2019 Film Guide

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Download the printed Festival Program Guide.

Big Nights

SFJFF39's Big Nights honor stories big and small that illuminate the diversity of Jewish experiences, champion freedom of expression, and delight with their wit and charm. This year’s Festival features a silent film accompanied by a live score, partnerships with fellow arts organizations and more.

Take Action Day

Today's national conversation and political moment has inspired a powerful revolution of filmmakers applying their trade to the moment’s most pressing issues. Environmentalism, corporate accountability, scientific creativity, legal injustice and online privacy are just some of the pressing issues raised in these buzzed-about docs.

Panels and Conversations

SFJFF39's Panels and Conversations feature multiple opportuities to

Next Wave

SFJFF38’s Next Wave selections address the complicated, conflicting and empowering elements of contemporary life, Jewish identity and expression through a showcase of remarkable stories that touch on art, social justice, relationships, cuisine and more.

HerStory Sidebar

The conversation surrounding the value of a film is not always an inclusive one. The vast majority of film critics are white men and the imprimatur of the reviewer can determine who sees a film and how a film is received, which ultimately impact its box office results. Does the gender identity of the critic matter? How have women navigated their career paths in this male-dominated field? We will explore these questions and more in a panel discussion following the screening of What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael, featuring the New Yorker film critic who was known for biting reviews that frequently went against the opinions of her contemporaries.

Ethiopian Jews

Falasha Jews of Ethiopian descent call themselves the House of Israel (Beta Israel) and claim descent from the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. In 1977 Israeli officials decided that the Law of Return (aliyah) applied to them. This sidebar centers on three films, each with a unique perspective about the struggle of Ethiopians to make aliyah. In the stranger-than-fiction spy thriller The Red Sea Diving Resort, a derelict scuba resort in the Sudanese desert is operated by Mossad agents as a decoy for evacuating refugee Ethiopian Jews. In 1989 during the Ethiopian Civil War, a 16-year-old girl can either escape to Israel or stay with her boyfriend in the powerful drama Fig Tree. And in the emotional documentary The Passengers, two Ethiopian friends embark across the present day American landscape seeking support for the aliyah Israel promised them.