That's A Wrap!
For Immediate Release Media Contact: Larsen Associates (415) 957-1205 or larsenassc@aol.com
WORLD’S FIRST AND STILL LARGEST CELEBRATION OF JEWISH CINEMA
29TH
Completes ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR: RECORD NUMBER OF FILMS, GUESTS, VENUES
FESTIVAL WINDS DOWN AFTER 18 DAYS OF SCREENINGS, A LIVE MUSIC EVENT, PANELS AND DISCUSSIONS, WITH JUMP IN YOUNG ADULT AUDIENCE
PROGRAM DIRECTOR NANCY FISHMAN TO STEP DOWN IN OCTOBER
The 29th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival wrapped up August 10 after a successful 18-day run in five Bay Area cities. Enthusiastic ticket-buyers attended a record 71 films in 109 screenings/events taking place in seven venues during the oldest and largest Jewish Film Festival in the world, known as the premier launch pad for Jewish film in the United States. Films from 18 countries unspooled, including Kazakhstan (THE GIFT TO STALIN), Slovakia (BROKEN PROMISE) and the first Ethiopian Israeli feature (ZRUBAVEL). The Festival welcomed more than 40 visiting filmmakers, artists, scholars and guest musicians. The 29th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival unfolded July 23 - August 10 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco; Kanbar Hall at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco; Roda Theatre (at Berkeley Repertory Theatre) in Berkeley; the CineArts@Palo Alto Square in Palo Alto; the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael; Union Square in San Francisco for our free outdoor screening; and CELLspace for “Rockin’ Puppet Mayhem,” our live music event/clip show. This marks the sixth year under the leadership of Executive Director Peter L. Stein and seventh for Program Director Nancy Fishman.
SFJFF is especially proud of the bright success of its youth outreach this year. “The enthusiastic response to our programming, especially our programs for young adults, is so rewarding,” remarked Stein. “It was great to see people come out in droves for everything from a free screening in Union Square, to our social justice programming, to our young adult-oriented music and clip show—and even in this bleak economy, we saw a 20% increase in sales of our Reel Pass, which is our young adult all-festival pass. It shows we’re succeeding in reaching the next generation of filmgoers and Jewish film fans.”
Added Program Director Fishman, “Jewish film is thriving and growing. Our audiences responded to the cornucopia of international features, documentaries and shorts and to our first ever animated shorts program, JEWTOONS; to the Freedom of Expression Award winner Aviva Kempner’s impeccably researched YOO-HOO MRS. GOLDBERG and to our social justice sidebar.”
The festival had a bounty of coming of age stories this year and two such stories bookended this year’s edition. It started with the Opening Night presentation of the wacky/serious Australian production HEY HEY IT’S ESTHER BLUEBURGER starring the Oscar-nominated actresses Toni Collette and Keisha Castle-Hughes along with newcomer Danielle Catanzariti. It was the debut feature of writer-director Cathy Randall who was in attendance. Closing Night featured SFJFF returnee Karin Albou’s THE WEDDING SONG. It’s set for a theatrical release late this year, a deal announced by Strand Releasing during SFJFF. Directors Randall and Albou enjoyed lively on-stage Q&A sessions before packed Castro Theatre audiences. Other successful screenings of coming of age tales included VICTORIA DAY, ACNE, ADAM, and ZION & HIS BROTHER.
The Festival also offered many other opportunities for film lovers to meet new talent. Filmmakers and guests in attendance included: Zach Braff and his father Hal Braff (U.S.), Alvin Attles (U.S.), Rabbi Michael Lerner (U.S.), David Bezmozgis (Canada), Andy Bichlbaum (U.S.), Cindy Corrie (U.S.), Nurit Kedar (Israel), Aviva Kempner (U.S.), Beth Kruvant (U.S.), Emily and Sarah Kunstler (U.S.), Max Mayer (U.S.), Erez Tadmor and Sharon Maymon (Israel), Eran Merav (Israel), Martin Petrasek (Slovakia/U.S), Esther Rada (Israel), Yoav Shamir (Israel), Katie Green (Israel), Karen Sim (U.S.), Glenn Smith (U.S.), Leah Thorn (U.K.), Neta Ariel (Israel), Adam Berg (U.S.), Ada Ushpiz (Israel), Nick Fox-Gieg (U.S.), Andreas Dezso (U.S.), and band members of Puppet Folk Revival,:Ari Pfeffer, Micha Duman and Ami Wiesel (Israel). Also, among the guests was local filmmaker Jenni Olson and the teens from SFJFF’s New Jewish Filmmaking Project. The Festival also welcomed leaders of non-profit social justice organizations from throughout California for its Reel Change series, and hosted the directors of more than a dozen Jewish film festivals from around the country attending a technology working group, timed to coincide with the launch of SFJFF’s New Media Initiative at www.sfjff.org.
