Explore the Festival through its biggest presentations, including several Big Night programs, the annual Take Action Day, Next Wave selections, thematic sidebars and much more. More than just films, these are events you won't want to miss.
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 film and food pairings, a live musical performance, and a number of in-depth panels featuring a variety of prominent voices.
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Don't miss the full lineup of incredible short films in this year's program, each of which packs a big story. All narrative shorts compete for the SFJFF Film Movement Award and all documentary shorts compete for the juried Best Short Documentary Award, the winner of which is eligible for the Academy Award in Documentary (Short Subject). New to SFJFF39 is the Youth Jury Award, for which all short films are eligible.
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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.HerStory programs are generously supported by the San Francisco Jewish Women’s Fund, a program of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.
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JFI Next Wave is a community of young yet discerning, Bay Area film lovers. Next Wave serves as well as a platform for the showcase of emerging and established filmmakers - in an affordable package - whose work explores modern life and identity through a Jewish lens, often dealing with subjects like, art, music, travel, social justice and more.
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SFJFF39's Panels & Conversations are free of charge and feature engaging, intimate discussions into the films themselves and their relevant aspects to modern life and society.
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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.
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Today's national conversation and political moment has inspired a powerful revolution of filmmakers applying their trade to the moment’s most pressing issues. The state of the state, human interests, environmentalism, legal injustice and online privacy are just some of the relevant and pressing issues raised in this years' lineup of buzzworthy documentaries.
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