of watching Wayne Gretzky in the Stanley Cup Finals while exchanging gentle looks of mockery at his dad’s frequent use of Yiddishisms with his good-humored mom.

A seemingly innocent—albeit uncomfortable—loan of five dollars to his rival sets off an unforeseen chain of events that threatens Ben’s equilibrium. Shaken by the realization that his pocket money may have directly led to a classmate’s disappearance, Ben finds it impossible to continue life as normal. As he almost nostalgically attempts to salvage his blithe, unthinking youth, he is forced to reconcile with the consequences of his actions, and choose between a carefree, self-obsessed existence and a more sober path. With literary grace and a light comedic touch, this Sundance hit manages an insightful investigation of personal identity without forgetting to entertain. —Ilya Tovbis

United States, 2009, 90 min., color, English Director/Editor: Emily Kunstler Director/Screenwriter:

Sarah Kunstler Cinematographer: Brett Wiley Principal Cast: Clyde Bellecourt, Dennis Banks

Sponsored by Frederick Hertz & R andolph L angenbach

Preceded by

The 1960s’ and ’70s most famous, rabble-rousing and radical defense attorney is put on the witness stand and cross-examined by two of his daughters in this riveting and complex portrait.

For Sarah and Emily Kunstler, making this film is not an exercise in hagiography. It’s an effort to understand and find reconciliation with a man who defended not only civil rights activists, the Chicago 7 and the Catonsville Nine Catholic antiwar campaigners, but also accused rapists, cop killers, terrorists and assassins. “Justice, Justice shalt thou pursue,” says the Torah, but Kunstler’s daughters ask, “At a certain point, was he standing for anything worth fighting for?” Had celebrity gone to his head? Was he, as Alan Dershowitz says, “a hypocrite”? With amazing archival footage, intimate home movies and the participation of many leading ’60s activists, this film revives the conflicts and injustices that stoked a generation, with Kunstler always on the frontlines—helping to prevent a massacre of American Indian militants at Wounded Knee, but failing to prevent one at New York’s notorious Attica State Prison. The sisters show us a charming crusader always ready to serve his clients with a higher sense of justice. He’s the kind of law yer any revolutionary would want not just for the defense but for the cause. —Alan Snitow

T e n f o r G r a n d pa

Co-presented by Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC)

Bay Area Premiere Canada, United States, 2008, 7 min., color, English

Director: Doug Karr

Who is David Karr? Husband, father, White House press reporter, film producer, millionaire, defense contractor, corporate CEO . . . Soviet agent? Director Doug Karr’s narrator (David Alpay) has ten probing questions for his enigmatic grandfather as the camera travels through nine richly stylized sets in this electrifying exposé of a true man of mystery.

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

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Mon, Jul 27 Tue, Aug 4 Sat, Aug 8 Mon, Aug 10

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T h e Y e s M e n F i x t h e W or l d

Yoo - Hoo , M r s . Go l d b e r g

California Premiere France, United States, 2009, 90 min., color, English

California Premiere United States, 2009, 92 min., color and black & white, English

Directors: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno Editor: April Merl

Sure, exposing corporate greed and environmental degradation is serious business—but that doesn’t mean you can’t be hilarious going about it. Meet the Yes Men—eco-pranksters Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno—who pose as mild-mannered corporate executives, then brazenly infiltrate major media outlets and shareholder meetings, skewering their targets with spectacularly satirical stunts.

The Yes Men Fix the World follows these endearing troublemakers—whom author Naomi Klein dubs “the Jonathan Swift of the Jackass generation”—as they take on the likes of Halliburton and the military-industrial tag team supposedly rebuilding post-Katrina New Orleans. In one inspired sequence, Bichlbaum (posing as a Dow Chemical spokesman) announces on BBC Worldwide that the company is taking full responsibility for the chemical disaster at Bhopal, to the tune of $12 billion in aid to its victims. The film even takes us to India to find out if the residents of Bhopal resent having their hopes raised and then dashed by the prank, which cost Dow $2 billion in stock value.

You would think by now that corporate America and international media would be on to these guys —after all, they were featured in a 2004 documentary The Yes Men and have not been exactly secretive about their plot to expose the cult of greed that is destroying the planet. But as this latest, raucous documentary makes clear, the Yes Men have become ever more brazen and brilliant as the stakes in the issues raised by environmental activism climb ever higher. —Peter L. Stein Co-presented by San Francisco Cinenmatheque

Castro CineArts Roda Rafael

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Director/Screenwriter: Aviva Kempner Editor: Judith Herbert

Sponsored by Susan & Moses Libitzk y

She’s the most famous woman in America you’ve never heard of. The amazing story of Gertrude Berg is told with humor and insight in this sparkling film biography. Berg was the Oprah of her day—radio and television creator; Emmy award–winning actress; celebrity guest on variety shows; Tony award winner on Broadway; and originator and star of America’s first sitcom, The Goldbergs. Writer of 12,000 scripts for the number one CBS show, she combined comedy and social commentary while introducing endearing Jewish characters to middle America, particularly Molly Goldberg, the family matriarch. In a battle to save the career of her co-star, union organizer Philip Loeb, Berg took on the McCarthy blacklist. That tragic witch hunt (memorialized in the 1976 film The Front) parallels other dramatic changes in television history: The tight-knit Goldberg family—first seen yelling across airshafts, baking bread in a steamy kitchen, playing chess and discussing Freud—moves from the Bronx to the suburbs. Then the show itself is cancelled—only to be replaced by the thoroughly modern I Love Lucy. Yoo-Hoo combines rare scenes from The Goldbergs, interviews with fans including Norman Lear and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and movie clips featuring the Marx Brothers and Zero Mostel.

Filmmaker Kempner (see page 9) has created a star-studded social history of an American trailblazer. —Deborah Kaufman Aviva Kempner will accept the SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award and participate in a panel discussion with Berg biographer Glenn D. Smith, Jr., following the Castro screening on Tuesday, July 28. See page 9.

Co-presented by Kung Pao Kosher Comedy and HadassahSan Francisco Chapter

5:05 PM YESM26C 9:00 PM YESM02T 6:30 PM YESM05B 12:00 PM YESM09R

Castro Roda CineArts R afael

Tue, Jul 28 Sat, Aug 1 Sun, Aug 2 Sat, Aug 8

6:30 PM YOOH28C 12:00 PM YOOH01B 3:00 PM YOOH02T 2:00 PM YOOH08R

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Z i o n a n d H i s B ro t h e r Israel, 2009, 84 min., color, Hebrew Director/Screenwriter: Eran Merav

Zr u b av e l

Principal Cast: Ronit Elkabetz, Reuven Badalov, Tzahi Grad

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Co -sponsored by Orli & Zack Rinat and Abe & Marian Scheuer Sofaer

You don’t have to look far for complex and intense stories of Jewish brothers: Cain and Abel, the Warner Brothers, or maybe your own rivalrous siblings. Eran Merav’s knockout first feature offers a fresh, razor-sharp perspective on the loving and sometimes fraught relationship between brothers. Set in a working-class suburb of Haifa, this gritty drama (which premiered to critical acclaim this year at Sundance) sports a stellar cast including Ronit Elkabetz as the brothers’ sexy mom, who has hitched her hopes for a better life on auto shop owner Eli (Tzahi Grad). Fourteen-year-old Zion (Reuven Badalov), a gentle soul, and his older brother Meir (Ofer Hayun), an angry young man with more than one chip on his shoulder, are thick as thieves—that is, when they’re not fighting. When rough play leads to a tragic accident involving a neighborhood Ethiopian boy, the brothers react differently and are challenged by thorny questions of loyalty and morality. The pressure of keeping a secret, coupled with Meir’s clashes with their mother’s boyfriend, stretch the bonds of fraternal allegiance almost to the breaking point. Merav’s coming-of-age tale, redolent with nascent testoterone, is an artful vehicle for an exceptionally well told, universal story and for the considerable talents of his young actors. –Nancy K. Fishman

866-55 -TICKETS

Co-presented by San Francisco Film Society and Israel Center

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Castro Roda CineArts

Thu, Jul 30 Sat, Aug 1 Mon, Aug 3

6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:45 PM

ZION30C ZION01B ZION03T

Bay Area Premiere Israel, 2008, 72 min., color, Hebrew Director/Screenwriter: Shmuel Beru Cinematographer: Gennady Kuchuk

Editor: Reut Han Principal Cast: Avinu Beru, Esther Rada, Meir Desai

Co -sponsored by Be’chol L ashon (In Every Tongue), a project of the Institute of Jewish & Communit y Research

Paterfamilias Gite Zrubavel is a proud, dignified man employed as a street sweeper in his Ethiopian immigrant enclave in Israel.

