Arts & Events
SF Jewish Film Festival: The Berkeley Edition
The 36th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival—"the world's first and largest Jewish film festival"—is set to screen 67 films from 15 countries before 35,000 filmgoers in five different Bay Area cities (SF, Oakland, Marin, Palo Alto and Berkeley) in 17 days (July 21-August 7). Shep Naches.
This year, the packed SFJFF calendar is bringing 30 films to Berkeley where they will screen at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theater.
"This year's Festival honors depth and complexity over formula and promotes an evolving definition of what constitutes Jewish film and media," says Jewish Film Institute Executive Director Lexi Leban. "We are proud to introduce new voices and emerging talent while honoring the contributions of iconic artists among us."
Ironically, SFJFF's two standout events have more to do with the TV Tube than the Big Screen. This year's SFJFF calendar includes a section devoted to "Televisionaries," including screenings of samplers from three episodic Israeli TV shows—False Flag, Shtisel, and The Writer.
The can't-miss screenings include a pair of documentaries profiling two of the tube's most iconic "televisionaries"—Norman Lear and Mr. Spock (memorably personified by the beloved Jewish actor, Leonard Nimroy).
For the Love of Spock, Adam Nimroy's "loving tribute" to his father, will have its West Coast Premiere at the Castro on July 31, with the director in attendance. There will be an added screening of the film in Berkeley on August 1 (See below for the full schedule of Berkeley screenings).
Freedom of Expression Award – Norman Lear
Since 2005, the SFJFF has presented its Freedom of Expression Award to honor "the unfettered imagination, which is a cornerstone of a free, just and open society." This year's award goes to television writer, producer and political activist Norman Lear in recognition of his "decades of work in television and political activism." Lear will be on-hand Sunday, July 24th at the Castro Theater in San Francisco to receive the Award.
A live on-stage conversation with Lear, moderated by former SFJFF executive director Peter L. Stein, will follow a screening of Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing's chronicle of Lear's life, work and achievements. Ewing will also be in attendance. (There are additional screenings in Palo Alto and San Rafael but, inexplicably, not in Berkeley!)
In the spirit of the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam," the organizers write, "SFJFF celebrates social justice filmmaking, and presents filmmakers and film subjects who are making a difference with their actions.
The San Francisco screenings will be accompanied by a number of special events—including a daylong screening/discussions of social justice topics on July 29 and "an amazing food event connected to the screening of In Search of Israeli Cuisine"—an exclusive reception at Aaxte with the film's star, chef Solomonov. Several local chefs will collaborate on the creation of a special menu based on Solomonov's famed Zahav dishes.
One SFJFF film that is tailor-made for the Berkeley crowd is being shown at the Piedmont Theatre in Oakland. Left on Purpose tells the story of Sixties activist Mayer Vishner, one of the critical cogs whose dogged, behind-the-scenes struggles helped power the Yippies and the antiwar Resistance. Vishner was part of the underground network that included counterculture heroes like Abbie Hoffman, Phil Ochs and John Lennon. Berkeley resident Judy Gumbo (also part of the Radical Renaissance of the 1960s) will be speaking with director Justin Schein at the film's California Premiere at the Castro on July 27 and again at a 2:25pm screening at the Piedmont Theatre on Saturday, August 6. "The film deals with some of the life and death issues that accompany the decline of any movement," Gumbo explains, "and it's had lots of amazing reviews." Take a look.
The Berkeley Screenings
July 29
BENTWITCH SYNDROME
Proceeded by SPRING CHICKEN
Friday 7/29, 11:50am
Documentary—Humorously examining Anglo-Jewish life of the 19th and 20th centuries, directors Gur Bentwich and Maya Kenig embark on a road trip to dissect the origins of their family. An array of aunts and cousins hold court, as well as the long-departed Bentwiches, who come to life through zany Monty Python-esque animations.
ART AND HEART: THE WORLD OF ISAIAH SHEFFER
Proceeded by MAKING MORNING STAR
Friday 7/29, 1:40pm
Documentary—Catherine Tambini's spirited documentary celebrates the life of Isaiah Sheffer, the founding artistic director of Symphony Space and host of Selected Shorts on public radio. Sheffer inspired everyone from Leonard Nimoy to Stephen Colbert. This intimate documentary by two Academy Award–nominated filmmakers relates the creation of Morning Star, a new opera by composer Ricky Ian Gordon.
HOLY ZOO
Proceeded by THE MUT'S HOUSE
Friday 7/29, 4:05pm
Documentary—In Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo, Israelis and Palestinians work alongside tending to the zoo's elephants, crocodiles and rhinos. Inevitably, tensions within and across animal species reflect themselves in the mostly good-natured, always edgy interactions between employees. Katharina Waisburd's keen eye gives us an unforgettable look into the current conflict in the Holy Land.
