2004 Archives

Family sing along with on-screen lyrics 

Director/Producer: Norman Jewison 

USA, 1972, color, English, 180 minutes 

This timeless musical classic based on the Yiddish stories by Shalom Aleichem, which won numerous Academy Awards and truly needs no description, depicts a now vanished form of life in a traditional Jewish village in Tsarist Russia during the end of the 19th century. The principal character, Tevye, played by the famed Israeli actor Haim Topol, is a religiously observant dairyman with many unmarried daughters who endures oppressive and relentless poverty and anti-Semitism in a world destined to collapse as a result of an impending world war and Communist revolution in Russia. Through all this, however, he never loses his zest for life and his burning desire to maintain his faith and life-style, which the many memorable songs in this film celebrate (e.g., "Sunrise, Sunset," "If I Were a Rich Man," "Tradition"). In fact, this film (as well as the Broadway musical on which it is based) has been acclaimed by audiences in countries where no significant Jewish community has ever existed, which attests to the universality of its message. Not only will this film tug at your heart and make your toes tap, but it is one you will not likely soon forget. Plus, this is a sing-along version, back by popular demand for a second consecutive year!

Director: David Ofek 

Israel, 2003, Color, Hebrew with English subtitles, 75 minutes 

A production crew documents its 6-month investigation into the identity of the 17th victim of a suicide bombing who was buried in an unmarked grave. Through this search, the film explores numerous people's stories, creating a sensitive portrait of a society living under the shadow of death. This film keeps one glued to the story as it unravels an all too real mystery. 

Winner of Docaviv April 2003

Director: Daniel Syrkin 

Israel, 2003, Hebrew w/English sub-titles, color, 50 minutes 

A precocious Israeli teenager unsuccessfully tries to rebel against her ultra-liberal parents. Just as she's about to give up, she meets the charming son of the family maid, who also happens to be Arab. Sparks of romance between the two evoke the parents' alarm, leading to a series of hilarious misunderstandings involving the incensed families from both sides.

Director: Leib Cohen

USA, 2002, English, 21 minutes 

A Frustrated businessman, Jeffery Goldman (John Pankow) tries to end his hopeless marriage by asking his local Rabbi (Eli Wallach) to place a curse on his wife, Ellen (Rebecca Pidgeon). The rabbi refuses, but gives Goldman peculiar advice on how to do away with her, setting into motion a series of unexpected events.

Director: Micah Smith

USA, 2003, color, English and Yiddish w/subtitles, 7 minutes  

This short film (seven minutes) tells the charming story of a Chassidic boy and a Polish girl who have more in common than they know. Yankel and Natalia somehow manage to relate to each other even though they are divided by language and culture. This engaging film illustrates the frustration created by the religious and secular divides and how that chasm can ultimately be closed.

Director: Shemi Zarchin 

Israel, 2003, Hebrew w/English Subtitles, color, 94 minutes 

This touching film explores the daily challenges faced by Shlomi, an Israeli teenager from a family of Middle Eastern origin, whose self-appointed role is to keep peace within his dysfunctional family and to take care of everyone's needs but his own. For example, he feeds, bathes, and listens to the repetitious stories of his disabled grandfather; he reminds his older brother to take his medication; he calms his quick-tempered mother and mediates between her and his hypochondriac father, whom she threw out of the house for philandering; he looks after his older sister's twins and makes sure she keeps going back to her husband, who cannot seem to distinguish between the identical twin babies. As if this were not enough, Shlomi, a talented cook, prepares the favorite meals for all his family members. No one in the family really sees Shlomi, and he does not see himself. Things change, however, when his teacher and school principal recognize his brilliance, which had previously been undetected. With their help and the help of Rona, a female neighbor gardener with whom Shlomi is secretly in love, he is sent to a school for gifted children, where he finally discovers himself.

