Film Archive | Jewish Film Institute

Exhibition Series

2020 Filmmakers in Residence
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2026 JFI Completion Grants
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JFI Filmmakers in Residence
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Television Series

A Shtetl That's No Longer There

In A Shtetl That’s No Longer There, the documentarian Heddy Honigmann introduces us to her mother and her family’s recipe for vrennekes.

Shtick, Shmaltz, and Shtereotypes: Jewish Presence in Early Film Comedy (1912-1940) [program]

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Shtisel

Love, work, relationships—the Shtisels’ problems are like those of any other family, except that they happen to be haredim, ultra-religious Jews. SFJFF presents the first three episodes of this popular award-winning TV drama set in Jerusalem which has hooked viewers worldwide with its stylish production values, humor, great acting (it stars Michael Aloni, Out in the Dark, SFJFF 2013) and compelling story lines recounted with heartfelt emotion and humor.

Shtisel: Season 2

Shtisel is a family melodrama that looks like Modern Family put on a kippah and went to Jerusalem. This melodrama returns to SFJFF for its second season. The critical and commercial success combines Haredi traditions and popular television tropes. Season 2 again follows the Shtisel clan as they navigate adolescence, engagement, sibling ties and death. Whether for romantic, religious or family reasons, Shtisel appeals to fans of love across all ages. —Maya Lekach

Shuli's Fiance

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Shuroo

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Shut Up and Play the Piano

The journey full of megalomania and piano music of Chilly Gonzales: from the Berlin punk scene to the philharmonic orchestras, it's a story of eccentricity which also stars Daft Punk, Drake, Feist, Jarvis Cocker.

The Shvitz

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Sidewalk

When does it all begin—how do we become who we become? How do we get slotted into our places in the social pecking order? How did any of us survive the trials and tribulations of childhood? These are some of the questions that may pass through your mind while watching Duki Dror’s Sidewalk. It reminds us that the touch of our childhood is with us—and marks us—forever.

Sidney Turtlebaum

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The Sign for Love

A gay, deaf Israeli documents the family he is born into and the family he creates.

Silence

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The Silence of the Poet

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In a country ravaged by PTSD, Amos Dov Silver creates a mobile app that becomes the largest marketplace for marijuana in Israel and he becomes an enemy of the state.

Simon & Théodore

Over the course of one night in the streets of Paris Simon and Théodore learn how to accept themselves.

Simon Mendes: Darkest Light

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was a spiritual and musical icon for 20th-century Jews. What will happen to his cherished legacy after posthumous sexual abuse allegations?

Sin la Habana

By day, Leonardo teaches salsa to tourists but has dreams of making it as a classical dancer. His girlfriend Sara is an ambitious lawyer but has little opportunity in their lively but poor area of Havana. Together they devise a plan: Leonardo will seduce one of the lonely women in his dance class for immigration papers and a shot at a new life for them both.

Singing Abortionist

Hailed by some and hated by others, the Polish-born abortion doctor Henry Morgentaler survived Auschwitz and Dachau only to receive death threats decades after the Shoah when he established abortion clinics across Canada in defiance of the law. Award-winning director Dara Bratt captures the doctor’s public persona and his life behind closed doors. What results is a probing portrait of a man whose story, in all of its guises, deserves to be told. ZP

Sisai

In this emotional, eye-opening documentary, Ethiopian-Israeli director David Gavro introduces us to his adopted younger brother Sisai and invites us on an extraordinary journey to find the father that Sisai has never known.In San Francisco and Berkeley, followed by panel discussions as part of Spotlight On: Ethiopian Jews and Jews of Color.

Sister Rose's Passion

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Sivan

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Six Million and One

Israeli filmmaker David Fisher initiates a road trip that becomes an extraordinary family psychodrama for his siblings at the site of the World War II concentration camp where their father Joseph was interned as a young boy. Traveling in a van they laugh at themselves and question their own willingness to go deeper into their family legacy. Stunningly beautiful forests and meadows silently conceal the reality of their father’s untold story. [MINIGUIDE 71/70]

Sixty Six

Bernie Reuben, a slightly nerdy North London boy, is planning a spectacular bar mitzvah party to shore up his popularity; but his plans may be ruined when a World Cup soccer match is scheduled for the same day. A charming, nostalgic comedy set in 1966, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Stephen Rea. No knowledge of sports history or soccer required.

Skate of Mind

Meet the lost boys of Tel Aviv: the skater-im. These adrenaline junkies eschew mainstream Israeli values, forsaking jobs, financial security, relationships, sometimes even a roof over their heads to pursue their passion. The tragic hero of this documentary is Mohammed Kahil, an Israeli-Arab skateboard champion struggling to escape the “ghetto” life and make a home with his Jewish girlfriend. Features an excellent, pulsating soundtrack by Israeli rock star Rami Fortis.

Skin

Frankie, the son of a Holocaust survivor, becomes increasingly unhinged as his mother’s cancer worsens. Finding himself reluctantly tied up with a group of neo-Nazi youth, he wages a desperate battle for respect and empowerment, leading to an unforgivable crime. Hanro Smitsman’s gripping first feature provides a scarily realistic view into Frankie’s motives and refuses to let anyone—even the viewer—off the hook.

The Sky is Falling

On the eve of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement in Judaism, fifteen-year-old Uri ignites a billboard while drunk with his friends. When the tragic outcome of his act is discovered, he is confronted with questions regarding responsibility and privilege.

Sleeping With the Fishes

Alexis Fish’s life is a mess: Her husband is dead, her once successful party planning business is no more and anti-anxiety pills are the only thing keeping her going. When an aunt dies, she must return home and face her ever-disapproving mother and her well-intentioned but overzealous big sister. Writer/director Nicole Gomez Fisher’s delightful debut brings this quirky story of a dysfunctional yet loving Latino Jewish family to uproarious life.

Sliding Flora

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The Slingshot

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A Small Act

Can a single act of generosity transform a life? As a poor Kenyan boy, Chris Mburu’s life changed forever when a Jewish schoolteacher in Sweden anonymously sponsored his education. Today a Harvard-educated lawyer, he honors his benefactor (and now friend) by providing scholarships in her name to a new generation of promising but desperately poor Kenyan children. A Small Act rivetingly celebrates this inspiring example of “paying it forward.”

The Smile of the Lamb

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Snails in the Rain

In the summer of 1989 in Tel Aviv the brawny linguistics student Boaz is rattled when he receives a letter from a secret male admirer. With deeply internalized homophobia, Boaz both wildly anticipates and dreads the letters. Frustration bubbles to the surface and the tensions grows in director Yariv Mozer’s masterful first narrative feature marked by intimate flashbacks and remarkable performances by lead actors Yoav Reuveni and Moran Rosenblatt.

The Sneetches

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