Honoring the unfettered imagination, which is the cornerstone of a free, just and open society, the 2009 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Freedom of Expression Award winner was bestowed on renowned filmmaker and Washington, D.C. Jewish Film Festival founder Aviva Kempner, whose stated goal is to make documentaries about under known Jewish heroes that counter negative stereotypes. Her portrait of Gertrude Berg is just such a project. YOO-HOO MRS. GOLDBERG revives the name and memory of the woman who was once touted as the second most famous woman in America…after Eleanor Roosevelt. Following up her acclaimed and award-winning documentary THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG (1999), she uncovered Berg as a pioneering giant of radio and television, the winner of the first Best Actress Emmy, and an innovating genius before and behind the camera. Kempner is the past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2000 DC Mayor’s Art Award, 2001 Women of Vision award from DC’s Women in Film and Video chapter, and the 2001 Media Arts award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. She continues to write film criticism and feature articles for numerous publications, including The Boston Globe, The Forward, Washington Jewish Week and The Washington Post and lectures about cinema throughout the country.
SFJFF has long championed socially engaged filmmaking and celebrated that this year with a series of screenings and panels that heightened this interest under the title of Reel Change: Social Justice Films. Heat and light radiating from the Festival’s screenings, panel discussions, and Q&As have become de rigueur at SFJFF. This year, the Festival encountered both criticism from some in the Jewish community as well as kudos for courageous programming for its decision to screen Simone Bitton’s controversial documentary RACHEL. Equally lively, if less contested, were the screenings of DEFAMATION at the Castro and HEART OF STONE at the Roda. Others in the series Reel Change that generated overwhelmingly enthusiastic response were WILLIAM KUNSTLER: DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE and THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD, both set for Fall release.
The Berkeley panel Women Shooting Women: Israeli Documentary Filmmakers asked the question: do women filmmakers have special access to women’s stories? Filmmakers Nurit Kedar (CHRONICLE OF A KIDNAP), Ada Ushpiz (DESERT BRIDES) were joined by SFJFF programming director Nancy Fishman and beloved local filmmaker Gail Dolgin. Kedar, especially, did not acknowledge any gender bias, positive or negative, in her filmmaking technique, and Ushpiz agreed that filmmaking is hard no matter what gender you are and that perseverance of effort was the most telling virtue. Filmmakers in the audience offered corroborating experiences.
As always, Israel provided more than a spate of films for this year’s SFJFF program. Highlights included the Centerpiece screening of Erez Tadmor (STRANGERS/SFJFF 2008) and Sharon Maymon’s international production A MATTER OF SIZE. The audience fell in love with this one, along with the touching documentary Menachem & Fred, the layered drama seven minutes in heaven, and the family drama LOST ISLANDS.
Other memorable highlights this year were the kickoff pre-festival screening of Woody Allen’s MANHATTAN which unspooled outdoors in SF’s Union Square followed by a cocktail hour at Kuleto’s; SFJFF’s first live music event, the American premiere of the Israeli cult phenomenonPUPPET FOLK REVIVAL at CELLspace; and the first JEWTOONS animation program curated by Joshua Moore.
The 30th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival will take place from July 22 – August 9, 2010. For more information, please log on to www.sfjff.org or telephone 415-621-0556.