Although the prestige and influence he knew in Africa have waned, Gite is determined to see his children succeed beyond him. Son Gili’s flirtation with petty crime and the life of the streets, however, threatens to undermine his father’s hard-won efforts to see him literally rise as a fighter pilot. And Gite’s plans for highly eligible daughter Almaz go unheeded as she pursues a taboo romance with her first cousin. Even beloved grandson Yitzhak—child to remaining daughter Hana and her rigidly devout husband—breaks free of parental expectations in styling himself Israel’s “Spike Lee,” using as a career launcher a school assignment to film the daily rhythms of his socially and economically beset but buoyant neighborhood.

Yitzhak’s film-within-the-film in fact neatly registers Ethiopian Israeli writer-director Shmuel Beru’s own inspiration, while helping his appealingly low-key, sure and vital debut capture an authentically fresh angle on the generational/cultural divide separating tradition-minded fathers and their rapidly assimilating children. Guided by firm stylistic choices, natural performances and an insider’s feel for the subject, this firstever Ethiopian Israeli dramatic feature puts both its filmmaker and a seldom-seen African Israeli milieu on the cinematic map.

—Robert Avila

Castro CineArts Roda R afael

Thu, Jul 25 Sun, Aug 2 Wed, Aug 5 Sun, Aug 9

4:20 PM 7:15 PM 2:15 PM 4:00 PM

ZRUB25C ZRUB02T ZRUB05B ZRUB09R

TH R EE JE W S , F O U R O PINI O NS : PANELS , DISCUSSI O NS & O NSTAGE Q & A s Many of SFJFF’s screenings are followed by Q&As with visiting artists, directors and producers. We have planned the following extended conversations and panel discussions, but this is only a sampling of the conversations that will take place during the festival. For updates on expected guests, go to www.sfjff.org. Free to ticket holders for the film that precedes the panel or Q&A.

Sunday July 26 Ma’aleh Film School Director Neta Ariel Join us for a Q&A with Neta Ariel, director of Ma’aleh Film School, a unique and prestigious Jerusalem-based academy that trains filmmakers to produce work inspired by their Jewish heritage.

Follows the 11:30am screening of the Ma’aleh 20th anniversary tribute at the Castro Theatre (page 21).

Thursday July 23 Opening Night Filmmaker: Cathy Randall Join special guest and Opening Night film director Cathy Randall for a Q&A following the Castro screening of Hey, Hey, It’s Esther Blueberger (page 4).

Tuesday July 28 Salute to Gertrude Berg Join us for a Q&A with Professor Glenn D. Smith, Jr., author of Something on My Own: Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting, 1929–1956, and documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner following the 3:30pm screening of four archival episodes of The Goldbergs at the Castro Theatre (page 8)

Saturday July 25 Max Mayer, director of Adam Meet director Max Mayer, whose romantic drama Adam won the Alfred P. Sloan prize for a feature film with science as a theme at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Q&A follows the Saturday evening screening at the Castro Theatre (page 11).

2008 SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award and panel discussion “Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting” Award presentation to director Aviva Kempner and panel discussion with Kempner and Professor Glenn D. Smith, Jr. (Berg’s biographer) following the 6:30pm screening of Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg at the Castro Theatre (page 9).

Wednesday July 29 Conversation with Centerpiece film directors Erez Tadmor & Sharon Maymon Following the 7:30pm screening of festival Centerpiece A Matter of Size at the Castro Theatre (page 6).

Sunday July 26 Reel Change: Social Justice Films and You Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ) and SFJFF are proud to present a day of interactive programs on the subject of social justice.

Featured activities include a panel with filmmakers and activists to discuss social justice as a Jewish value, taking place at the Castro Theatre immediately following the 2pm screening of William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (see page 26) and preceding The Yes Men Fix the World (see page 27). Admission free with ticket to either film.

JFSJ will also host a reception where attendees can learn about local service opportunities and ways to get more involved in efforts to create social change. For details and further information, visit jewishjustice.org or jspot.org.

Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ) is a national public foundation guided by Jewish history and tradition. JFSJ helps people in the United States achieve social and economic security and opportunity by investing in healthy neighborhoods, vibrant Jewish communities, and skillful leaders. JFSJ’s holistic approach to social change includes grantmaking and community investing, service learning and leadership development, synagogue organizing and advocacy.

Saturday August 1 Eran Merav, director of Zion and His Brother Opening Night film in Berkeley Q&A with director Eran Merav, whose critically acclaimed drama Zion and His Brother opens the Festival’s Berkeley run on Saturday, August 1, at 7pm (page 28).

Sunday August 2 Women Shooting Women: Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Join us for a panel discussion with veteran Israeli women directors Nurit Kedar (Chronicle of a Kidnap), Ibtisam Mara’ana (Lady Kul-El Arab) and Ada Ushpiz (Desert Brides) following the screening of Desert Brides at 4pm on Sunday, August 2, at the Roda Theatre in Berkeley.

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w h at ’ s a f i l m f e s t i va l without a little extra fun?

866-55 -TICKETS

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Thursday, July 23 Opening Night Pre-film Bash Join us for the SFJFF Opening Night Bash at the historic and spacious Swedish American Hall, upstairs from the Café du Nord at Market/Sanchez. You will find a dazzling array of food and libations by some of the best that the Bay Area has to offer, including Betty Zlatchin Catering, Continental Caterers, Fork & Spoon Catering and Events, La Mediterranee, livingroom\ events, Melons Catering & Events and potent potables from Blue Angel Vodka, Hagafen Cellars of Napa Valley and Peet’s Coffee & Tea. Musical entertainment by local jazz recording artist Terrence Brewer who can also be seen at this year’s Monterey Jazz Festival.

Tickets $75/$65 for Jewish Film Forum members—includes reserved seat for film at the Castro.

Swedish American Hall/Café Du Nord 2174 Market (@Sanchez), Main Floor & Upstairs, San Francisco Party 6:00-7:30PM Film program starts at 8:00PM at the Castro Please note, only the ground floor is wheelchair accessible at this time. For further info on accessibility, call SFJFF at 415-6210556. 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!

Saturday, August 1 Berkeley Opening Night All audience members at the Berkeley screening of Zion And His Brother are welcome at a delicious post-film reception in the courtyard of the Rhoda Theater and lobby of the neighboring Thrust Stage. Catered by landmark Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen of Berkeley.

The Roda Theatre (at Berkeley Repertory Theatre) Following the 7pm screening of Zion and His Brother Saturday, July 11th NIP AND A NOSH IN UNION SQUARE Enjoy pre- and post- Manhattan screening delights, because here at SFJFF we like to sandwich fabulous films with yummy fun.

Warm up for Woody with a little matzah ball soup at Max’s on the Square. Just say we sent you, and get $10 off if you spend $25 or more. (only valid on Saturday, July 11th).

398 Geary Street between Mason & Powell, San Francisco And then after the flick, wind down or rev up for your Saturday night at our very special after-party, with Manhattans and signature cocktails created especially for SFJFF, courtesy of Kuleto’s.

221 Powell Street at O’Farrell, San Francisco For more info about SFJFF’s Manhattan outdoor screening in Union Square, see page 3.

Hey Hey, It’s an Opening Night After-Party!

Join us for a post-film party that’s anything but blue at Club Trigger, SF’s newest upscale Castro venue. De-brief on the film with your friends as you sip on $5 “Esther” Blueberry Cosmo specials, then shake your money-maker to the DJ and enjoy the atmosphere. All you need is your Opening Night film ticket and a thirst for azure fun.

Club Trigger 2338 Market Street (between 16th St & Noe St) San Francisco, CA 94114 Film ticket must be presented for special price.

30

Thursday, July 30 Closing Night at the Castro Join us for pre-film goodies, unique festivities, live music on the Mighty Wurlitzer and an on-stage conversation with director Karin Albou. And of course everyone will receive the now famous and fabulous give-away package filled with surprises from Brandvia Alliance Inc, Popchips, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, See’s Candy and more fun surprises!

Castro Theatre, 8:30 pm

PRE-FESTIVAL TRIVIA NIGHTS Test your film knowledge with SFJFF when we join these popular trivia nights for special film-themed games and fantastic SFJFF prizes (dare we say… ticket giveaways?!)

