Jewish Film Institute

Calling all filmmakers! Applications are now open for the Jewish Film Institute's 2025 Filmmakers in Residence program. The JFI Filmmaker Residency provides industry-leading creative support to documentary projects from around the world that shape the conversation about Jewish life and identity. Residents receive industry mentorship, create peer-to-peer community, attend the annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and develop their projects' pitches with feedback from leaders in the field.

Applications are open through October 18, 2024. Learn more at jfi.org/residency

Between the Temples, which made its West Coast Premiere as the Centerpiece Narrative at the 44th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, opens in theaters across the Bay Area today!

A cantor (Jason Schwartzman) in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher (Carol Kane) re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student.

You won't want to miss this pitch perfect indie comedy that was an audience favorite in both our San Francisco and Oakland runs!

Find a screening near you: https://betweenthetemplesfilm.com/

JFI Completion Grantee I Like It Here, directed by Ralph Arlyck, will make its New York Theatrical Premiere at the Firehouse Cinema this Friday, August 23rd followed by a weekend of screenings! Ralph Arlyck is expected to attend for a series of Q&As following the screenings moderated by film luminaries including essay filmmaker Alan Berliner, filmmaker and writer Kent Jones, author Gabrielle Glaser, and Chloé Trayner, Artistic Director of True/False Film Festival.

I Like I Here received a 2022 JFI Completion Grant and screened last summer at the 43rd San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, with director Ralph Arlyck in attendance for a Q&A at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco.

Learn more and get tickets: https://www.dctvny.org/s/firehouse-film/i-like-it-here-MCR4QKKXXHIRCD5CAMRU4JCMDQ2U

We want to hear from you! Take the SFJFF44 Audience Survey

It was great seeing you at the theater this year for the 44th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. As we make preparations for next year's Festival, we want your feedback on what worked for you and where we can improve. Take a few minutes to fill out our Festival survey so we can bring you an even better quality of experience next year.

Share your feedback and be entered to win an SFJFF45 All Festival pass for 2025!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CTQH9YD

ICYMI: Check out 's coverage of JFI's 2024 Completion Grant recipients, including , whose film All God's Children also screened as a Work in Progress at the 44th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival!

This year JFI awarded $80,000 to six barrier-breaking projects! The grantees were revealed publicly at the Closing Night of the 44th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival on Sunday, July 28 at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts.

Read the full article:

Ondi Timoner’s ‘All God’s Children’ Among Six Projects To Earn Completion Grants From Jewish Film Institute The Jewish Film Institute has announced the latest recipients of JFI Completion Grants, including a film directed by Ondi Timoner.

Don’t miss out on KQED’s exciting lineup of events this summer! With thoughtful dialogue, performances, screenings, food experiences, live storytelling, and behind-the-scenes productions of radio and podcast shows onstage, KQED Live offers something for everyone who wants to be part of the conversation. ⁠
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Learn more: https://www.kqed.org/events

Check out JFI Filmmaker Services Director Marcia Jarmel in the blog! Marcia gives the inside scoop into JFI's Filmmaker Services offerings, including the JFI Completion Grants and Filmmakers in Residence program, as well as a deep dive into the history of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

JFI is grateful to be the recipient of an Arts Endowment grant supporting our annual Filmmakers in Residence program.

Read the full interview!

Grant Spotlight: Jewish Film Institute Marcia Jarmel, director of filmmaker services at the Jewish Film Institute, spoke with us about the history of the annual film festival, the evolution of the Filmmaker in Residence Program, and the importance of film in advancing Jewish storytelling.

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From our Sponsors:

BECOME A 48 HILLS MEMBER AND HELP SAVE SAN FRANCISCO!

KEEP 48 HILLS ALIVE AND GROWING!

Our goal is to get 1000 new 48 Hills members to sign up for $10-$25 a month and help us report on the upcoming election, support the local arts scene, and fight the billionaires' media influence. Nobody else is doing the big things we're doing on our tiny budget.

Join us here: https://48hills.org/join-the-community/

From Our Sponsors:

Remember how it felt to be with the community at the film festival? Get that feeling all year long by reading J. The Jewish News of Northern California. Get the latest and most important Bay Area Jewish News right to your inbox.

Sign up for your free FREE newsletter today: jweekly.com/connect

It takes an entire community to make a film festival a success! ⁠
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The Jewish Film Institute extends a tremendous thank you to its Community Partners who ensure that San Francisco Jewish Film Festival programs are successful and its audiences are reflective of the wider Bay Area community!

You cast your vote, now here are the results! The SFJFF44 Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Running on Sand, while the SFJFF44 Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Porcelain War.

