2024 Filmmakers in Residence Pitch + Kvell
November 17, 2024
The Projects
Amanda Rubin: The Third Reich of Dreams: Dreaming Under Dictatorship
Emile Bokaer: We Play Cinema
Hervé Cohen: This Little Song
Jeremy Borison: Alliance
Udi Nir & Sagi Bornstein: The First Lady
Emma D. Miller: Father Figures
Projects listed in order of appearance. All project descriptions provided courtesy of the artists.
The Panelists
Ash Hoyle, Sundance Film Festival
Keisha Knight, International Documentary Association
Philippe Bellaiche, Sapir College School of Audio & Visual Arts
Hosted by Marcia Jarmel, Director of Filmmaker Services, Jewish Film Institute
The Third Reich of Dreams: Dreaming Under Dictatorship
Amanda Rubin
In 1933, the dream-life of many Germans changed—almost overnight. Like seismographs of unfolding terror, their dreams became vivid and cinematic, grotesque and darkly humorous. Bedside lamps “turn traitor” denouncing the people who own them, a factory owner is unable to raise his arm to salute Goebbels who hobbles away in disgust, dragging his club foot; Hitler is dressed in ballooning purple-satin clown’s trousers; a concentration camp doctor discovers he is wearing seductively high boots that sparkle like diamonds. These dreams bear witness to the Nazi invasion of the collective unconscious, and they only survive because one woman risked her life to record and preserve them. Drawn from hours of rare audio-interview, alongside a newly-discovered archive of letters, manuscripts and photographs, The Third Reich of Dreams documentary tells the captivating life-story of Jewish-journalist Charlotte Beradt, prominently featuring the almost-forgotten dreamcollection she published in exile in the 1960’s.
Amanda Rubin, London, England
Email: amandarubin1965@gmail.com Website: amandarubin.com
Project Status: Development / Pre-Production
Amanda Rubin is a documentary/specialist factual director who works across arts/music, history, current affairs, and science on scripted and observational documentaries, topical magazines, and short form. Amanda is credited on several documentaries for BBC Four, The History Channel, and Discovery+.
We Play Cinema
Emile Bokaer
We Play Cinema is a multi-generational documentary self-portrait by Emile Bokaer, created in collaboration with his father Tsvi Bokaer. Blending contemporary observational footage with Tsvi’s long-lost 1960s films, son and father place past and present in direct conversation to illuminate the lasting truth: cinema is as essential as life itself. Tsvi Bokaer (born Elie Boccara) fell madly in love with the movies as a child, and continued dreaming “screen stories” his whole life – including now at 82. A “wandering Jew”, Tsvi lived in Tunis, Paris, Israel, Berkeley, and Los Angeles, before landing in Ithaca, New York, where he built and ran the family’s movie theater Fall Creek Pictures, for years. Through footage filmed over the past decade, We Play Cinema shows Tsvi’s gradual transformation, from viewing himself as a failed filmmaker, only to excitedly return to producing original films for the first time in decades.
Emile Bokaer, Oakland, CA
Email: emile.bokaer@gmail.com
Website: emilebokaerfilm.com
Project Status: Post-Production
Emile Bokaer is a documentary filmmaker. His recent work as a producer includes A Field Guide to Coastal Fortifications and The Street Network, a Stripe Press short film. His previous films have shown internationally, including at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, DocPoint Helsinki, and the Media That Matters Film Festival. He owns and operates the San Francisco production company Dogpatch Films, and is a graduate of Stanford University’s MFA Program in Documentary Film & Video. He lives and works in Oakland, CA.
This Little Song
Hervé Cohen
Haunted by a childhood melody sung in Arabic by his Jewish grandmother, while growing up in Paris, a filmmaker embarks on a journey across Algeria, the country of his ancestors, in search of that elusive tune he faintly remembers. From the arid southern lands, to the coastal cities of the north where his family once lived, he hums the tune to Algerians of all walks of life, triggering conversations and emotions. Navigating the delicate topic of the forgotten Jewish presence in Algeria, the filmmaker seeks to revive memories of a time when Muslims and Jews shared not only a culture and language but also the sheer joy of making music together. He may or may not find the tune but ultimately what counts is the journey and not the destination. His goal overall is to reconnect with his true Jewish-Arabic identity through an intimate, socially engaging, and yet playful exploration.
