SILICON VALLEY JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

Dear fellow movie mavens

We had drama. We had comedy. We shed a few tears, and had a few laughs. The 20th anniversary season of the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival concluded just as it began -- with a stirring film and a delightful concert. All in all, we had a great time.

Our mission at the Festival is to reach out, excite and bring the Silicon Valley community together by showing films that showcase Jewish spirit, culture, traditions and humor. I'd say we did just that. We showed 22 movies over four weeks at six different theaters from San Jose to Palo Alto.

We staged two concerts, hosted four guest speakers, presented a sumo demonstration and had an award ceremony to honor the Festival's two co-founders. Our audience even had a live video chat with a film director in Israel who answered audience questions following his film.

The good news is we're just getting started. With a new Executive Director on board, we are now taking steps to become a year-round Festival by showing films consistently throughout the year. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When you go to our movies, everything works as it should, and that's no accident. Aside from our Executive Director, Program Director, and our Board of Directors, we have 35 extremely dedicated volunteers who do everything from preview, select and promote the movies, seek funding grants, -- show you to your seats at the theater. As the saying goes, "It takes a village".

Of course, we couldn't do anything without you, the audience. On behalf of everyone at the SVJFF, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

See you at the movies,

Bruce Entin

Thank you to all those who participated. Congratulations to Phillip Schwarz. His survey was picked randomly, and he won a a gift certificate to Oren's Hummus in Palo Alto.

The Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival's new Executive Director has had an impressive career in television and movie production. Tzvia Shelef produced 600 television commercials for a Saatchi & Saatchi in Israel and prior to her agency work, Tzvia served as an assistant director for numerous Israeli film productions, as well as Hollywood movies shot in Israel.

The most famous of these American films was the Steven Spielberg film, "Schindler's List" in which she was responsible for all coordination and logistics to help bring in the "Schindler survivors" from around the world for the final scene of the movie. She also worked on American "action" films whose stars included Chuck Norris and Ron Silver. Following her work in film, Tzvia joined Channel 2 in Israel, coordinating and producing drama and comedy television shows.

Once in the U.S., she was an executive producer for KQED public television in San Francisco, where she was involved in fundraising and sponsorships to pay for the production of shows. Aside from her professional accomplishments, Tzvia is passionate and enthusiastic about film, and she told the audience at the 20th Annual Opening Night that the SVJFF Executive Director position is her "dream job".

On a personal note, Tzvia was born in Canada before making aliyah with her family when she was six-years-old. She and her husband Reuven, now live in Sunnyvale with their two children, Ron and Shir.

To contact Tzvia, please send an email to info@svjff.org.