Wednesday, July 15 The Dubliner 328 West Portal Avenue, San Francisco, 8pm-Close Sunday, July 19 Albatross Bar 1822 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley Wednesday, July 22 Napper Tandy 3200 24th Street, San Francisco Mission district

j o i n u s f or pa r t i e s and special events Official Festival Discounts and Deals

Wednesday, July 29 SUMO AND SAKE Happy Hour at 10 o’ clock?! Yes- one night only, in honor of your favorite Israeli sumo wrestlers. Following the 7:30PM San Francisco Centerpiece screening of A Matter of Size, we’re bringing the party to this sushi-fusion spot. Sumi Sushi is extending Happy Hour just for us lucky Festival-goers. And, if you crave a lil’ late night sashimi you’ll get 15% off the entire bill. In partnership with Yelp.com.

Sumi Sushi 4243 18th Street, San Francisco (Just around the bend from Castro, between Collingwood & Diamond) saturday, august 11 [Palo alto event TBD] Wednesday, August 5 Fix the World, Go to Jupiter After the Berkeley screening of The Yes Men Fix the World, SFJFF and the East Bay Express invite you to head across the street on Shattuck to down a couple of pints, discuss the film, and maybe even plan a prank of your own…

Jupiter 2181 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704 For more info on these and other fun events, visit sfjff.org

SO MANY MOVIES, SO MANY TICKET DEALS! With our ticket package deals, you never have to choose between screenings.

Take it easy!

Buy a 10-Flix Pack of film vouchers to save $20 and access tickets virtually anywhere, anytime, for you and your movie-loving mishpacha. See page 46 Keepin’ it Reel: The Reel Pass for those 25 and under is good for all shows at all theaters, and a real steal at only $40. See page 46.

SUPER SWEET DEALS Trade in your ticket for a tasty discount at any of these local ice cream and gelato spots, just a hop and a skip away from each theater.

SAN FRANCISCO July 23-30 @ Gelateria Naia, 451 Castro Street Free size upgrade and special SFJFF flavor BERKELEY August 1-8 @ Gelateria Naia, 2016 Shattuck Avenue Free size upgrade and special SFJFF flavor PALO ALTO August 1-6 @ CineArts in Palo Alto Square Free size upgrade on ice cream at theater concessions stand.

SAN RAFAEL August 8-10 @ Double Rainbow, 860 4th Street 2 for 1 ice cream SIP N’ SAVE Stop by our official Festival watering holes for drink specials and special drinks!

SAN FRANCISCO SFJFF @Club Trigger, 2338 Market Street, (between 16th St & Noe St), San Francisco, CA 94114 With a $5 SFJFF cosmo special running June 23-July 30, Club Trigger is SFJFF’s official festival bar. Just bring in your festival ticket and enjoy!

BERKELEY [[[Drink discount venue TBD]]] DINNER DATE DEALS This Italian restaurant and poetry lounge is a friend of the Festival, just around the corner from Castro Theatre.

Poesia Osteria Italiana 4072 18th Street, San Francisco, Open 5:30p to 11p Reservations, call: 415.252.4325 See the menu at www.poesiasf.com Choose free dessert or glass of wine with meal.

A GREEN MEAL, AND A GREEN STEAL

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C a s t ro T h e at r e TIME

FILM

PAGE

CODE

Thursday, July 23, 2009

6:00 PM

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

4

OPEN23C

8:00 PM

Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger (film only)

4

HEYH23C

1:45 PM

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

25

SAVE26C

11:45 AM

The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return with Home

25

TALE25C

1:30 PM

Rachel with Prrride

23

RACH25C

4:20 PM

Zrubavel

28

ZRUB25C

6:45 PM

Adam with Eve

11

ADAM25C

9:45 PM

Mary and Max

22

MARY25C

11:30 AM

Ma’aleh Film School 20th Anniversary

21

MAAL26C

2:00 PM

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe followed by discussion

26

WILL26C

5:05 PM

The Yes Men Fix the World

27

YESM26C

7:30 PM

Defamation

14

DEFA26C

10:00 PM

Hello Goodbye with Sidney Turtlebaum

17

HELL26C

12:00 PM

Refugees

23

REFU27C

2:15 PM

Menachem & Fred

22

MENA27C

4:30 PM

Acne with Bait

11

ACNE27C

7:00 PM

Victoria Day with Ten for Grandpa

26

VICT27C

9:00 PM

Seven Minutes in Heaven

24

SEVE27C

1:00 PM

Lost Islands

21

LOST28C

3:30 PM

The Goldbergs

16

GOLD28C

6:30 PM

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg Freedom of Expression Award

27

YOOH28C

9:45 PM

Broken Lines with My Amulet

12

BROK28C

12:00 PM

Cycles with With a Little Patience

13

CYCL29C

2:15 PM

Desert Brides

14

DESE29C

4:45 PM

Chronicle of a Kidnap with Gilad Shalit: 2 Years in Captivity

13

CHRO29C

7:30 PM

Centerpiece Film: A Matter of Size with Joshua

6

MATT29C

10:15 PM

Skin

25

SKIN29C

1:00 PM

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech with 575 Castro St.

24

SHOU30C

3:45 PM

Lady Kul El-Arab with Grown Up

20

LADY30C

6:00 PM

Zion and His Brother

28

ZION30C

8:30 PM

The Wedding Song Closing Night includes pre-film extras

5

WEDD30C

Sunday, July 26, 2009

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Monday, July 27, 2009

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Thursday, July 30, 2009

c e l l s pa c e

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23-30

DATE

Saturday, July 25, 2009

866-55 -TICKETS

S a n F r a n c i s c o J u ly

S a n F r a n c i s c o J u ly

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DATE

TIME

FILM

PAGE

CODE

Friday, July 31, 2009

9:00 PM

Rockin’ Puppet Mayhem!

10

ROCK11A

ro da t h e at r e

(at Berkeley Repertory Theatre)

be r k e l e y

august 1- 8

DATE

TIME

FILM

PAGE

CODE

Saturday, August 1, 2009

12:00 PM

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

27

YOOH01B

2:00 PM

Lady Kul El-Arab with Grown Up

20

LADY01B

4:15 PM

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech with 575 Castro St.

24

SHOU01B

7:00 PM

Zion and His Brother Berkeley Opening Night followed by reception

28

ZION01B

9:30 PM

The Wedding Song

5

WEDD01B

11:15 AM

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

26

WILL02B

1:15 PM

Chronicle of a Kidnap with Gilad Shalit: 2 Years in Captivity

13

CHRO02B

4:00 PM

Desert Brides followed by panel

14

DESE02B

7:15 PM

The Gift to Stalin with Mama, L'Chaim! (To Life!)

15

GIFT02B

9:30 PM

Empty Nest

15

EMPT02B

2:00 PM

The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return with Home

25

TALE03B

3:35 PM

Hello Goodbye with Sidney Turtlebaum

17

HELL03B

6:30 PM

Heart of Stone

16

HEAR03B

9:00 PM

Lost Islands

21

LOST03B

2:00 PM

The Goldbergs

16

GOLD04B

4:30 PM

Skin

25

SKIN04B

6:30 PM

Rachel with Prrride

23

RACH04B

9:15 PM

Mary and Max

22

MARY04B

12:00 PM

Ma’aleh Film School 20th Anniversary

21

MAAL05B

2:15 PM

Zrubavel

28

ZRUB05B

4:00 PM

Seven Minutes in Heaven

24

SEVE05B

6:30 PM

The Yes Men Fix the World

27

YESM05B

8:45 PM

Broken Lines with My Amulet

12

BROK05B

12:00 PM

Jerusalem Cuts with Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

18

JERS06B

2:30 PM

Refugees

23

REFU06B

4:15 PM

Defamation

14

DEFA06B

6:45 PM

Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger

4

HEYH06B

9:00 PM

Jewtoons

19

JEWT06B

11:30 AM

Jews in Shorts

19

JEWS08B

1:30 PM

I Am Von Höfler

18

IAMV08B

5:00 PM

Cycles with With a Little Patience

13

CYCL08B

7:30 PM

A Matter of Size with Joshua

6

MATT08B

9:45 PM

Victoria Day with Ten for Grandpa

26

VICT08B

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Saturday, August 8, 2009

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cinearts

at Palo Alto Square TIME

FILM

PAGE

CODE

Saturday, August 1, 2009

11:45 AM

A History of Israeli Cinema

17

HIST01T

4:00 PM

Chronicle of a Kidnap with Gilad Shalit: 2 Years in Captivity

13

CHRO01T

6:45 PM

A Matter of Size with Joshua

6

MATT01T

9:30 PM

Seven Minutes in Heaven

24

SEVE01T

12:30 PM

The Goldbergs

16

GOLD02T

3:00 PM

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

27

YOOH02T

5:00 PM

Cycles with With a Little Patience

13

CYCL02T

7:15 PM

Zrubavel

28

ZRUB02T

9:00 PM

The Yes Men Fix the World

27

YESM02T

1:15 PM

Lake 68 with Gdanski Railway Station

20

LAKE03T

3:45 PM

Ma’aleh Film School 20th Anniversary

21

MAAL03T

6:15 PM

Broken Lines with My Amulet

12

BROK03T

8:45 PM

Zion and His Brother

28

ZION03T

2:00 PM

Desert Brides

14

DESE04T

4:00 PM

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech with 575 Castro St.

