2007 Archives

Silicon Valley Best Global Outreach Film Award, SJJFF

Director: Christian Faure 

France, 2005 

French with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 102 Min. 

Drama

During the Nazi occupation of Paris, a Jewish woman on the run is sheltered by a Gentile man who happens to have been the object of her teenage affection. Soon she enters a web of complications as her protector outs his own homosexuality while his brother, a career criminal, becomes infatuated with her. This film provides a unique perspective by projecting universal struggles like belonging, betrayal, and unrequited love against the backdrop of the Holocaust.

Co-sponsored by the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center

Director: Shemi Zarhin 

Israel, 2006 

Hebrew with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 107 Min. 

Drama

Awards Won: The Israeli Film Academy, Wolgin Award and Golden Goblet 

In a small northern Israeli town, we meet Aviva, a hard-working cook, living with her unemployed husband, troubled children, and unstable mother. Through the chaos, Aviva follows her lifelong dream of becoming a writer, and her talents gain the interest of an accomplished novelist named Oded. But soon she sees how her personal journey to greatness affects the lives of her family, and primarily her sister, Anita, a funny and sensitive woman with her own dreams. Aspirations shift and collide when Aviva discovers that Oded has other plans for her.

Underwritten by Eli Reinhart

Director: Shosh Shlam

Israel, 2005 

Hebrew with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 52 Min.

This powerful documentary explores the choices that ultra-orthodox women have to make amid traditional expectations of motherhood. On the one side, we see women who spend most of their lives either pregnant or nursing, focusing on two women who revel in their role as head of their large families. On the other side, we meet two ultra-orthodox women who decided to limit their family size. Yentl, who appears in the film without her husband's knowledge, voices concern that the pressure to produce large families causes many of these perpetually-pregnant women to a secret life of unhappiness.

Director: Paul Verhoeven 

The Netherlands, 2006 

Color 

Dutch, German, English, and Hebrew with English subtitles Length: 135 Min. 

Thriller 

Nudity 

It is 1944, and much of The Netherlands remains under the heavy heel of German occupation. A beautiful, Dutch Jewish cabaret singer joins the Resistance and infiltrates Nazi security headquarters in a major Dutch city. Director Paul Verhoeven ("Basic Instinct," "Total Recall") depicts a war-ravaged world where, for greed, some Resistance fighters shamelessly betray their comrades and some Nazis, acting out of character, risk their lives to save Dutch patriots. This suspenseful and action-packed Verhoeven work, which will keep you on the edge of your seat until its finale, was the most commercially successful film in the long history of Dutch cinema.

Underwritten by Pearl & Leonard Rosenthal

Director: Joshua Faudem 

Israel/USA, 2004 

Hebrew, English, and Czech with English subtitiles 

Color 

Length: 75 Min. 

Documentary

Won the award for Films of Conflict and Resolution 

Mike's Place is a Tel Aviv blues bar, patronized by a hip, secular crowd. In 2003, an American filmmaker used this bar as an example of how Israelis continue their enjoyment of daily life despite the threat of terrorism. During that project, a suicide murderer bombed the bar, killing three and wounding many others. This film records not only the attack itself but also the aftermath and painful process of recovery. The Israeli spirit is never defeated.

Silicon Valley Best Local Film Award, SJJFF

Director: Todd S. Yellin 

USA, 2006 

English 

Color 

Length: 90 Min. 

Drama

Jake Groden, a master furniture craftsman who has long been estranged from his working-class family, returns to Brooklyn, bringing with him an alcohol addiction and a quick temper, to serve the remainder of his parole. What he finds is a father, played by Judd Hirsch, who treats him with disdain, a nephew who never knew he existed, and the grieving widow of his recently deceased twin brother. This tightly directed sleeper film masterfully explores the tribulations of the redemptive process.

This is Todd Yellin's first feature movie, although he holds a number of documentary credits. The director lives in San Jose with his wife and young children. He will be available for both the Sunday and Wednesday showings of "Brother's Shadow."

Underwritten by Gloria & Ken Levy

Director: Tamar Paikes 

Israel, 2007 

Hebrew with English subtitles 

Color

Length: 50 Min. 

Documentary

This film explores in depth the pain and sorrow of the women of one Israeli family that has lost three men, a father and one of his sons in war and another son in an accident. Only through an eventual sharing and release of their feelings do these women find the closure they need in order to continue with their lives in a productive and meaningful manner.

Director: Leonid Prodovsky 

Israel, 2006 

Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 30 Min. 

Feature

Two survivors of an ambushed Israeli patrol, one of whom is badly wounded, take refuge in a house near Nablus. In the house, the Israeli soldiers find an Arab man and his wife. Both the wounded Israeli and the Arab woman desperately need medical assistance, but to summon it would reveal the soldiers' presence and hence imperil the lives of both Israelis. Suspense mounts in this tautly directed film noir.

Silicon Valley Best of the Best Heritage Award, SJJFF 

Director: Jeroen Krabbe 

The Netherlands, 2001 

English 

Color 

Length: 135 Min. 

Drama 

Sexual situations

Awards Won: The Golden Film, Golden Calf, and Platin Film

Based on Harry Mulisch's epic, philosophical novel, Jeroen Krabbe's latest film tackles the theme of man's free will versus celestial interference. G-d is disappointed with the human race and wants his stone tablets back. An angel is given the assignment and tries to manipulate several humans on earth to get the job done. But humans have a will of their own. This imaginative and cautionary fable stars Stephen Fry.

Underwritten by a festival supporter

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel 

Germany, 2006 

German with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 90 Min. 