Director: Lorin Fink 

USA, 2004, color, English, 30 minutes 

Can ten Latino and ten Jewish college students from San Jose, CA work beyond personal and media-based stereotypes to truly get to know each other and bond together to perform social action projects in the local community? Decide whether this six-month experimental project called "Puente" (Bridge, in Spanish) facilitates connections between individuals of these two cultures with the intent of planting seeds of social involvement at a critical stage in life. World Premiere presentation produced by SJJFF President, Lorin Fink.

Directed and Produced by Sidney M. Goldin 

USA, 1931, b/w, Yiddish with new English subtitles, 10 minutes

Music by Sholem Secunda

New 35mm restoration - 2003 

Cantor Leibele Waldman plays multiple roles in this short spoof of a synagogue committee in search of a chazan (cantor) for the High Holiday services. Cantor Waldman introduces each scene, as a Galitzianer and then a Daytsher (German) chazan audition. Displeased with what they've heard, and unable to agree, they are visited by Leibele's agent who offers them a third alternative: a modern Chazan, with "pep and jazz," who can do Kol Nidre with a "two-step" and Netaneh Tokef with a "black bottom." Needless to say... 

Cast: Cantor Louis (Leibele) Waldman, Sidney Goldin

Director: Naftaly Gliksberg 

Israel 2004, Color, English, Hebrew with subtitles, 60 minutes. 

Ilan Ramon was one of the seven astronauts on board the NASA exploratory craft ˆColumbia,ˆ which crashed upon landing, killing all aboard. Ramon was one of Israelˆ's best and most experienced fighter pilots. During his time as an astronaut, both in space and on the ground, Ramon kept a detailed diary, which reflected not only the rigorous and intense training activities but also his deepest thoughts. Amidst the wreckage of the crash, Ramonˆ's diary was found and returned to Israel, where much of it was painstakingly reconstructed by forensic experts from the Israel Museum and the Israeli Police. This film uses the diary as a subtext to explore the human aspects of Ramonˆ's preparation for the mission and how both he, his wife and children were affected by that experience. The film contains exclusive and previously unseen footage of the preparation for the 16-day mission, the mission itself, and also the heartbreaking disaster that was its culmination. The film explores, whether steps could have been taken after launch to correct the design flaws that caused the disaster, and which flaws were known by NASA much earlier than has been previously disclosed. This poignant film, will inevitably cause the viewer to wonder whether this tragedy could have been avoided and, if so, why was it not?

Director: Chava Schein 

Hadassah College of Technology, Film and Television Department 

Israel, 2000, Hebrew w/English subtitles. 27 minutes, Beta video. 

Dasesh, a 19-year old Ethiopian girl, has been living in Israel with her father and stepmother for five years. Since their separation, she has dreamed of the arrival of her biological mother from Ethiopia.

Director: Hany Abu-Assad 

Netherlands, 2002, Arabic and Hebrew w/ English sub-titles, 80 minutes 

Whatever your point of view about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, it is clear that the West Bank Palestinians must live, day-to-day, with a reality that can be very inconvenient. Whether the current situation has been caused by Israel, or by the Palestinians themselves, is the subject of deep debate, but that is not the point of this film. Rather, it portrays the frustrations and challenges of daily life as Rajai, a resourceful jitney driver, navigates a Ford van around the West Bank, from checkpoint to checkpoint. Ford vans such as this were given by Israel to the Palestinian Authority police, and they eventually became the favorite form of transport for the local people. The passengers who enter the Ford van represent a myriad of West Bank life, their views on the current situation, provide insight into day-to-day living in the various West Bank communities. B.Z. Goldberg, the Israeli filmmaker who produced "Promises" (exhibited at the San Jose Jewish Film Festival, 2002), is one of the passengers who provides frank insights into Israeli thinking. 

Winner of the 2003 HRWIFF Nestor Almendros Prize for courage in filmmaking

Directed by Hadar Freidlich 

Israel, 2000, Hebrew with English subtitles, color, 22 minutes

A day in the life of a Jerusalem taxi driver, on which he buries his son who committed suicide while in the army. Having no family, he finds himself at work as usual. He meets with blunt reality as it exists in Israel, and with grief. With Eli Guy, Gal Barzilai.

