Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

Nahuel Prez Biscayart stars in Persian Lessons, screening Saturday, July 25, as the in-person opening night selection of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Photo: Cohen Media Group

One of the things San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Program Director Jay Rosenblatt missed most during the long pandemic timeout was live events.

A filmmaker in his own right, his latest short, When We Were Bullies, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, but that and subsequent screenings have been virtual. He misses the energy and participation of a live audience. And while the majority of the 41st Jewish Film Festival, set to run Thursday-Sunday, July 22-Aug. 1, is online, he welcomes a return to the Castro Theatre on Saturday-Sunday, July 24-25.

We have guests coming in, and Im just so excited to see filmmakers, Rosenblatt told The Chronicle in a recent video interview. Im going to get a vicarious thrill watching these filmmakers, to see them see their films on the Castro screen.

This year is kind of a transition year, he added. A lot of people were clamoring to get back into the theaters and the sense of community, you could just feel it. People really want to see each other. So, we decided to do a hybrid and see how it goes. Hopefully, by Winterfest next year well be back to a live festival.

Rosenblatt admits to being nervous about what this year would bring before he and his team dived into programming it. His biggest fear was that, given how COVID-19 idled so many filmmakers and put onerous limitations on those that went forward with their projects, there might not be enough quality films to fill an 11-day event.

That was not the case, he said. We have amazing films. I am proud of this program.

The hybrid nature of the 2021 festival translates to two opening night films. The festival kicks off online Thursday, July 22, with Misha and the Wolves, a documentary about the unraveling of a bestseller after questions arise over Misha Defonsecas tale of survival as a 7-year-old alone, but for the mammals of the title, during World War II.

Its one of those films where you expect one thing, but things are revealed that change your whole outlook about what went on, he said of the film, which also screens at the Castro on Sunday, July 25. Its overwhelming.

On Saturday, July 24, the Castro will kick off its opening night with Vadim Perelmans Persian Lessons: a drama about a man who saves himself from the concentration camp death chamber by pretending to be Persian and not Jewish only to have a Nazi officer demand Persian language lessons.

Another film highlights Debra Chasnoff, a Bay Area documentarian and Academy Award winner in 1992 for her short film Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment. She became her own subject after she was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, documenting the journey that ended in her death in 2017. Finished by co-director Kate Stilley Steiner, Prognosis: Notes on Living, is in the festivals local spotlight, screening at the Castro on Sunday, July 25, with Steiner and the films production team, including Chasnoffs widow, producer Nancy Otto, in attendance.

Its a remarkable, courageous film, Rosenblatt said. That will be an emotional event. Hopefully, the whole Bay Area filmmaking community will come out for it.

On a lighter note, Rosenblatt is high on A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff, an adaptation of Alicia Jo Rabins one-woman show, in which Rabins witnesses the discovery of Madoffs crimes and the financial meltdown of 2008 from her studio in a run-down Wall Street office building. A mix of musical, memoir and fantasy, Rabins and director Alicia J. Rose updated the narrative, connecting Madoffs ugly past with our murky present.

Its really something else. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, Rosenblatt said. The two Alicias, as well as the producer of the film, will be on stage with me at the Castro for a Q&A and to introduce the film.

One of the festivals signature initiatives, its Freedom of Expression Award, is planned as an online affair this year, with the prize going to Polish director Agnieszka Holland, whose films include Europa, Europa and In Darkness. The award presentation is set for Tuesday, July 27, and will include a prerecorded conversation between the auteur and Aspen Film co-director Laura Thielen. In addition to the award, the festival plans to screen Hollands latest work, Charlatan, a drama drawn from Cold War history about an herbalist suspected in the death of a Czech president.

Proud of this 41st program, Rosenblatt overflows with highlights. Among them are Marek Edelman and There Was Love in the Ghetto, a documentary-drama hybrid, co-written by Holland, limning a Holocaust survivors memories of love and lust in the Warsaw ghetto; the festivals Take Action Spotlight, Not Going Quietly, about how an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diagnosis transformed activist Ady Barkans life and career; and the festivals two centerpiece films; the documentary The Conductor, about trailblazing symphony conductor Marin Alsop; and the narrative 200 Meters about a Palestinian fathers taut attempt to reunite with his family.

Its very pointed, Rosenblatt said. They actually live only a few miles away from each other, but they are separated by the wall between Israel and Palestine.

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival: Thursday, July 22-Sunday, Aug. 1. Online and in person. $15-$245. For tickets and more information, go to https://jfi.org/sfjff-2021

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What to expect from this years San Francisco Jewish Film Festival - SF Chronicle Datebook

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