In the personnel arena, the SFJFF is sad to announce the departure of its Program Director Nancy Fishman, who will resign from the Festival in October 2009 after programming the Festival seven times, since 2003. Fishman is leaving her full-time position as Program Director, but will curate an archival program for the 2010 SFJFF entitled Tough Guys: Images of Jewish Gangsters in Film.
“It was a hard decision for me to make because I really love what I do, but I've wanted to take some time off and to pursue some creative projects. It’s been an incredible experience to program the oldest and largest Jewish film festival in the world for seven festivals. I am proud of some of the improvements to the SFJFF that occurred during my tenure: implementing the Freedom of Expression Award, Close-up retrospectives on individual directors and some of the archival series I’ve done; especially Jews and the Hollywood Blacklist; Jewish Boxers: Shtarkers and the Sweet Science; Italian Jews during Fascism and The Goldbergs archival episodes.”
Executive Director Peter L. Stein remarked, “I will sorely miss Nancy as a full-time colleague, but am thrilled to have had the chance to work side by side for six years. Her dedication to the highest standards of film programming and her ability to create a top-notch festival have been lasting contributions not just to our organization, but to the film culture of the Bay Area. It’s been a real honor working with her, and I am glad we can look forward to more of her programming ideas in future festivals.
About the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF), the world's oldest and largest Jewish film festival proudly celebrated its 29th anniversary. SFJFF's mission is to promote awareness and appreciation of the diversity of the Jewish people, provide a dynamic and inclusive forum for exploration of and dialogue about the Jewish experience, and encourage independent filmmakers working with Jewish themes. The SFJFF's signature summer Film Festival, monthly screenings, youth mentorship program (New Jewish Filmmaking Project), publications, and online resources have made SFJFF a leader in the use of media arts to foster cultural understanding. Annually attracting more than 33,000 filmgoers, the SFJFF is world-renowned for the diversity and breadth of its audiences and films.
Festival Sponsors
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival extends its thanks to all the generous contributors who make our work possible:
Opening Night Sponsor: Wells Fargo
Closing Night Sponsor: Bonnie and Marty Tenenbaum Foundation
Regional Sponsor: Blue Angel Vodka
Business and Community Sponsors: Be’chol Lashon (In Every Tongue), a Global Jewish Community; Consulate General of France; 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; Kletter Law Firm; Oshman Family Jewish Community Center; Post Street Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine; Schoenberg Family Law Group; Zaentz Media Center
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; SF Station; San Francisco Bay Guardian; Yelp.com
IN-KIND SPONSORS: Adolph Gasser Inc.; Alpha Cine; Betty Zlatchin Catering; Brandvia Alliance Inc.; Café DuNord/ The Swedish American Hall; Catch Restaurant; Dolby Laboratories; FedEx; Fork & Spoon Catering and Events; Gensler; Hagafen Cellars; Hagafen Cellars of Napa Valley; Hartmann Studios; IZZE Beverage Company; Kaia Foods; La Mediterranee; livingroom/events; Marketing by Storm; Melon's Catering; Meyer Sound; Misha Frid; Ornamento; Peet's Coffee & Tea; Philo Television; Popchips; San Francisco Toyota; Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen; Savoy Events; See’s Candy; Susan Drell Creative Design; Villa Florence; Volume Inc.; Westin St. Francis
IN-KIND CONTRIBUTORS: Artisan Confections; Bolani; Bristol Farms; Downtown Bar & Restaurant; Espresso Subito; Extreme Pizza; Flying Falafel; Galaxy Desserts; Grand Bakery; Guittard Chocolate Company; Have Your Cake; Lovesticks, Inc.; Maker’s Mark Kentucky Bourbon; Miller’s East Coast West Delicatessen; Patron Spirits; Schmaltz Brewing Company; Semifreddi’s; That Takes the Cake; Three-D Spirits/REDRUM; Trader Joe’s
FOUNDATION AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS: 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 and the Jewish Community Foundation; 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 and Rhoda Goldman Fund;
Righteous Persons Foundation; Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture of the Jewish Community
Endowment Fund; Tides Foundation; Walter & Elise Haas Fund
Supporters of the 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 and Rhoda Goldman Fund
…and hundreds of individual donors!