Director: Lauren Anne Miller

USA, 2003, color, English, 7 minutes 

If you have grown up Jewish in a non-Jewish community, you will relate to "Happy Holidays." This eight minute short film by Lauren A. Miller, a Florida State University Film student, illustrates the conflicting emotions of a Jewish student the day before a high school's Christmas break. "Christmas cheer" belongs to the others, so how is it possible to relate to the festivities of the season -- especially when the teacher assigns a required "Santa-gram"? Ultimately, the non-Jewish students help with the answer.

Directors: Menachem Daum, Oren Rudavsky 

USA, 2003, color, English , Yiddish, Polish with English subtitles 97 minutes. 

This deeply personal work by famed American documentary filmmaker Menachem Daum, a disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach, portrays his spiritual odyssey. Daum, an observant Jew who was reared by parents who were death camp survivors, has two sons, both of whom live cloistered lives as Yeshivah students in Jerusalem. Like many rigorously Orthodox Jews who purposefully avoid any unnecessary contact with the Gentile world, his sons cannot imagine that a Gentile might, for no ulterior motive, risk his life to save a Jew. Hoping to counteract this thinking, Daum, together with his wife and the two sons, journeys to a small town in Poland to find the Gentile farm couple that, during the Second World War, had sheltered his father-in-law from the occupying Nazis for two years. The journey and its moving culmination have profound emotional impact for Daum as well as his sons. In the process, Daum's sons come to accept, reluctantly to be sure, the nuanced reality that righteousness and compassion are qualities for which no group, whether Jew or Gentile, has a monopoly over. The depths to which this remarkable film explores the role of faith in a hostile world are truly unforgettable.

Director: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz 

Israel, 2003, Color, Hebrew, Zulu w/Eng. subtitles, 87 minutes 

A The image of sturdy chalutzim (Hebrew for: pioneers) marching to work during the days of the British Mandate and the earliest years of Israel's independence is one that was romanticized in numerous books and movies. The modern reality is very different, however, and one that is not usually a subject for discussion. This updated look involves laborers who are not recent OLIM (Jewish immigrants to Israel), but instead are Africans, Asians, and Eastern Europeans who come to Israel looking for menial work. James is a Christian from a native village in South Africa who has been sent by his church on a mission to Jerusalem. Instead, through a pattern of misfortune, he ends up as a laborer in the Tel Aviv area, where he slowly abandons the pilgrim's zeal in favor of a laborer's rough lifestyle. James, however, is a quick study, and he learns that there is money to be made by "playing the game." In a kaleidoscope of mis-adventures, James learns what it takes for day-to-day survival on the back streets of Tel Aviv, which are areas not usually visited by the tour buses. Leaving aside his idealism was a slow process, encouraged by his Israeli employers, providing a poignant and sometimes satiric look at a different and often-not-discussed view of a slice of Israeli life. James' goal, to visit the Holy City of Jerusalem, drives him, but, like all dreams, it can be elusive.

Director: Yifat Elkayam and Liat Kaplan 

Israel, 1998, Hebrew w/English subtitles, color, 37 minutes 

A traditional middle-aged Ashkenazi couple in Israel, distraught that their daughter has become romantically involved with a dark-skinned Muslim from the Sudan, take the bold step of consulting with an Arab exorcist to rid themselves, and their daughter, of what they believe to be a "black devil." The extent to which the parents become involved in this arcane process is surprising and the results are unexpected.

