SFJFF37 in San Rafael

Futures Past

The high-stakes world of futures trading is the backdrop for this moving documentary of a son who returns home to better understand his famous and inscrutable father. Defeated and divorced, filmmaker Jordan Melamed, pursues his father Leo, who is reluctant to discuss his life and tragic WWII childhood. They share painful truths, which will echo with many parents and children, as they struggle to move beyond their fraught past toward forgiveness.

Planetarium

Two séance-conducting sisters from America (the luminous Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp) meet a silver-haired French film producer who vows to capture their communions with the dead on his own cinematographic medium. This handsomely reptilian producer, who is based on the real-life illustrious filmmaker who was executed at Auschwitz, Bernard Natan, may be enchanted by the young and beautiful sisters, but he casts a darker, stronger spell on them.

Mr. Predictable

Adi Levi is such a steady and reliable husband and father, everyone in his life takes him for granted—until he’s misdiagnosed with cancer and told he has only weeks to live. Everyone in his life continues to take him for granted, but in this endearing Israeli romantic comedy, he is finally forced to choose whether to stand up for himself or continue to let life push him around.

Harmonia

Writer/director Ori Sivan’s elegant, understated backstage musical drama is a modern-day adaptation of the Book of Genesis. Sarah is a talented harpist performing in the Jerusalem orchestra of her conductor and husband, the obsessed, Abraham (Alon Aboutboul). Into their childless marriage enters the enigmatic Hagar, a Palestinian horn player who offers to provide the Israeli couple with a child. The film’s finale is an unforgettable and emotional call for harmony between Arabs and Jews.

Home Port

After 30 years at sea, veteran seaman Aharon drops anchor in his old hometown to head up the Marine Department at Ashdod Port. Principled Aharon immediately butts heads with the port strongman, Azulay, a respected but unscrupulous local who defends the surly and lazy tugboat crew. As the battle escalates, it threatens Aharon’s safety and loved ones, and he must weigh the importance of his standards against questions of loyalty, love, and family.

The Young Karl Marx

Director Raoul Peck’s (I Am Not Your Negro) finely crafted period drama vividly brings to life the August, 1844 meeting between Karl Marx, a German philosopher and journalist exiled to Paris, and Friedrich Engels, the rebellious son of a wealthy factory owner. After Marx lobs a few barbs at the dandified Engels, a revolutionary bromance is born. Within a few years Marx and Engels founded the Communist League and created its defining document, the Communist Manifesto.