Hervé Cohen, Marseille, France
Email: herve.cohen@gmail.com
Website: hervecohen.com
Project Status: Development
Hervé Cohen is an award-winning French-American filmmaker and cinematographer. He has traveled the world to capture compelling stories: from the countryside of China to Senegal, the United States, and Benin, West Africa. Hervé Cohen’s latest work is the critically acclaimed and award-winning groundbreaking interactive web documentary and media installation “Life Underground”, a journey through the subways of the world and into the personal stories of their passengers. Cohen has also produced a worldwide collaborative project “CoVisions – Young Filmmakers’ Voices at the Time of Corona”. His work has been featured on TV internationally (Arte, France 5, Canal Plus, NHK, PBS…).
Alliance
Jeremy Borison
Yeshiva University has never been an inviting place for LGBTQ students, and the ongoing lawsuit between YU and its Pride Alliance student club has made that more explicit. Mal Meisels was one of the student leaders who filed a lawsuit after YU officially rejected an LGBTQ club on campus. At the time, they were proud to be giving a voice to the many queer students on their Orthodox campus who felt ignored and often scared. However, though they knowingly became a representative for LGBTQ activism in the community, they didn’t expect to be the face of a lawsuit that threatens to overturn LGBTQ rights in the United States. In 2021, YU petitioned for a stay from the Supreme Court, which took their debate around religious discrimination to a national level. Now, Mal’s attempt to start an LGBTQ club on campus has become the frontline in the legal battle between religious freedom and anti-discrimination in the US.
Jeremy Borison, Los Angeles, CA
Email: borisonj@gmail.com
Website: documentaries.org/films/alliance
Project Status: In Production
Jeremy Borison is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, whose work explores the intersection of religion and sexuality. His films have received grants from organizations including Micah Philanthropies, Aviv Foundation, and Jewish Story Partners for their efforts in creating discourse around LGBTQ inclusion in religious communities. Jeremy has been selected for various initiatives that explore art and religion, as an Asylum Arts Fellow, a writer for Imagination Productions, a Wexner Heritage fellow, and a JFI Filmmaker in Residence. His debut feature film, ‘Unspoken’ premiered at the British Film Institute’s Flare Film Festival, and recently received the audience award for Best Narrative Film at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival.
The First Lady
Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein
Israeli transgender pioneer Efrat Tilma was persecuted by the police in the 1960’s for wearing a dress in the streets of Tel-Aviv. She fled to Europe on her own at seventeen, made a name for herself as a lip-sync artist, landed her dream job as a flight attendant, returned to Israel in the early 2000’s, and finally, at almost sixty years old, became the first transgender police woman in the country. Now in her seventies and a celebrated activist, Efrat must fight for her rights once again, while the country spirals into unprecedented political and social regression.
Sagi Bornstein (top left) has 15 years of experience as a director, producer and editor of documentaries, reality and news. He studied photography at Camera Obscura film school and worked for leading Israeli broadcasters before starting his own production company. Udi Nir (bottom left) is a writer, director, and producer. Udi studied playwriting at the Israeli School of Dramaturgy, before meeting his partner Sagi Bornstein and turning to documentary filmmaking. Udi is a board member of the Israeli documentary association. Udi and Sagi’s work include Israeli academy nominee Golda (2019) and IDA Awards winner Viral Dreams (2021).
Sagi Bornstein, Udi Nir, Haifa, Israel
Email: udi@udivsagi.com, sagi@udivsagi.com
Website: udivsagi.com
Project Status: Post-Production
Father Figures
Emma D. Miller
When Bruce, a retired theater director, begins posting deeply intimate conversations with his growing collection of ventriloquist’s dummies, his daughter Emma is left with questions. Why is Bruce deriving fulfillment from long talks with invented characters that he himself speaks for? And why does ventriloquism allow him to be more open than he is with his own daughter? In an attempt to understand Bruce’s motivations and repair a relationship fractured by divorce and infidelity, Emma digs into home videos, follows Bruce to a ventriloquist convention, and conducts interviews with Bruce’s puppets. As she begins to recognize the key role performance has always played between them, Emma decides to commission the creation of dummies that resemble her and her father. Together, Emma and Bruce write, rehearse and film stylized material using their puppet avatars, allowing them to share more deeply than ever before and forge a new vision for their relationship.