24

SHOU04T

6:15 PM

Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger

4

HEYH04T

8:30 PM

Victoria Day with Ten for Grandpa

26

VICT04T

2:30 PM

Lady Kul El-Arab with Grown Up

20

LADY05T

4:30 PM

The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return with Home

25

TALE05T

6:15 PM

The Gift to Stalin with Mama, L'Chaim! (To Life!)

15

GIFT05T

8:45 PM

Lost Islands

21

LOST05T

2:00 PM

Menachem & Fred

22

MENA06T

4:15 PM

Empty Nest

15

EMPT06T

6:30 PM

Broken Promise

12

BRPR06T

9:15 PM

Acne with Bait

11

ACNE06T

Monday, August 3, 2009

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

866-55 -TICKETS

august 1- 6

DATE

Sunday, August 2, 2009

34

pa l o a lt o

Thursday, August 6, 2009

j e w i s h c omm u n i t y c e n t e r o f s a n f r a n c i s c o

san francisco

august 8 -9

DATE

TIME

FILM

PAGE

CODE

Saturday, August 8, 2009

11:30 AM

A History of Israeli Cinema

17

HIST08J

4:45 PM

Heart of Stone

16

HEAR08J

6:45 PM

Broken Promise

12

BRPR08J

9:40 PM

Jewtoons

19

JEWT08J

11:30 AM

Jerusalem Cuts with Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

18

JERS09J

2:00 PM

I Am Von Hรถfler

18

IAMV09J

5:30 PM

The Gift to Stalin with Mama, L'Chaim! (To Life!)

15

GIFT09J

7:45 PM

Empty Nest

15

EMPT09J

Sunday, August 9, 2009

s m i t h r a fa e l f i l m c e n t e r

s a n r a fa e l

a u g u s t 9 -1 1

DATE

TIME

FILM

PAGE

CODE

Saturday, August 8, 2009

12:00 PM

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

26

WILL08R

2:00 PM

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

27

YOOH08R

4:00 PM

The Gift to Stalin with Mama, L'Chaim! (To Life!)

15

GIFT08R

6:30 PM

Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger

4

HEYH08R

8:45 PM

Mary and Max

22

MARY08R

12:00 PM

The Yes Men Fix the World

27

YESM09R

2:00 PM

Skin

25

SKIN09R

4:00 PM

Zrubavel

28

ZRUB09R

6:00 PM

Acne with Bait

11

ACNE09R

8:15 PM

Seven Minutes in Heaven

24

SEVE09R

4:00 PM

Cycles with With a Little Patience

13

CYCL10R

6:15 PM

Hello Goodbye with Sidney Turtlebaum

17

HELL10R

8:50 PM

Victoria Day with Ten for Grandpa

26

VICT10R

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Monday, August 10, 2009

35

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CineArts @ Palo Alto Square

415.621.6120 429 Castro Street (at Market), San thEatrE Francisco thE castro

650.493.3456 3000 El Camino Bldg. rEP #6, Palo Alto CA 94306 roDa thEatrE at Real BErkElEy the Rafael filM centeR

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101 to Embarcadero Rd/Oregon Expy; follow signs for Oregon Expy; slight right at Page san francisco from 580 Café Du Nord/Swedish American Hall (Opening Night Party) Mill Road; left at El Camino Real. Abundant free parking around theatre. san JosE 880 415.861.5016 Public Transportation 2170 Market Street, San Francisco BART to Millbrae. Transfer to Caltrain to California Avenue stop in Palo Alto. from Walk to El 101 OaKland san JosE from Located on the north side Market Street between Church Street and Sanchez Streets. fromCamino (left on Alma Street; right on Oregon Expy; merge with Page Mill Road to left on the of Rafael filM centeR san francisco san francisco Please note, the second floor of Swedish American Hall is not wheelchair accessible.

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415.292.1233 3200 California (at Presidio), San Francisco Parking

Available in JCCSF underground parking garage at the west end of the building on California Street—$1.50/half-hour, first 4 hours; $2/hour thereafter.

Parking

Public parking garage on Addison Street, across the street from the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. from san francisco

Public Transportation

Muni Lines: 1, 3, 4 ,43, 2, 24,33, 31 and 38.

CELLspace

415-648-7562 2050 Bryant St. (between 18th & 19th), San Francisco, CA 94110 SECURITY POLICY PLEASE READ

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The Berkeley Station on Shattuck Avenue is around the corner from the Theatre. Take a Richmond-bound train and get off at the Berkeley Station. Or, if you’re coming from Richmond, take a Daly City–bound or Fremont-bound train to the Berkeley Station. On . vE the upper level of the station look forr sthe West” exit. At the top of i t y a “Shattuck/Addison 101 palO altO the stairs, turn left on Addison Street, and you will see the Roda Theatre on the right. m iE

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Major AC Transit routes F, 7, 8, 9, 15, 40, 43,

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Bags not permitted in theatres. Please arrive early for screenings to allow ample time for security checks. 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. Photo ID must be presented in order to pick up tickets at Will Call.

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A c k n ow l e d dg gm meennttss 22000097 Kate Adams Damon Ainsworth Aldongar Productions: Mr.Yerkin Alfonso Felder and the San Francisco Neighborhood Theatre Foundation Alliance Française de San Francisco: Gregory DouetLasne Amsterdam Jewish Film Festival: Jack Weil Amy Sherman Arab Film Festival: Michel Shehadeh Armstrong & Armstrong: Todd Armstrong Arthouse Films: Erin Owens Sheyla Aucar Austrian Film Commission: Anne Laurent Moshe Arzt Freddie Baggerman Dick Bartel Yelias Bender Jocelyn Berger Berkeley Repertory Theatre: Susie Medak, Amanda Williams O’Steen, Heather Bradley, Octavia Driscoll Berlin International Film Festival: Wieland Speck Berlin Jewish Film Festival: Nicola Galliner Bezalel Academy of Art and Design: Paz Drimer Rick Bird Tanya Booth Boston Jewish Film Festival: Sara Rubin & Kaj Wilson Jane Breyer California Film Institute: Zoë Elton, Mark Fishkin, Richard Peterson, Janis Plotkin, Dan Zastrow California Newsreel: Cornelius Moore Castro Theatre: The Nasser Family, Bill Longen, Mark Gantor, Gary Oliver, The Candy Kidz Center for Asian American Media: Stephen Gong, Chi-hui Yang Sara Leiber Church Cinemark: Donna Bradford, Rebecca Dilworth Cinephil: Philippa Kowarsky, Ori Bader, Assaf Mor Citizen Film: Sam Ball, Sophie Constantinou, Kate Stilley Steiner Gary Coates Consulate General of Germany: Rolf Schütte, Karsten Tietz Consulate General of Israel: Akiva Tor, Ishmael Khaldi Dan Curly & Maya Cohen Ninfa Dawson Doc Aviv Film Festival: Ilana Tsur Dolby Labs: Ioan Allen, Tom Bruchs, Jane Ng Gail Dolgin Eden Productions: Michal Eliav, Estty Sade Moy Eng Jeannette Etheredge Festival of Jewish Cinema (Australia): Les Rabinowicz Films Distribution: Martin Caraux Debbie Findling Fox Searchlight: Russell Nelson Frameline: K.C. Price, Jennifer Morris, Desiree Buford Brian Freeman Brian Garrick Alison Geballe Gensler: Jennifer Galvin Gertrude Berg’s family: Adam Berg, Carlotta Hanson Elizabeth Greene Go2 Films: Hedva Goldschmidt, Rena Sherbill Goethe-Institut: Ingrid Eggers Sasha Goldberg Rebecca Goldman Gary Goldstein Brian Gordon Haifa Film Festival: Pnina Blayer, Amalia Rosen Nina Haft Handsome Charlie Films: Jessica Kumai

