Julie Cohen expected to attend for a conversation moderated by Nicole Newnham
This program has been moved from the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre to the Delancey Street Screening Room. The event takes place at the same date and time. All previously purchased tickets will be honored.
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival’s Freedom of Expression Award, presented annually to a distinguished filmmaker or artist, honors the unfettered imagination, which is the cornerstone of a free, just, and open society. JFI is honored to present this year’s award to Julie Cohen, an Academy Award®-nominated documentarian and SFJFF alumni (The Sturgeon Queens, SFJFF34 and My Name Is Pauli Murray, SFJFF41). Cohen is a renowned filmmaker who has made work recontextualizing important overlooked elements of history and exploring thought leaders and activists from marginalized communities. She and Betsy West co-directed the film RBG which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to be Oscar-nominated, also winning a BAFTA and the Cinema for Peace Award for Women's Empowerment. Her films My Name Is Pauli Murray, Julia, Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, and Every Body each explores the impact of female and gender nonconforming figures and analyzes the cultural moments in which they lived. For her commitment to keeping these histories in the public eye, her insight around gender and justice, and her skillful filmmaking, JFI is proud to present Cohen with the Freedom of Expression Award.
Nicole Newnham is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning documentary producer and director, five-time Sundance Film Festival alumnus, and six-time Emmy nominee. She most recently directed the critically-acclaimed documentary The Disappearance of Shere Hite, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Previously, Nicole co-directed and produced the 2021 Academy Award-nominated documentary Crip Camp with Jim LeBrecht. The film won the 2020 Sundance Audience Award, the IDA Best Feature Documentary Award, the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature, and a Peabody. Nicole's other documentaries include The Rape of Europa, Sentenced Home, and The Revolutionary Optimists.