Last week, SFJFF, which is an Academy Award®-qualifying film festival in the Best Documentary Short Subject category, announced Center of Life, directed by Jacob Arenber, as the Festival’s Best Documentary Short Award winner. The SFJFF44 Award for Best Narrative Short went to Maurice’s Bar by Tom Prezman and Tzor Edery, and the SFJFF44 San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award went to the Israeli narrative The Vanishing Soldier, directed by Dani Rosenberg.

Congratulations to our SFJF44 Audience and Juried Award Winners!

Read more about the Festival and our juried awards in the SFJFF44 Wrap Post on the JFI Blog!

https://sfjewishfilm.medium.com/44th-san-francisco-jewish-film-festivalwraps-18-days-of-spirited-films-events-and-conversations-e71990852393

SFJFF44 brought movie-lovers together for a weeks-long celebration of the diversity of Jewish storytelling on and off the silver screen. Guests travelled from around the world to participate in lively discussions and events with our Festival community, and indelible memories were made by filmmakers and audiences alike.

Relive the magic with our Festival Highlights photo album!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfjff/albums/72177720318927635/

SFJFF44 went out with a joyful bang with two remarkable coming of age stories with guests closing out our East Bay run at the Piedmont Theatre in Oakland.

Unspoken director Jeremy Borison and actor Victor Kallett stopped by in the afternoon for a meaningful screening of their film.

The Ride Ahead executive producer Jim LeBrecht joined us in the evening for the powerful East Bay Big Night presentation of Sam Habib's rousing documentary about his search for advice in living his most independent life as a wheelchair user in an ableist world.

Head over to our Festival highlights album for more memories from the SFJFF44: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfjff/albums/72177720318927635/

Photos by Lori Eanes

Thank you for attending the 44th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, presented by the Jewish Film Institute! It's been an incredible few weeks of films, events, and augmented experiences, and now we want to hear your feedback!

Which films and venues transcended your expectations? Where can we improve our offerings and services? Take a few minutes to fill out our Festival survey so we can bring you an even better quality of experience next year.

Share your feedback and be entered to win an SFJFF45 All Festival pass for 2025!

Take the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CTQH9YD

Don’t miss out on KQED’s exciting lineup of events this summer! With thoughtful dialogue, performances, screenings, food experiences, live storytelling, and behind-the-scenes productions of radio and podcast shows onstage, KQED Live offers something for everyone who wants to be part of the conversation.

Learn more: https://www.kqed.org/events

Join us today for our East Bay Big Night Presentation of The Ride Ahead, about a young wheelchair user seeking out an independent future, with screenings at both the Piedmont and Vogue!

Psychedelic sagas and alternative coming of age stories abound in SFJFF44's final day in Oakland. A Holocaust survivor processes his experiences through literature and L*D in The Return from the Other Planet, while an app delivers ma*****na to a country struggling to cope with PTSD in Silver's Uprising, and a q***r Orthodox teenager finds his identity through a family secret in Unspoken.

Get tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule?view=list&cat-filter-1=&cat-filter-2=&term=&date=2024-08-04

SFJFF shines a spotlight on stories of daring art and artists this Saturday in Oakland. First up, Stephen Fry traces the history of artists who saved lives during the Holocaust in Willem & Frieda, while an auctioneer grapples with looted works in Auction.

Then in the evening, Centerpiece Documentary Diane Warren: Relentless reveals the pen behind your favorite pop hits, while Jason Schwartzman and Carole Kane navigate love, loss, and an adult Bat Mitzvah in Between the Temples.

Get tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule

Personal and global issues take center stage at the Piedmont this Friday with sweeping international documentaries and tightly-knit family narratives. Porcelain War profiles Ukrainian artists creating against the backdrop of war, while Reality Bites: Documentary Shorts tackles antisemitism, civil rights, and the storied career of Barbara Streisand. Stick around in the evening for maternal melodrama This is My Mother and our repeat screening of the madcap Jewish comedy Bad Shabbos.

Get Tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule

A formerly incarcerated man searches for his long lost child in Under the Shadow of the Son. A daughter connects to her late mother through her archive in A Photographic Memory. A father tries to save his daughter from a failing marriage in My Daughter, My Love.

Join us for a day of commanding family stories at the Piedmont today, plus the uplifting JFI supported documentary Jews by Choice.

Get tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule?view=list&cat-filter-1=&cat-filter-2=&term=&date=2024-08-01

SFJFF44 continues its Piedmont run, with JFI-supported civil rights documentary Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round and Running on Sand, an Israeli sports film about an African asylum seeker who challenges assumptions after being mistaken for a soccer star. Stick around for the repeat screenings of Shari & Lamb Chop and Maha Haj's darkly comedic thriller Mediterranean Fever.