Tim Hanlon Herbstfilm Production GmbH: Sarah Hormeyer Robin Herman Frederick Hertz & Randolph Langenbach Mary Ellen Hester Icon Pictures: Isabelle Lherondel IJswater Films: Thirza Ostendorf Institute for Jewish & Community Research: Gary Tobin, Diane Kaufmann Tobin International Film Circuit Inc: Wendy Lidell Israel Center: Donny Inbar, Lital Carmel Israel Film Fund: Katriel Schory IsraeliFilms: Dov Gil-Har, Efrat Cohen-Magen ITVS: Claire Aguilar, Cathy Fischer, Cynthia Kane, Richard Saiz, Matthew Meschery Jerusalem Cinematheque: Lia van Leer, Gilli Mendel, Avinoam Harpak, Meir Russo Jewish Community Center of San Francisco: Lenore Naxon, Brett Metzger, Dan Wolf, Dena Stern Jewish Community Endowment Fund: Mark Reisbaum, Lisa Gurwitch Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco: Daniel Sokatch, Karen Bluestone, Travis Bernard Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay: Lisa Tabak Jewish Community Relations Council: Rabbi Doug Kahn, Abby Michelson Porth Jewish Media Fund: Eli Evans, Carol Japha Jewish Museum: Andrew Ingall Jim Joseph Foundation: Chip Edelsberg, Adene Sacks, Josh Miller JMT Films: Jean-Michel Treves K5 International: Bill Stephens Deborah Kaufman & Alan Snitow Kino International: Donald Krim, Jessica Rosner, Gary Palmucci Koret Foundation: Jeffrey Farber, Susan Wolfe, Todd Braman Hannah Kranzberg Cole Krawitz Landmark Theatres: Steve Indig, Chris Hatfield Adrienne Leder Rachel Levin LGBT Alliance: Lisa Finkelstein Liberation Films, NAME TO COME Lightening Entertainment: Richard Guardian, Barbara Javitz Ma’aleh School of Television & the Arts: Neta Ariel, Tamar Perlstein Lauren Maas Magyar Filmunió: Katalin Vajda Susan Manning Maximum Films: Charlotte Mickie, Deanne Sowter Media Luna: Patra Spanou Melodrama Pictures: Melanie Coombs Gary Meyer Greg Minshall MK2: Manlin Sterner Moxie Firecracker Films: Serin Marshall National Center for Jewish Film: Sharon P. Rivo, Juliet Burch, Lisa Rivo New Israel Fund: Jason Bernstein New Israeli Foundation for Cinema & TV: New York Jewish Film Festival: Aviva Weintraub, Richard Peña New Yorker Films: Jonathan Howell Brian Newman Bill Nichols Ninth Street Independent Film Center: Skye Christensen, Adam Ashworth, S. Victoria Brauer, Brian Schulz Norma Productions: Assaf Amir

Pacific Film Archive: Judy Bloch, Kathy Geritz, Nancy Goldman, Susan Oxtoby Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival: Karen Davis Philo TV: Lenny Lieberman, Evan Stewart, Carolyn Bush Picture This!: Matt Giedlinski, Doug Witkin Pixar Animation Studios: M.T. Silvia Janis Plotkin Pyramide International: Paul Richer Nessa Rapaport Stephanie Rapp Reel Café Bakery: Sharon Dinkin Rezo Films: Lucie Meynial Jessica Rosner Ruth Diskin Films: Ruth Diskin, Tal Shanny, Hila Gersenfeld Sam Spiegel Film & Television School: Renen Schorr, Noemi Schory, Noa Ron San Francisco International Film Festival: Graham Leggat, Rod Armstrong, Linda Blackaby, Hilary Hart, Sean Uyehara Sapir Academy: Avner Feingelernt, Noa Levy Kary Schulman Seventh Arts: Udi Epstein, Nick Barbieri Larissa Siegel Gail Stern Strand Releasing: Marcus Hu, Brandon Peters Studio Filmowe Largo: Agnieszka Traczewska Sundance Channel: Sarah Eaton Sundance Film Festival: John Cooper, Shari Frilot, Caroline Libresco, David Courier, Shane Smith Eric Tabor Tama Films: Miriam Stein Alysanne Taylor Tel Aviv Cinematheque: Alon Garbuz Tel Aviv University Film Department: Noa Chen, Rachel Wallach 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 Transfax: Karine Benzur, Marek Rozenbaum TTV Productions: Zafrir Kochanovsky UK Jewish Film Festival: Judy Ironside , Gali Gold Umedia: Clement Duboin United King Films: David Silber, Limor Edery Versus Production: Caroline Thirion, Marina Haverland Marc Vogl Washington Jewish Film Festival: Susan H. Barocas Cara White Westin: Gena Egelston, Meryl Kirschenberg, Meryl Kirschenberg Diana Westnedge Women Make Movies: Kristen Fitzpatrick, Debra Zimmerman Leo Wong Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Ken Foster, Joel Shepard, Kara Herold, Calvin Souther

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t h e pa r t y c o n t i n u e s , a l l y e a r ro u n d C e l e br at e t h e f e s t i va l , after t h e f e s t i va l .

Jo i n u s f or s c r e e n i n g s , e v e n t s , a n d o n l i n e p ro g r a m s t h ro u g h o u t t h e y e a r .

SNEAK PEEKS OF HOT NEW FILMS SFJFF offers our supporters and friends occasional sneak preview screenings throughout the year. Past offerings include Fugitive Pieces, Blessed is the Match, Fateless, The Syrian Bride and many others. Join the Jewish Film Forum (see page 42) and sign up for our monthly E-News at sfjff.org to make sure you are notified about these private screenings.

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SFJFF@YBCA Fantastic new films screen regularly at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, resuming the first Tuesday in October. Stay tuned for detailed program and ticket information at www.sfjff.org or 415-978-ARTS. CO-PRESENTATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS

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NEW JEWISH FILMMAKING PROJECT Learn more about SFJFF’s innovative teen film program, produced

by Citizen Film, on page 39.

SFJFF is sharing the love!

We co-present Jewish-themed films year round with other film festivals and arts organizations. From the Arab Film Festival to the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival to special partnerships with the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and the Contemporary Jewish Museum, SFJFF is promoting great Jewish films with Bay Area colleagues all year.

Israel in Motion Enjoy new and classic features and documentaries from Israel, copresented by the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival with the Tzavta Young Adult Program of the San Francisco Israel Center throughout the year. Sign up for our E-News or check our website for program and ticket details at www.sfjff.org.

PLUG INTO SFJFF.ORG This year SFJFF is revolutionizing the way you experience Jewish cinema, with an abundance of innovative new tools fit for the digital diaspora and a brand new website at www.sfjff.org. Highlights of our new web offerings include a program of online short films, a searchable archive of over 1,200 SFJFF titles, downloadable podcasts, educator tools, user reviews and recommendations and much more. For more information on SFJFF’s new online resources, go to the back cover of the catalog.

For the latest on year round events, web online resources and more, sign up for our semi-monthly e-news blasts at www.sfjff.org.

new jewish f i l mm a k i n g p ro j e c t In Residence at the 2009 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival: SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project, produced by Citizen Film Over the past eight years, SFJFF has teamed up with the documentary production company Citizen Film to create and disseminate a suite of 12 short films co-directed by teenagers.

Some of the teens have identified religiously as Jews, others have not; some were recent immigrants to the United States who spoke Russian or Spanish at home; most went to public schools, some to private schools. Closely guided by Citizen Film’s award-winning team of professional documentary filmmakers, the teens turned the camera on their lives—their families, their friends, their hangouts— and explored what it means to be coming of age at the borderlands of Jewish identity. The resulting high-quality films—fresh, moving, often funny—some of which went on to win prizes, have reached more than 300,000 viewers through public screenings, broadcasts and classroom use.

In 2009–2010, the New Jewish Filmmaking Project is expanding its scope. Two storytelling cohorts will collaborate on new-media projects, and nine young-adult alumni of the New Jewish Filmmaking Project who are now media professionals in their own right have returned to collaborate with Citizen Film. At the same time, a new cohort of 10 teens kicks off a year of intensive storytelling with an exciting week at this year’s Festival.

Do you have a story to tell? NJFP.org, part of SFJFF’S New Media Initiative, presents a culturally diverse generation’s viewpoint on what it means to be Jewish today.

Program director and producer: Sam Ball Line producer and editorial supervisor: Kate Stilley Director of photography: Sophie Constantinou Visit www.njfp.org to view an exclusive presentation of what SF Arts Monthly calls a “well-crafted gem.”

