A Home on the Range

Jewish Chicken Farmers in Petaluma? It's true, and finally their story is told by Festival favorites, Bay Area filmmakers Bonnie Burt (TREES CRY FOR RAIN, SFJFF 1992; ABRAHAM AND EUGENIA, SFJFF 1995) and Judy Montell (FOREVER ACTIVISTS, SFJFF 1991; TIMBRELS AND TORAH, SFJFF 2000). Fleeing the pogroms and hardships of Eastern Europe these immigrants skipped the sweatshops of New York to become farmers in Northern California. It is a classic immigrant story with a twist. When the left-wing ranchers support union organizers they are met by local vigilantes who want to maintain the status quo. Even more contentious, who controls the community center? Religious and secular Jews argue over control for years. Reflecting three generations of Jewish families, HOME ON THE RANGE tells of the challenges all American Jews face… of maintaining a Jewish identity in America today.

BONNIE BURT has been documenting Jewish life and culture for 20 years. After a career as a psychotherapist, she produced a trilogy of videos about Jewish life in Cuba including: “The Believers” , “Abraham and Eugenia” (SFJFF premiere)and “Trip to Jewish Cuba”. In addition, she has produced a video about adult bat mitzvah, “Coming of Age: Adult Bat Mitzvah”, and “Trees Cry For Rain: A Sephardic Journey” (SFJFF premiere), about Sephardic history and culture. Her work has been shown in film festivals worldwide and on television. Ms. Burt currently lives in the Bay Area of California and is working on a documentary about the radical chicken ranchers of Petaluma, California., Director Judy Montell was the producer, director, and co-writer of the Academy Award nominated documentary "Forever Activists: Stories from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade." Other projects include: "Pasporto al la Tuta Mondo," a series of twelve half-hour videos teaching the language of Esperanto; also in production (with Bonnie Burt) are"The Radical Jewish Chicken Farmers of Petaluma," which traces the history of the founders and their descendants of this special California community; "The Political is Personal: the Story of Saul Wellman," a study of the interaction between the "old left" and the "new left;" and "The Key from Spain: Bosnian Sephardim," which looks at the Sephardic culture and 20th century history of Bosnian Jews through the story and music of Flory Jagoda, a singer and composer of Ladino songs.