NATASHA
Friday 7/29, 6:25pm
Narrative—Writer David Bezmozgis adapts his acclaimed short story of forbidden love between two teenagers in the Toronto suburbs, highlighted by the extraordinary performance of newcomer Sasha K. Gordon as the sexually precocious girl with a dark past.
FEVER AT DAWN
Friday 7/29, 9:00pm
Narrative—A Swedish refugee camp doctor gives Holocaust survivor Miklós six months to live but the young man refuses to die before meeting the love of his life. He sends letters to 117 Hungarian women in sex-segregated camps throughout Sweden. Péter Gárdos's romantic drama, based upon his novel of his parents' post-Holocaust courtship creates indelible images of heartbreak and hope.
July 30
BABA JOON
Saturday 7/30, 2:10pm
Narrative—Israel's submission to the 2015 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, this poignant story about three generations in a family of Persian immigrants to Israel takes place in the early 1980s.
IN SEARCH OF ISRAELI CUISINE
Saturday 7/30,12:00pm
Documentary—Michael Solomonov (Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking) explores a diverse cuisine drawn from numerous cultures. Chefs and farmers and prepare specialties that b oth preserve and update traditional recipes. These irresistible dishes will make you hungry.
(THE) SETTLERS
Saturday 7/30, 4:15pm
Documentary—Award-winning Israeli filmmaker Shimon Dotan traces the hotly contested history of Israeli settlements in the West Bank since Israel's decisive victory in the 1967 Six Day War.
(THE) LAST LAUGH
Saturday 7/30, 7:10pm
Documentary—The Last Laugh explores the role of humor and its limitations in confronting tragic events, including the Holocaust—a journey across a comedic landscape marked by speed bumps, caution signs and potholes big enough to swallow a clown car. Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Sarah Silverman will leave you laughing and appreciating the importance of humor even in the face of events that make you want to cry.
July 31
MR GAGA
Sunday, 7/31, 11:30am
Documentary—Inspiring, tough, charismatic, and prickly, rock star choreographer Ohad Naharin (Mr. Gaga) is the subject of this exciting documentary. Naharin invented his own playful style of movement called "Gaga" and returned to Israel to create some of the most provocative and physically demanding choreography of the 21st century.
KOUDELKA SHOOTING HOLY LAND
Proceeded by THE MAN WHO SHOT HOLLYWOOD
Sunday 7/31, 1:55pm
Documentary—Award-winning photographer Josef Koudelka captures how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has changed the landscape of the Holy Land. Koudelka is relentless in pursuit of his craft but increasingly dismayed at seeing a sacred land disfigured by walls, barricades and security checkpoints.
WRESTLING JERUSALEM
Sunday, 7/31, 3:55pm
Aaron Davidman gracefully embodies 17 characters grappling with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, moving deftly from male to female, Palestinian to Israeli, American to European as the film shifts from backstage live performance to the desert.
FALSE FLAG
Sunday, 7/31, 6:30pm
Narrative TV series—In False Flag, five Israeli citizens discover they are suspects in the kidnapping of the Iranian defense minister. The resulting news coverage turns their world upside down.
WHO'S GONNA LOVE ME NOW
Sunday, 7/31, 9:00pm
Documentary—In this honest and emotional documentary by Tomer and Barak Heymann (C lose Up: Heymann Brothers, SFJFF 2008), Israeli expatriate Saar Maoz lives in London, where he's active in the London Gay Men's Chorus and struggling with HIV. When his Orthodox parents ask him to come back to Israel, Saar must decide where his future lies and how to make peace with his family as they struggle to accept his identity and his HIV status.
August 1
DISTURBING THE PEACE
Monday, 8/1, 1:15pm
Documentary—Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters come together to form Combatants for Peace, a nonviolent group that uses dialogue, theater and art to try to end the Israel-Palestine conflict. Disturbing the Peace doesn't shy away from harsh realities and, somehow, still leaves you inspired.
THERE ARE JEWS HERE
Monday, 8/1, 3:40pm
Documentary—This quirky and poignant documentary examines the challenges of Jewish life in small-town America. Focusing on four tiny Jewish communities, the directors examine what happens to a congregation when there are scarcely enough Jews left to form a quorum for religious activities.
(THE) WRITER
Monday, 8/1, 6:15pm
Narrative TV Series—Critically acclaimed Israeli Arab author Sayed Kashua (writer of the hit TV series Arab Labor, SFJFF 2008–13), delivers a nuanced dramatic series about Kateb, a 40-year-old Israeli Arab writer.