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T h a n k YO U !

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival extends a heartfelt thanks to all of our generous donors. Gifts of $100 or more received between May 15, 2008 and May 15, 2009 are listed below. For information on how you can support SFJFF, please contact the development department at 415.621.0556, x308 or allyson@sfjff.orgw

PRESENTING SPONSORS Opening Night Sponsor Wells Fargo Closing Night Sponsor The Bonnie and Marty Tenenbaum Foundation Regional Sponsor Blue Angel Vodka BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY SPONSORS

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Be’chol Lashon (In Every Tongue), a project of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research Consulate General of Israel, Pacific Northwest Region Crane Pest Control Craig Harrison’s Expressions of Excellence! TM The Israel Center of the Jewish Community Federation Jewish Funds for Justice Oshman Family JCC Post Street Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Zaentz Media Center

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MEDIA SPONSORS ABC7/KGO-TV East Bay Express Heeb Magazine indieWIRE J. Weekly KALW 91.7 Local Public Radio KDFC Classical 102.1 KQED Public Broadcasting Mobile Commons San Francisco Bay Guardian SF Station Yelp.com IN-KIND SPONSORS Adolph Gasser Inc. Betty Zlatchin Catering Brandvia Alliance Inc. Bristol Farms Café DuNord/ The Swedish American Hall Catch Restaurant Fork & Spoon Catering and Events FedEx Gensler Hagafen Cellars of Napa Valley Hartmann Studios IZZE Beverage Company La Mediterranee livingroom/events

Marketing by Storm Metro PCS Melon’s Catering Meyer Sound Misha Frid Peet’s Coffee & Tea Philo Television Popchips See’s Candy Susan Drell Creative Design Villa Florence Volume Inc. Westin St. Francis

Shana Penn Vera and Harold S. Stein, Jr.

Executive Producer Deborah Blank The Coliver Family Michael Ehrenzweig Linda and Sanford Gallanter Nancy and Lawrence Goldberg Carl and Gay Grunfeld Reuven and Zehava Itelman Fred Levin and Nancy Livingston, The Shenson Foundation Orli and Zack Rinat

IN-kind CONTRIBUTORS Downtown Bar & Restaurant Espresso Subito Extreme Pizza Flying Falafel Galaxy Desserts Grand Bakery Have your Cake He’brew Beer Lovesticks, Inc. Maker’sMark Kentucky Bourbon

Abraham and Marian Scheuer Sofaer

Miller’s East Coast West Delicatessen Patron Spirits Schmaltz Brewing Company Semifreddi’s That Takes the Cake Three-D Spirits/REDRUM Trader Joes’s INDIVIDUAL DONORS Visionary Circle: Benefactors Victor and Lorraine Honig Jane Gottesman and Geoffrey Biddle The Kanbar Charitable Trust, administered by the Jewish Community Endowment Fund The Ingrid Tauber Philanthropic Fund Carol and Lenny Lieberman Ray Lifchez Gale Mondry and Bruce Cohen Lela and Gerry Sarnat Bonnie and Martin Tenenbaum

Visionary Circle: Directors Anonymous (2) Grossberg Abrams Foundation Denis Bouvier Pamela Burdman Amy and Mort Friedkin Frederick Hertz and Randolph Langenbach Susan and Moses Libitzky Eldad and Charlotte Matityahu

Schoenberg Family Law Group George and Sejong Sarlo Eta and Sasson Somekh Lisa Szer Producers Anonymous Ronald Abileah and Marlene Winograd Orit Atzmon Mark W. Bernstein Ronald Blatman and Emerald Yeh Diana Cohen and Bill Falik Sanford and Jean Colen William B. Dickey Dana Doron Kathy Fields & Garry Rayant Valerie Joseph Virginia King and Stuart Rickey Wendy and Howard Kleckner Alvin and Rosanne Levitt Pam Rorke Levy Galina and Lev Leytes Adele and Mark Lieberman Greta Livingston Alan Mark and Jeffrey Fraenkel Richard Nagler and Sheila Sosnow Sara Newman John and Lisa Pritzker Alan Ramo and Leslie Rose Tobey Roland Paul and Sheri Robbins Amnon and Katie Rodan Alan and Susan Rothenberg Scott Rubin and Stephen Moore Harry and Carol Saal Seth Safier Joan and David Sarnat Leonard Shustek and Donna Dobinsky Peter L. Stein Barry and Marjorie Traub

Ellen Ullman and Elliot Ross Marilyn and Murry Waldman Dan Wohlfeiler Patrons Anonymous Liki Abrams Lisa and Steve Altman Robert and Judith Aptekar Michael Bien Shosh Blachman and Joel Biatch Chela Blitt Robert Brody and Andrea Jacoby Sherry Brown Richard and Babette Burdman Bonnie Burt and Mark Liss Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Caston Emily Campbell Catherine Coates and Veronica Selver Elay Cohen Michael Darby Susan David Genevieve and Norman Dishotsky Sandra and Conrad Donner Robert Feirman and Rochelle Somers Hal Fischer Bruce Fodiman Jan Goodman and Maggie Riddle Frances and William Green Sara Grunstein, Rob Waters and Nadav Lev Natalie Gubb and David Arpi Gloria and Hans Kolbe-Saltzman Allyson Halpern and Dan Cohen Howard Herman and Claudia Bernard Deborah Hertz Beth Harris Hoenninger Craig and Deborah Hoffman Deborah Hoffman and Frances Reid Stephanie and Rudy Hoffman Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow Kletter Law Firm Donna A. Korones Joshua Langenthal and Diane Halberg Owen Levin and Hagar Scher David and Julie Levine Charlene and Richard Maltzman in Memory of Carol Mencoff Adler Sanford and Dawn Margolin Dr. Raquel H. Newman Samuel and Daphne Noily Alec Pauluck Rabbi Stephen Pearce Janis and Richard Popp

Peter Samis and Mary Ratcliff Samuel j. Salkin Judith Schaefer Sheila Simon Roselyne Swig RuthEllen and Monte Toole Laura Tow Mark Warnick Lonnie J. Weiss Robert Weston Hal and Carla White Constance Wolf and Clara Basile Friends Anonymous Ralph and Eileen Battat Margaret Blatman Sara Bolder Alan Burckin and Carol Olmert Yvette Chalom and Paul Fogel Eva Chernov Lokey Shelley Friedman and Tania Lowenthal Nina Geneson Patricia and Richard Gibbs Penelope A. Goldsmith Ron and Barbara Kaufman Susan Goldstein and Andy Kivel Howard Herman and Claudia Bernard Nancy Igdaloff Lauren and George John Alan Kates Susan Levine Janet Linder and Elena Moser Susan and Jon Mall Barbara Meislin Gary and Cathy Meyer Susan Moldaw Sherry Morse and John Maccabee James Newman and Jane Ivory Rachel Pfeffer Joyce Rifkind Emily Rosenberg Albert Schultz Edward and Liliane Schneider Scott Seaman Naomi Seidman Lisa Spiegal Cindy and Phillip Strause Robert Tyre Associates Anonymous (3) Betty and Jacques Adler Matt and Marcia Allen Ann Gabor Arancio and Remo

Arancio David and Andi Arrick Irina and Boris Auerbuch Charna Ball David Bank and Cesar Chavez Cantor Roslyn Barak Lee and Frank Battat Irwin Bear Wendy Bear Joseph and Joyce Behar Natalie Berg John Bielenberg Kim Belfor and Judi Kramer Sandra Blair Deborah and Martin Bloch Judith Bloom Dr. Susan E. Boxer David Bradlow Robin Brasso Diane Brett David and Suzanne Broad Violet Brooks Martin and Geraldine Brownstein Arthur Brunwasser Larry and Becky Burgheimer Jerome and Gloria Burke Sarah Clark Pat Christen Sol Coffino Helen Cohen and Mark Lipman Paul Cohen Sandra Coliver Chris Collins Adele Corvin Stuart Dick and Joseph Sieger Gayle Donsky and Morton Stein Suzy Drell

Howard Hoffman Florence Hurwitt Annette Insdorf Lois and Jerome Jacobs Merle Jacobson Judith Janec Vivian Kahn Marcia and Richard Kashnow Ronald and Tobye Kaye George and Doris Krevsky Linda Kurtz Marvin Langsam Jill L-Esperance Deb Levine Andra Lichtenstein and William Glover Sharon Linker Roger Low Bianca Lowy Carrie and Ronald Ludwig Arlene Lurie Lawrence Marshall Dan Barki in Honor of The Family of Gerda Mathan Nadine May Deborah Mintz