Get tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule?view=list&cat-filter-1=&cat-filter-2=&term=&date=2024-07-31

SFJFF44 heads to Oakland today with San Francisco Closing Night film Sabbath Queen and sci-fi documentary Lyd screening at the Piedmont this afternoon, with guests expected.

Stick around in the evening for Israeli dramas Highway 65 and The Vanishing Soldier, winner of the SF Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award!

Get Tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule?date=2024-07-30&view=list&cat-filter-1=&cat-filter-2=&term=

SFJFF44 capped off the San Francisco run of the Festival with a beautiful and celebratory SF Closing Night presentation of Sabbath Queen last night at the Magnificent Palace of Fine Arts with participant Amichai Lau Lavie and director Sandi DuBowski in attendance. Audiences also got to hear from the filmmakers from Lyd and A Photographic Memory during a full day of screenings at the Palace and Vogue, with lively Q&As following their screenings.

It's been an incredible week and a half in San Francisco, and we'll see you back at the movies starting tomorrow at the Piedmont Theatre in Oakland for our East Bay run!

Relive the magic of the Festival with our SFJFF44 Highlights Album, updated daily: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfjff/albums/72177720318927635/

Photos by Pat Mazzera

Join us this morning at the Vogue for Lyd and Nobody Wants To Talk About Jacob Appelbaum, two daring documentaries that push the bounds of the nonfiction filmmaking form. Then travel over to the nearby Palace of Fine Arts Theatre for the JFI-supported Artist Spotlight film A Photographic Memory and our vivacious and celebratory Closing Night presentation of Sabbath Queen followed by a Closing Night reception!

Get Tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule

The SF Marathon runs through this weekend, so give your self some extra time to arrive and find parking!

It’s a full house here at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco for the California Premiere of The Other with director Joy Sela in attendance!

Join us at 3pm for our special presentation of Vantage Points: Perspectives from Sapir College, which features shorts from the School of Audio & Visual Arts at Sapir Academic College, the most comprehensive and diverse film school in Israel. On October 7th the school lost staff member and filmmaker Yahav Winner, as well as soundtrack program graduate, Lior Waitzman. Hundreds of the school’s students and staff members are displaced. At the moment, the main facility is closed, and looking to rebuild.

Expected to attend is Sapir College’s Dean of the School of Audio and Visual Arts department, poet, and peace activist Sami Shalom Schetrit, as well as Tenured Professor and Cinematographer Philippe Bellaïche (Advocate, SFJFF 2019). They will participate in an extended discussion following the screening, touching on the breadth of student work, the reality of teaching near the border, as well as the effects of October 7th on the student body, faculty, and future of the school.

Get Tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/film-guide/vantage-points-perspectives-from-sapir-college

Today's Festival offerings kick off at the JCC of San Francisco with, two moving and uplifting programs highlighting the voices on the ground in Israel and Palestine with Vantage Points: Perspectives From Sapir College and The Other. Then Peripheral Visions celebrates the cultural contributions of Jews of Color on screen at Urban Adamah in Berkeley.

In San Francisco, the festivities move over to Delancey Street for an evening of programs celebrating groundbreaking director Julie Cohen, and exploring the impact of cancel culture with Ferne Pearlstein.

Get Tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule?view=list&cat-filter-1=&cat-filter-2=&term=&date=2024-07-27

SFJFF44 is pleased to present Vantage Points: Perspectives from Sapir College, a collection of thoughtfully constructed shorts from the School of Audio & Visual Arts at Sapir Academic College, the most comprehensive and diverse film school in Israel.

On October 7th the school lost staff member and filmmaker Yahav Winner, as well as soundtrack program graduate, Lior Waitzman. Hundreds of the school’s students and staff members are displaced. At the moment, the main facility is closed, and looking to rebuild.

Expected to attend is Sapir College’s Dean of the School of Audio and Visual Arts department, poet, and peace activist Sami Shalom Chetrit, as well as Tenured Professor and Cinematographer Philippe Bellaïche (Advocate, SFJFF 2019). They will participate in an extended discussion following the screening, touching on the breadth of student work, the reality of teaching near the border, as well as the effects of October 7th on the student body, faculty, and future of the school.

Join us at the JCC of San Francisco on Saturday, July 27 at 3pm!

Get Tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/film-guide/vantage-points-perspectives-from-sapir-college

SFJFF44's Free Mitzvah series screening is 2023 JFI Completion Grantee Jews By Choice, which follows a non-Jewish Czech community as they seek to restore their town's historic synagogue and fall in love with traditions behind it along the way.

Join us all day at the Vogue for globe-trotting selections that range from a Parisian family drama starring Sasson Gabay (Karaoke, SFJFF42) to the story of acclaimed social critic and addiction expert Gabor Maté.

Get Tickets: https://jfi.org/sfjff-2024/schedule