Film Archive | Jewish Film Institute

Exhibition Series

2020 Filmmakers in Residence
2020 JFI Completion Grants
2021 Filmmakers in Residence
2021 JFI Completion Grants
2022 Filmmakers in Residence
2022 JFI Completion Grants
2023 Filmmakers in Residence
2023 JFI Completion Grants
2024 Filmmakers in Residence
2024 JFI Completion Grants
2025 Filmmakers in Residence
2025 JFI Completion Grants
2026 Filmmakers in Residence
2026 JFI Completion Grants
Cinegogue Summer Days
JFI Filmmakers in Residence
JFI/JSP Momentum Awards
Pre-2020 Filmmaker In Residence
SFJFF 1981
SFJFF 1982
SFJFF 1983
SFJFF 1984
SFJFF 1985
SFJFF 1986
SFJFF 1987
SFJFF 1988
SFJFF 1989
SFJFF 1990
SFJFF 1991
SFJFF 1992
SFJFF 1993
SFJFF 1994
SFJFF 1995
SFJFF 1996
SFJFF 1997
SFJFF 1998
SFJFF 1999
SFJFF 2000
SFJFF 2001
SFJFF 2002
SFJFF 2003
SFJFF 2004
SFJFF 2005
SFJFF 2006
SFJFF 2007
SFJFF 2008
SFJFF 2009
SFJFF 2010
SFJFF 2011
SFJFF 2012
SFJFF 2013
SFJFF 2014
SFJFF 2015
SFJFF 2016
SFJFF 2017
SFJFF 2018
SFJFF 2019
SFJFF 2021
SFJFF 2023
SFJFF 2024
SFJFF 2025
SFJFF 2026
SFJFF Madrid
SFJFF Moscow
WinterFest 2019
WinterFest 2026

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Language

Albanian
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Silent
Silent Film w/ English Intertitles
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Swahili
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Tagalog
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Tigrinya
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Ukrainian
Yiddish
Zaghawan

Film Type

Animation
Documentary
Episodic
Experimental
Feature
Narrative
Short
Shorts Program
Television Series

The Seventh Day

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The Seventh Million

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SFJFF Retrospective: 45 Years of Jewish Film

In celebration of 45 years of exploring Jewish identity and expression through cinema, SFJFF presents a retrospective event featuring guest speakers and rare film clips from the Festival’s history.

SFJFF41 Closing Night Awards

SFJFF41 Closing Night Awards | JFI Completion Grant Awardees & Festival Award Winners

Shabbat Dinner

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A Shabbos Mother

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The Shadow of the Day

In this suspenseful and romantic drama set in late 1930s fascist Italy, a brilliant young woman seeks help from a disabled war veteran and restaurateur.

Shadows Over the Future

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Shadya

A 17-year old Muslim girl from a small Arab village in Israel, Shadya is smart, sexy and a kick-ass karate champion. This coming-of-age documentary explores what it’s like to have dual identities--Palestinian/Israeli citizen and Muslim woman/karate champ.

Shaina Feinberg: None of this Matters

When a struggling filmmaker befriends an unassuming, elderly director, she discovers a Hollywood legend whose unique model for teaching has influenced some of the most iconic artists over the past 50 years.

Shalom Bollywood: The Untold History of Indian Cinema

A compelling tale of Jewish actresses who became a dominant presence in Indian cinema for over forty years.

Shalom Ireland

This fascinating film tells the story of the Irish Jews, highlighting the problem of maintaining Jewish community in Diaspora. The little-known history of Irish Jewry begins in the Middle Ages, but the modern Jewish community has its roots in the flight from pogroms in Eastern Europe around the turn of the century.preceded by THE LAST JEWISH TOWN

Shalom Y'all

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Shanghai Strangers

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Shari & Lamb Chop | Opening Night

Before Mister Rogers there was Shari Lewis, best known for her skillful ventriloquism as the human counterpart to the beloved sock puppet Lamb Chop.