Eleanor Drey Richard and Robin Edwards Trish Elliot Myra and Jerry Feiger Saul Fenster Rachel and Amnon Fisher Nancy Fishman and Nina Haft Eleanor and Albert Fraenkel Clark Freshman Thomas and Sandra Friedland Shira Gamon Jack Gardner and Candy Rupp Rosalie and Harold Gevertz Barry and Elaine Gilbert Ellen Goldstein Theodore J. Gradman and Hilary Perr Sheldon and Judy Greene Richard and Julie Harris Siva Heiman

Marsha Raleigh Nelly Reyes Susan Roane Maureen and Paul Roskoph Francoise and Marshall Rothstein Klaus-Ullrich Rotzscher Sylvia Sabel Richard Saiz David S.Salem Beth and Steven Samuelson George and Dorothy Saxe Danny Scher Emilya Shtivelman Judy and Lee Shulman Heather and Norman Silverman Bob Skinkle and Felix Vega Sharman and Gary Spector-Angel Steven Speier Phyllis Sutton Temple Sinai

Lance and Dalia Nagel Laurie Nierenberg and Avi Weil Stephen and Laura Olsen Doug Okun and Eric Ethington Jacob Picheny Janis Plotkin Paula Pretlow KC Price and Steven Kehrli Ora Prochovnick and Rena Frantz Charlotte Prozan Uri Rabin

Jen and Adam Traeger-Hirschfelder Catherine Trimbur and Mal Burnstein Susan Tubbesing and Sarah Nathe Dana Van Gorder Mark Warnick Howard and Merna Wechsler Peggy Weil Marilyn and Raymond Weisberg Helen Wiens Barbara and Paul Weiss Alan Wern Ruth White and Robert White Peter Wohfeiler Barbara and Howard Wollner Jon Zimman FOUNDATION AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORT Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation Charles H. Revson Foundation David R. Stern Fund at the Agape Foundation 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 Righteous Persons Foundation San Francisco Foundation Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund Tides Foundation Walter and Elise Haas Fund NEW JEWISH FILMMAKING PROJECT Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties Jim Joseph Foundation The Chris Holter/Ron Merk Fund, administered by the Metro Theatre Center Foundation Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund

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m e mb e r s h i p i n f orm at i o n

S u p p or t t h e F e s t i va l : Jo i n t h e J e w i s h F i l m For u m To day !

Joining the Jewish Film Forum can save you money on year-round and Festival screenings while also supporting the mission and programs of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the world’s premiere advocate for independent Jewish cinema.

Membership Levels and Benefits

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$50 SUPPORTER Exclusive discounts on Festival tickets and passes (some limits may apply) SFJFF Catalog mailed early to your home Advance notice of year-round screenings and early ticket-buying privileges Subscription to SFJFF E-News and newsletter Discounts at select partner screenings/events

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$100 ASSOCIATE All benefits at the Supporter level plus: Acknowledgment in the Festival Catalog Invitations to donors-only sneak previews Invitations to post-screening Festival party $250 FRIEND All benefits at the Associate level plus: DVD of SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project Two tickets to SF Closing Night film and festivities A voucher redeemable for four free Festival admissions $500 PATRON All benefits at the Associate level plus: One premiere All-Festival Pass which includes one admission to SF Opening Night and Closing Night One additional SF Opening Night and Closing Night ticket DVD of SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project Invitation to private VIP Festival Preview $1,000 PRODUCER

All benefits at the Associate level plus: Two premiere All-Festival Passes which include two admissions to SF Opening Night and Closing Night Invitations to private VIP Festival Preview and the Filmmaker Dinner DVD of SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project and SFJFF’s Curator’s Choice DVD

$2,500 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

All benefits at the Associate level plus: Three premiere All-Festival Passes which include three admissions to SF Opening Night and Closing Night One additional SF Opening Night and Closing Night ticket Invitations to private VIP Festival Preview, the Filmmaker Dinner, and Shabbat Dinner DVD of SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project and SFJFF’s Curator’s Choice DVD Opportunity for a shared personal film dedication in the Festival catalog Two seats to your dedicated film in all venues $5,000 DIRECTOR All benefits at the Executive Producer level plus: Four premiere All-Festival Passes which include four admissions to SF Opening Night and Closing Night Invitations to private VIP Festival Preview, the Filmmaker Dinner, and Shabbat Dinner DVD of SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project and SFJFF’s Curator’s Choice DVD Recognition in the Visionary Circle Opportunity for an exclusive personal film dedication in the Festival catalog Four seats to your dedicated film in all venues Opportunity to host private party in SFJFF screening room Onsite access to the SFJFF film archive To join the Jewish Film Forum visit us online at www.sfjff.org or call 415.621.0556 ext 305.

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T i c k e t i n f orm at i o n corresponds to the name on the credit card used to purchase the ticket. No tickets will be released to you without proper identification. There are no refunds for tickets that are not picked up.

OPENING NIGHT PARTY/SCREENING TICKETS The Box Office will be open at both the Swedish American Hall and Castro Theatre for opening night and Will Call tickets can be picked up at either location. Please allow extra time for Will Call on opening night.

Box Office Opens: Jewish Film Forum (JFF) Members: June 23–25 General Public: June 26

How to order: Online:Access Phone: Order toll-free: Fax:Completed Mail:Completed

our website at www.sfjff.org 415.256.TIXX (8499) 866.55.TICKETS (866-558-4253) order form to: 415.634.3246 order form to: San Francisco Jewish Film Festival In-Ticketing Box Office 863A Francisco Blvd East San Rafael, California 94901 Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5 pm

ARRIVAL TIME 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.

RUSH LINE 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.

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 can be printed at home, mailed or picked up at Will Call.

By Mail Tickets will automatically be mailed to the billing address unless another address is specified. Online, phone and fax orders received three weeks or fewer prior to each screening will automatically be placed at Will Call. Mailed order forms must be postmarked on or before July 2, 2009, to be eligible for mail ticket delivery and two weeks prior to the screening for Will Call. Mailed order forms postmarked within two weeks of the screening date cannot be processed.

Will Call To pick up your tickets at Will Call, you MUST bring your confirmation number and a VALID PHOTO ID (valid state issued photo ID card, military ID or current passport) that

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION • 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.

T i c k e t p r i c e s Become a member of the Jewish Film Forum (JFF) 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 film. To join, go to jewishfilmforum.sfjff.org, call the box office or use the included Order Form 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.

w w w.s f jf f.or g

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

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.

866-55 -TICKETS

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.

46

DISCOUNT 10-FLIX VOUCHER PACKS JFF Members: $90 (limit 2 per member) General Admission: $100 10-Flix Voucher Packs are convenient, economical and flexible. Each 10-Flix Pack may be redeemed for 10 regular-priced tickets of your choice. Not good for special programs.

Each 10-Flix Pack contains 10 vouchers that you may redeem for your tickets online, by phone, fax, mail or at the box office at any time before and throughout the Festival.

Please note: 10-Flix Vouchers cannot guarantee tickets to sold-out shows, so redeem early if you know your selection. 10-Flix Vouchers 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

SPECIAL PROGRAMS 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.

(Student, senior and group discounts do not apply to special programs) SF Opening Night Bash at Swedish American Hall and Film at Castro Cocktail reception and reserved theatre seating JFF Members: $65 General Admission: $75 SF Opening Night Film Only Reserved theatre seating JFF Members: General Public:

$25 $30

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

$22 $25

Centerpiece Film (San Francisco): A Matter of Size JFF Members: General Admission:

$12 $14

Rockin’ Puppet Mayhem! Live at CELLspace (Passes and 10-Flix Vouchers not valid) JFF Members: General Public:

$9 $10

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

$22 $25

SPECIAL TICKET PACKAGES All-Festival Pass JFF Members: General Public:

$195 $225

One pass good for all shows at all theatres—including Opening and Closing Night films, parties and special programs (except Rockin’ Puppet Mayhem!). 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 (except Rockin’ Puppet Mayhem!). 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.

2 0 0 9 t i c k e t or d e r f orm Name (as it appears on the credit card)

Billing Address City

STATE

Zip

Home Phone

Daytime Phone

Country

E-Mail (important!)

I require wheelchair seating

Number of person(s) using wheelchairs

SF Ope n i n g Night FILM & BE FORE-FILM BASH @ Ca f é d u Nord / Swedish American Hall

a ll‑ f e st i va l pa s s & reel pa s s

Pre-Film Cocktail Party and Reserved Theatre Seating

Member tickets @ $65 ea. = $

General Public tickets @ $75 ea. = $

JFF Member pass @ $195 ea.