Emma D. Miller, Los Angeles, CA
Email: emma@marconamedia.com
Website: marconamedia.com
Project Status: Production
Emma D. Miller is a Gotham Award–nominated director and producer whose films have been supported by Sundance Institute, Anonymous Content, Ford Foundation, and Impact Partners, among others. She is the producer of Elizabeth Lo’s MISTRESS DISPELLER (Venice/Toronto 2024) and the director of the short documentary THE SCHOOL OF CANINE MASSAGE (SXSW 2024). She previously produced Iliana Sosa’s SXSW award-winning WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND (ARRAY Releasing/Netflix), a New York Times “Critic’s Pick.” Emma was a 2023 Sundance Producing Lab Fellow, and was named one of DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40” and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
Meet the Panelists
Ash Hoyle is a features Programmer at the Sundance Film Festival and was Guest Festival Director of the 44th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in 2024. At Sundance he focuses on both fiction, nonfiction, and the Midnight sections of the Festival. Previously he was Associate Programmer for shorts and features, working closely with Director of Programming Kim Yutani. Ash’s programming experience also includes Damn These Heels Film Festival, Outfest, Palm Springs Shorts Fest, NewFest NY, Sun Valley Film Festival, Overlook Film Festival, and AFI Fest. Ash is a 2021 Project Involve Fellow on Film Independent’s programming track. Originally from Philadelphia, PA Ash holds a dual degree in Film & English from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Keisha Knight is the Director of Funds and Advocacy at the International Documentary Association (IDA). In this capacity, Keisha oversees a portfolio of IDA’s granting, artist support, and field-building programs, including the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund, Logan Elevate Grants, Nonfiction Access Initiative, and the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, among other granting programs. Keisha has served on numerous juries and review panels and is a 2022-2023 Warhol Curatorial Research Fellow. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Sentient.Art.Film and a doctoral candidate in Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University.
Philippe Bellaiche is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose trajectory in the field—from cinematographer to producer to director—has spanned 25 years and four continents. In addition to maintaining a prolific career as a cinematographer, Bellaïche has taught extensively in Israel’s most prestigious film schools and is currently teaching at the School of Audio Visual Arts in Sapir College in Sderot and at the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem.
About the Jewish Film Institute
The Jewish Film Institute (JFI) champions bold films and filmmakers that expand and evolve the Jewish story for audiences everywhere. As the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the world’s first and most revered event for independent Jewish storytelling, JFI celebrates the spirit of film, inquiry, independence, collaboration, community, and inclusion to turn conversation into action, reframe understanding of Jewish cultures and identities, and nurture networks of filmmakers and artists. The Institute’s filmmaker services include the competitive, year-long Filmmaker Residency and the JFI Completion Grants, which provide finishing funds to jury-selected projects. Learn more at www.jfi.org.
About JFI Filmmaker Services
JFI’s Filmmaker Services support a global community of independent filmmakers whose work challenges stereotypes, conventions, and assumptions in Jewish-themed storytelling. JFI supports projects at all stages of the creative process, from development and production through finishing and exhibition. The JFI Filmmakers Residence Program, now in its tenth year, is the only dedicated artist development program in the United States that provides creative, marketing, and production support for emerging and established filmmakers whose documentary projects explore and expand thoughtful consideration of Jewish history, life, culture, and identity. The JFI Completion Grants support independent film and media arts projects that probe nuanced and surprising corners of Jewish life, history, culture, and identity. Grants provide critical resources for filmmakers to accelerate the final stages of their film’s production. JFI has provided $415,000 in grants to 33 projects since 2020. Learn more at www.jfi.org/filmmakers.
Upcoming Filmmaker Opportunities
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