FOR THE LOVE OF SPOCK
Monday, 8/1, 8:30pm
Documentary —Leonard Nimoy, the man behind the pointy ears, left an indelible mark as an artist and as a mensch. Featuring clips from Nimoy's career and interviews with the Star Trek cast, director Adam Nimoy has crafted a loving tribute both to his father and also to the man we know as Spock.
August 2
STRIETS: MATZO AND AND THE AMERICAN DREAM (FREE)
Tuesday, 8/2, 2:40pm
Documentary—Just as its iconic pink box has graced Passover seder tables for generations of American Jews, so, too, Streit's matzo factory has stood for some 80 years on the Lower East Side. This is all challenged by the need for modernity, the pressures of foreign competition and enticing real estate offers.
GERMANS AND JEWS
Tuesday 8/2, 4:40pm
Documentary—This thoughtful documentary is a subtle examination of the history of Germany's postwar Jewish population and of the fragile relations between Jews and non-Jews. Structured around a dinner party attended by Germans and Jews, the film negotiates sensitive questions of memory, guilt, identity and redemption.
(THE) TENTH MAN
Tuesday, 8/2, 6:30pm
Narrative—Daniel Burman's heartfelt romantic comedy centers on a man who returns to the place of his youth (the El Once Jewish district of Buenos Aires) and ultimately finds himself and a little love along the way.
SAND STORM
Tuesday, 8/2, 8:25pm
Narrative—When their entire lives shatter, two Bedouin women struggle to change the unchangeable rules, each in her own individual way.
August 3
SONG OF SONGS
Wednesday, 8/3, 2:05pm
Narrative—Ukraine, 1905. Ten-year-old Shimek tells his darling Buzya fairy tales of the faraway, imprisoned Tsarevna, as their dreams of inhabiting a larger world beyond the shtetl blend with the first stirrings of young love. An inspired adaptation of the iconic stories from Sholem Aleichem's Tevye the Dairyman (the source for Fiddler on the Roof).
RABIN IN HIS OWN WORDS
Wednesday, 8/3, 4:15pm
Documentary—This examination of the life and times of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is constructed largely from archival footage, photographs and interviews, from Rabin's early days to his tragic death. Director Erez Laufer (One Day After Peace, SFJFF 2012) takes us from Rabin's childhood, through his experience fighting in three wars, to his assassination, and reminds us of the possibility for peace that remains for those who want it.
(THE) PEOPLE VS FRITZ BAUER
Wednesday, 8/3, 6:30pm
Narrative—This film chronicles the dangers faced by a Jewish lawyer intent on bringing the infamous Nazi Adolf Eichmann to justice in a 1950s Germany whose government is intimately implicated in its country's recent crimes.
FREEDOM TO MARRY
Wednesday, 8/3, 8:45pm
Documentary—What's the definition of a mensch? Here's a two-word answer: Evan Wolfson. Founder of the advocacy group Freedom to Marry and the acknowledged "godfather" of the marriage equality movement, Wolfson's struggle to bring about justice for millions of gays and lesbians is the heart of this fascinating history.
August 4
A NEW COLOR: THE ART OF EDYTHE BOONE
Proceeded by ARC OF JUSTICE
Thursday, 8/4, 1:50pm
Documentary—Bay Area artist and civil rights activist Edythe "Edy" Boone is a sprightly septuagenarian who seems only to gain energy over the years. Since she was a girl, this celebrated muralist has aspired "to develop a new color no one has seen in life." Her unflagging drive and determination are captured by Berkeley filmmaker Mo Morris.
SHTISEL: SEASON 2
Thursday, 8/4, 4:20pm
Narrative TV Series—Shtisel returns to SFJFF for Season 2! Follow Shulem and clan once again in this critical and commercial success as they navigate adolescence, engagement, siblings and death.
A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS
Thursday, 8/4, 6:30pm
Narrative—Natalie Portman makes her directorial feature debut with an adaptation of Amos Oz's autobiographical novel A Tale of Love and Darkness. At its core, Amos's story is about his relationship with his tragic, complicated mother, portrayed by Portman. Determined to make the film in Hebrew, Portman took eight years to write the script and find funding. The result is a beautiful rendering of the bestseller.
UNCLE HOWARD
Thursday, 8/4, 8:45pm
Documentary—Filmmaker Howard Brookner epitomized the promise and talent of New York's vibrant independent film scene of the 1980s, but he has been largely forgotten since his death from AIDS at age 34. In a poignant act of documentary remembrance, Howard's nephew Aaron, who hero-worshiped his uncle as a child, goes on a treasure hunt through New York's counterculture to reconstruct Howard's unconventional life.
For ticket information, please contact the box office at 415.621.0523 or visit the Jewish Film Institute online at www.jfi.org.