General Public pass @ $225 ea.

Reel Pass (25 & under) @ $40 ea.

SF Ope n i n g Night Fil m ONLY

Reserved Theatre Seating

Members tickets @ $25 ea. =

General Public tickets @ $30 ea. =

$ $

Name (Circle: Member/General/Reel) Name (Circle: Member/General/Reel)

SF C lo si n g Night Fil m

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

Name (Circle: Member/General/Reel)

Be r k e l e y Opening Night & Aft er-Film part y

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

$

disco u nt 1 0 -f lix VOUCHE R PACKS

10-Flix Packs, Member @ $90 ea. (limit 2 per member)

Ce n t e r Pi e ce FILM SF ( MATTER OF SI Z E)

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

even t co de

SECURITY POLICY—PLEASE READ

$

$ $

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

10-Flix Packs, General Public @ $100 ea. (limit 2 per person)

film t it le

date

# of t ix

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

S= Seniors are 65 and older G= Groups are for 10 or more tickets purchased in advance for the same film on a single order.

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.

Bags not permitted in theatres. Please arrive early for screenings to allow ample time for security checks.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.

p ric e/ t ic ket

dis count typ e* or Jf f M emb er #

total p rice

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

Please let me know about year-round screenings.

Ticket Delivery

I want to volunteer for the 2009 SFJFF; please contact me.

Tickets will automatically be mailed to the billing address unless an alternate option is chosen. Orders postmarked three weeks or less prior to each screening will be placed at Will Call.

Form of Payment

Credit card (Visa/MasterCard accepted) fax 415.634.3246 or call 866.55.TICKETS (866.552.8425)

Please note: We are no longer able to accept checks or money orders as payment for tickets.

Authorized Signature

Expiration Date

10-Flix Voucher Account No/s.

Credit Card No.

CVN (3 digit number on back of card)

phone: 92 5 -27 5 -94 90 w eb si t e : w w w.s f j f f.o rg Fa x: 925 -8 66-95 97 or M a il to : P O B ox 2 2 2 9 , Da n v i ll e , CA 9 4 52 6

Photo ID will be required when picking up tickets at Will Call. 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 on the day of the first show I attend. Photo ID required to pick up tickets at Will Call.

Join SFJFF’s Jewish Film Forum Supporter Associate Friend Patron

$50 $100 $250 $500

Producer $1,000 Executive Producer $2,500 Director $5,000 For benefits details, see page 44

47

48

866-55 -TICKETS

w w w.s f jf f.or g

P R O DUCTI O N STAFF Peter L. Stein

Larsen Associates Karen Larsen, Leo Wong, Kelda Mckinney

Executive Director

Nancy K. Fishman Program Director

festival Publicists

Owen Levin

Myra Feiger

Dafna Kory Kerri Gawryn Window Boxes

David Gutierez Brian Freeman

COMMUNITY OUTREACH COORDINATOR

ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR

Allyson Halpern

Hospitality Assistants

Jennie Adler Deborah Munro

Development Director

Joshua Moore

Brad Robinson House Manager

Volunteer Coordinators

pROGRAM Coordinator

Grace Liu

Ninfa Dawson Alysanne Taylor

Kerri Gawryn Development & MEMBERSHIP Coordinator

Production Manager

Volunteer Coordinators Marin

Administrative Coordinator

Screening Committee

Hal Rowland

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

Technical Director

Christopher Smith

Doug Blakely

David Liu Erica Marcus Alon Raab Matt Rome Shevi Rosenfeld Ken Schneider Jennifer Schwartz Zehavit Stern Marlene Velasco-Begue Jeremy Widen Leah Wolchok Diane Wolf

Sponsor Reel

In-Ticketing

DIGITAL ARCHIVE ASSISTANT

Box Office

Ilya Tovbis

Doug Domonkos Chris Purvis Ben Rigby - 415 Productions, San Francisco

HOSPITALITY COORDINATOR

Web Design/Development

Judy Bloch

Program Advisors

Marketing by Storm Cara Storm

Atomic PR

Copy Editor

NEW MEDIA PUBLICITY

Donna Steger / p.s. PrintSmart

Chris Stolebarger

Print Broker

Volume Inc. Adam Brodsley, Eric Heiman, Jeff Brush, Talin Wadsworth

Print Traffic

Bonnie Burt Margot Breier Gail Dolgin Myra Feiger Debbie Hoffmann Marcia Jarmel Natalie Kaniel Vivian Kleiman Cary Kletter Donna Korones Valeria Lapin Ganley Moshe Levin

Ada Chester Bookkeeper

Marketing Consultant

Kay Sato Communications Coordinator

Shira Zucker Marketing Coordinator

Annie Abernethy MARKETING ASSISTANT

Kay Sato COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

Grant Stevens PUBLICITY COORDINATOR

2008 SFJFF TRAILER

Directed by Joshua Moore/ Mario Grijalva Produced by Joshua Moore/ Mario Grijalva Music composed by Brendan Landis Post-production services: Philo TV Cinematographer: Sophie Van Ronselé

Allen Stross Paul Felder Photographers

creative direction and design

Debbie Berne Additional Graphic Design

Joshua Moore Shorts & animation

Nancy K. Fishman “The Goldbergs” Archival Curator

Nancy K. Fishman Peter L. Stein Program Catalog Editors

INDEX 575 Castro St.

24

Hardcover & Paperback

19

Acne

11

Heart of Amos Klein

19

Adam

11

Heart of Stone

16

Bait

11

Hello Goodbye

Beton

19

Broken Lines

12

Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

Broken Promise

12

Chronicle of a Kidnap

13

Cycles

13

Defamation

14

Demon Bridegroom

19

Desert Brides

14

Empty Nest

15

Escapism

19

Eve

11

Foxhole Manifesto

19

Gdanski Railway Station

20

The Gift to Stalin

15

Gilad Shalit: 2 Years in Captivity

13

The Goldbergs

16

Grown Up

20

Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger

17 18 4

A History of Israeli

Ma’aleh Film School 20th Anniversary

21

Trace

19

Mama, L’Chaim! (To Life!)

15

True Love Hotel

19

Victoria Day

Mary and Max

22

26

A Matter of Size

6

The Wedding Song

5

22

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

Menachem & Fred My Amulet

26

12

With a Little Patience

13

My Memories are Entwined with You

19

Cinema

17

Option of War

19

Home

25

Prrride

23

I Am Von Höfler

18

Rachel

23

I Wanna Be Famous

19

Refugees

23

In Aporia

19

Rockin’ Puppet Mayhem!

10

Jerusalem Cuts

18

Sand Box

19

Jews in Shorts

19

Seven Minutes in Heaven

24

Jewtoons

19

Joshua

6

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech

24

Sidney Turtlebaum

17

Skin

25

The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return

25

Ten for Grandpa

26

Lady Kul El-Arab

20

Lake 68

20

Line 9

19

Lost Islands

21

Woods

19

The Yes Men Fix the World

27

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

27

Zion and His Brother

28

Zrubavel

28

San Francisco

Nonprofit Org.

Jewish Film Festival

U.S. Postage

145 Ninth Street, Suite 200

PAID

San Francisco, CA 94103

Permit No. 107 San Francisco, CA

WWW.SFJFF.ORG ...YOUR MIND. ...YOUR MOVIE QUEUE. ...YOUR JEWISH FILM SAVVY. ...YOUR POINT OF VIEW. SFJFF.org is expanding the way you experience Jewish cinema. Check out some of the many exciting new media offerings available during this festival year in our theaters and at www.sfjff.org: • Watch a selection of festival shorts in the comfort of your home or office (we won’t tell your boss), with a new short film at www.sfjff.org every month!

• Browse more than 1,200 titles that have screened at SFJFF since 1981 in our new and improved online archive. Find dozens of trailers, clips, links and more!

Click to enlarge...

• Rate and review films on the web and in our theaters—straight from your mobile phone. 60 films, 600 opinions. Whether our films make you kvetch or kvell, your opinion counts!

• Enjoy in-theater videocast Q&As with filmmakers from remote locations.

• Download podcasts and videos of filmmaker panels and Q&As. • Educator? Keep your students plugged in with new SFJFF film curricula and teaching tools, created in partnership with the Jewish Heritage Video Collection and the New Jewish Filmmaking Project.

Come back to www.sfjff.org after the festival for more exciting features!