Director: Daniel Burman 

Argentina, 2003, color, Spanish w/ English Subtitles, 100 minutes 

San Jose Premiere 

The San Jose Jewish Film Festival is proud to present the San Jose premiere of the film "Lost Embrace," which depicts the troubles and travails of present day Argentina. With its economy in shambles, one of the hottest commodities for any citizen is a foreign passport, which drives many to search for their immigrant roots. In Ariel's case, he also wants to understand his family history. His grandparents immigrated to Argentina from Poland to escape the Holocaust. His father left his mother shortly after he was born, to fight a seemingly distant war in Israel. Ariel's mother and brother seem indifferent to the past, but he is determined to find the truth. That truth becomes especially important when he has an opportunity to give his father the lost embrace that he had missed for most of his young life. This film is being cosponsored with the Bay Area Latino Film Festival. 

(San Jose Premiere)

Directed by Debra Gonsher Vinik and David Vinik 

USA, 2003, English, color, 43 min 

Living in the remoteness of Uganda's jungle are the Abayudaya, a tribe of 400 people who, devoutly, have been practicing conservative Judaism for the past seventy years. Their inspiring story is presented by Deborah Gonsher Vinik and David Vinik , who followed and documented a mass conversion of the entire tribe that was conducted by Conservative rabbis from the United States.

Director: Savi Gabizon 

Israel, 2003, Hebrew w/English sub-titles, color, 106 minutes. 

Nadav a 12-year-old boy is infatuated with his aunt Nina. His innocent love, admiration and pain becomes unbearable when he moves in with Nina in order to comfort her after the death of her husband. As Nina struggles to recover from her loss, there are bittersweet moments that unfold with great emotion and expertise by one of Israel's most celebrated filmmakers. This sad comedy has many twists and surprises as it reminds us how closely related fate is to coincidence in an unpredictable world 

Winner of 11 Israeli Academy Awards in 2003

Director: Lorin Fink

USA, 2004, English, 21 minutes 

Despite the media-based images that Jews and Arabs dislike each other, the San Jose area had the opportunity this year to experience in person one Arab and one Jew who have formed one of the world's most unusual traveling comedy teams. Standup comedian and professional actor, Ahmed Ahmed and Comedian, Rabbi Bob Alper come from totally different environments, yet have been touring for over eighteen months. Find out what's behind this odd couple who perform in synagogues, mosques, and other social institutions internationally.

Director: Shanny Talis 

Israel, 2001, Hebrew with English subtitles, color, 17 minutes 

Hadassah College of Technology, Film and Television Department Shira and Ariel meet in the during their military service. Because of religious differences, they decide to keep their relationship on a professional level. When they run into each other in an informal party, the desire to get closer is mutual. This leads to a series of situation wherein Ariel is scared and pulls away because his religious beliefs. Can love for a woman stand between a man and his faith?

Director/Producer: Valerie Lapin 

Ganleyv USA, 2003, color, English, 59 minutes. 

William Briscoe claims that Irish Jews are the friendliest Jews in the world (and the most inclined to enjoy a pint)! Shalom Ireland tells the untold story of how Ireland's affable and ambitious Jewish community came to be a major influence in shaping both Ireland and Israel. A talented, hard-working, profoundly civic group of people, Jews from Ireland served in such prominent positions as Lord Mayor of Dublin, first chief rabbi of Israel, and president of Israel. This film documents a community now threatened by extinction but unwilling to surrender.

Director/Producer: Noam Shalev 

Israel, 2003, Hebrew w/English sub-titles and English, 47 minutes 

Alon Bernstein is an Israeli photo-journalist and Jimmy Michael, his Palestinian counterpart, work for a rival television news service, For the last seven years, each has witnessed almost every major news event in Jerusalem and, in the process, filmed the aftermath of terrorist attacks and also the human suffering that resulted from those attacks. Their respective views and opinions concerning the future relationship between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, on which this film focuses, have been shaped by direct and personal encounters with these events. This film, in which the personal views of each is developed, brings a unique perspective to the events that most of us see only in print or on the television screen.