SHARING THE SCREEN: 20 YEARS OF ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN CINEMA AT THE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL [program]

SHARING THE SCREEN: 20 YEARS OF ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN CINEMA AT THE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL Janis Plotkin, former executive director of the SFJFF, will screen a compilation of clips from 20 years of Israeli cinema, a fascinating look at a complex society through the eyes of its social commentators and artists. Janis will present clips representing the voices and views of independent Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, as they chronicled the struggle for peace in the Middle East.

Sharqiya

Kamel, a Bedouin who lives in an unrecognized village near Be’er Sheva, goes determinedly every morning to his job as a security guard at the central bus station. Longing to be heroic, Kamel makes strategic choices to try to save his family’s home from demolition. Adnan Abu Wadi’s performance as Kamel, a dignified man, is absolutely exquisite in Ami Livne’s excellent and evocative debut feature. [MINIGUIDE 65/70]

About This Film

About This Film

About This Film

About This Film

An observational coming-of-age film documenting Shira Tama, a 12-year-old girl living in the Amona settlement, who is fighting the battle of her life to save her home.

Shiva Baby | Next Wave Spotlight | 6pm pst

As a sugar baby, Danielle is financially pampered by her sugar daddy Max in exchange for companionship and sexual favors. When she joins her family at a shiva, shortly after leaving his house, her day takes an unexpected turn: apparently against all odds, she runs into Max with his accomplished wife and crying baby.

Shoah

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Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness

Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness presents a riveting portrait of the man who transformed Yiddish from a vernacular language into a literary one and, in the process, gave us much loved characters such as Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof. Interweaving excerpts from Aleichem’s work with interviews and archival photographs and footage, the film brings to life a lost world of Yiddish culture on the cusp of dramatic change.

Shoot and Cry

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Director Spotlight: Shooting

Through three gripping true stories—a military reenactment that displaces an entire village, a staged police raid on a Palestinian family, and a tormented military props supplier—Netalie Braun probes the dangerous intersection of storytelling, propaganda, and state power in Israeli society.

Shorts Preceding Films

A list of short films playing with features.

Shorts Program: Parallel Lenses

This mid-length shorts program brings together two emotionally resonant observational documentaries that capture the reverberations of October 7th in Israel.

Shorts Program: Strangers, Neighbors & Kin

This lively program features three short films that center joy in unexpected moments of Jewish life, featuring Carol Kane, an adult convert to Judaism, and a Chinese restauranteur.

Shorts: Documentaries

With variety and verve, these documentary shorts leverage creative animation, collage, photography, stop motion, and hard hitting interviews to explore pressing issues in contemporary culture as well as local and global histories.

Shorts: From the Bay

This collection of shorts hits close to home. Join Bay Area filmmaking legends and JFI alumni to celebrate the stories, histories, lives, and new works of these hometown heroes.

Shorts: Narratives

From cacophonous seders to maternity photoshoots, step into the imaginative visions of these filmmakers whose fictional shorts showcase the heartfelt and hilarious truths of the human condition.

Shorts: S-M-L-XL, All Styles [program]

Try these eclectic Jewish shorts on for size. From classics to irregulars, casual to formal, there’s something for every taste. 100% great Jewish film. No ironing necessary. Nine shorts, from an animated Holocaust story and a 1931 archival gem about an auditioning cantor to a sendup of music videos and a documentary sampler of youth-made films.

Shorts: The Power of the Pen

These witty, incisive, and erudite shorts highlight the skillful play and poise of writers taking up arms with pen and paper in a world where words have never been more weaponized.

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech

This vital and unexpectedly personal exploration of the right to free speech features prominent voices including the filmmaker’s father, Martin Garbus, who discusses his difficult decision as a young Jewish ACLU attorney to defend the rights of American Nazis in Skokie, Illinois. Coolheaded and utterly engaging, the film traces the embattled history of free expression in the U.S., with instructive emphasis on post-9/11 cases.

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