Director: Robert Kirk 

USA, 2001, Color, English, 103 minutes 

Can one man really make a difference? The question is thoughtfully and poignantly answered in this moving and fascinating documentary about Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who helped to save upwards of 2500 Lithuanian Jews during World War II. Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania, at great personal and political risk, signed transit visas to rescue Jews threatened with deportation to the concentration camps. And what of the Jews who he saved? It is estimated that their descendents number close to 40,000 so the answer to the rhetorical question posed above is a resounding and unequivocal "yes." The amazing story of Sugihara doesn't end with the defeat of the Nazis. He was fired from the diplomatic corps after the war and from 1947 until he died in 1986, he and his family lived in virtual anonymity, struggling to make ends meet. Just before he died, however, in 1985, he received the state of Israel's highest honor, and was recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Yad Vashem Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. Too ill to travel, the recognition was accepted by his wife and son. 

Director Diane Estelle Vicari presented brief remarks after the screening, and answered audience questions. 

This film was presented in cooperation with the San Jose Japanese American Museum. 

The film won BEST DOCUMENTARY 2000 at the Hollywood Film Festival and is the winner of the prestigious 2000 International Documentary Association/PARE LORENTZ Award.

Director Richard Goldgewicht

USA, 2004, Color, English, Arabic, Hebrew with English Subtitles, 10 minutes 

Producer: Jeremy Goldscheider & Kihou Productions 

Brotherhood, survival and breaking down of prejudice in a ten minute Arabic, Hebrew and English Film. 'Tel Aviv' is an American Jew's worst nightmare: Stranded in the Israeli desert Harvey is picked up by a van of three Arab Palestinians... a Lost in Translation in the Middle East. What do you do when your life depends on the goodwill of your enemies?

Director/Producer: Ilan Heitner 

Israel, 2002, Hebrew w/English sub-titles, color, 97 minutes 

(GEN-X MOVIE) 

For the second consecutive year, the San Jose Jewish Film Festival is presenting a Gen-X feature, specifically one that has been chosen (by college students) to appeal especially to the 18-30 plus generation. It does, however also have appeal to adults of all ages. Meet Golan: almost thirty; still a University undergraduate; his rent paid by his parents. It's a fun life. Does he need to grow up? The real question is: Does he want to? Golan's friends are mostly focused on enjoying life. As for his relationships with women - how can he settle on one flavor of ice cream, when there are so many more out there? He finally allows his best friend Guy, to fix him up with his sister, a beautiful, vibrant, and independent woman. As long as she is elusive, Golan craves her company. But once she decides that they have a future, Golan feels stifled and wants his freedom. As his friends move on with careers, relationships and commitments, he is suddenly left behind, and his father is threatening to cut the purse strings. Golan has serious decisions to make. What will they be?

Director: Paul Morrison 

United Kingdom, Color, 2003, English, 106 minutes (Rated: PG) 

David Wiseman, an eleven-year-old Jewish boy living in London in the 1950s with his German-Jewish refugee parents, loves cricket but, alas, is such a poor player that he is consigned to the thankless role of scorekeeper on his private school's cricket squad. David's life takes a dramatic and unexpected turn when a West Indian family, headed by the powerful American actor Delroy Lindo, moves next door to the Wisemans and, as one of their first acts, erects a cricket wicket in their backyard. No prior knowledge of cricket, whose rules are admittedly arcane, is necessary to appreciate this charming film. Its principal focus is on the interaction of different races in a previously homogeneous society and the challenges faced by young people of all colors as they mature into adolescence.

Director: Eytan Fox 

Israel, 2003, color, Hebrew with English subtitles 65 minutes 

(Rated: R) 

Yossi, a serious, conservative, young Israeli commander, and the irresistibly handsome and playful "Jagger", carry out their secret love affair amid the heterosexual goings-on of a co-ed platoon stationed on a remote army base on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Fox skillfully and subtly grounds this true-life romance in the context of social and political realities and pressures, and without flag-waving or ideological posturing, tells the story of young people trying to survive and find happiness in a troubled time and place.