Drama

Asked to speak at a local school about his life as a Jew in modern Germany, a Jewish journalist begins to dictate what he intends to be a polite responsive letter. This searing, intense film, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel ("Downfall") and starring Ben Becker ("Gloomy Sunday"), is a virtuoso monologue that explores deeply almost every conceivable aspect of what it means to be a Jew in a contemporary Gentile world and particularly in Germany.

Director: Shahar Cohen 

Israel, 2001 

Hebrew with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 20 Min. 

Fiction

Minus Pluse is a short comedy with a surprise ending about a young couple in love living hand to mouth in Jerusalem . Shaul is an ex-guitarist and a serial inventor with no other means of income, Yael is the sole bread winner. He declares a war on the Electric Company, when they disconnect their power supply for lack of payment.

"Minus Plus" received Special Mention in the 2001 Jerusalem International Film Festival; First Prize in the 2001 Montpellier International Film Festival, France; Best Narrative Film, 2002 Montreal Jewish Student Film Festival, Canada; Best Screenplay, the 2003 Ekofilm, Prague, Czech Republic, and Special Mention in New York's 2004 Jewish Student Film Festival.

Born in Israel in 1968, Shachar is a graduate of the noted Sam Spiegel Film and TV school in Jerusalem. His film, "Minus Plus"—a fiction produced in 2001-- and was his Sam Spiegel graduation film.

Silicon Valley Best of the Best Heritage Award, SJJFF

Director: Mick Davis 

USA, 2004 

English 

Color 

Length: 126 Min. 

Biography / Drama 

Nudity

Arriving like a comet, he danced on tables, drunk with passion for life and his ending was the tragedy of true genius like Van Gogh and Mozart.

It is 1919. The Great War is over and Paris nightlife is filled with dark passion and uncontrollable obsessions. In the café Rotonde, the refuge of the artistic elite, we find a table, unlike any other in history: Picasso, Riverra, Stein, Cocteau, Soutine, Utrillo and Modigliani. This is the untold story of the bitter rivalry between Modigliani and Picasso. Two men whose envy of each other is fuelled by their brilliance, their arrogance, their passions. It is also the story of the greatest love tragedy in art history. Jeanne Hebuterne was a beautiful young Catholic girl whose only fault, in her father's eyes was to fall in love with Modigliani, a Jew. Driven by his religious bigotry, Jeanne's father secretly sends their baby away to a convent in some far away place.

At the same time, Paris is preparing for an annual art competition. The prize is money and guaranteed career. But until this moment Picasso has never entered because he is Picasso. And Modigliani has never entered because he is Modigliani. But now Modigliani is cornered. He and Jeanne need to save their child. Drunk with anger, soaked by rain, he bursts into the Rotonde, and watched by Picasso and all others, he puts his name in the competition. Picasso then enters and follows suite. Paris becomes frenzied with excitement. Destiny will watch over this great night and the next day she will deal a hand that shaped all their lives for the rest of time.

Starring: Andy Garcia, Elza Zylberstein, Hippolyte Girardot, Omid Djalili, Peter Capaldi, Eva Herzigova

Director: Jayme Monjardim 

Brazil, 2004 

Portuguese with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 140 Min. 

Biography / Drama 

Brief nudity/violence

Awards Won: Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, Audience Award for Best Feature Film, 2007 San Diego Jewish Film Festival and won ABC Trophy 

A magnificent presentation of love and intolerance, "Olga" is the real story of a unique German Jewish woman, born in 1908, who became a dedicated Communist. As the Nazis were coming to power, Olga flees to Moscow where she undergoes Red Army military training and she is assigned to escort and guarantee the safe return of the Communist leader, Captain Luís Carlos Prestes to Brazil, where he will spearhead Latin America's first Communist revolution. Olga became his lover and when the Communist revolution failed, she was deported to Nazi Germany by the Brazilian government. After bearing a child, she was sent to a concentration camp. Film includes some difficult concentration camp scenes.

Underwritten by Barbara and Martin Fishman

Director: Anat Zuria 

Israel, 2004 

Hebrew with English subtitles 

Color Length: 65 Min. 

Documentary

After the movie, plan to stay for an interesting discussion about Divorce in Israel, led by Nitzhia Shaked.

For Jewish women in Israel, the right to divorce is determined by Jewish religious law. Under that law, a woman can receive a divorce only if her husband consents, and no husband can be compelled to grant a divorce. This situation has left many Jewish women in Israel unable to obtain a divorce and start a new life. This brave film examines three especially shocking examples of why some form of change is necessary.

Nominated for a Silver Wolf at IDFA, this shocking documentary exposes the Kafkaesque process of divorce for women in Israel where secular law does not exist, and divorce is dealt with according to archaic and fundamentalist orthodox Jewish law. Filmmaker Anat Zuria, maker of the award-winning Purity, gained rare access to the rabbinical courts to follow two women caught in the demoralizing legal labyrinth. Though husbands can live with other women and even withhold child support, wives are forbidden contact with other men. In some cases, these very modern, independent and well-educated women are forced to buy a divorce from their husbands for huge sums. As a result, thousands of Jewish women have lived in limbo indefinitely, both in Israel and in other communities around the world.

"Ma'ale School of Television, Film & the Arts" in Jerusalem. Director: Namdar Inbar 

Israel, 2004 

Hebrew with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 32 Min. 

Fiction 

Three sisters from a religious family—an unmarried carreer minded sister who has abandoned her traditional roots, a religious middle-class woman in her ninth month of pregnancy, fearful of givinf birth and the film's heroine, who is struggling to conceive a child—gather at their widowed mother's house for the Jewish Sabbath. Their intense Sabbath together opens old wounds and forces each of the women to confront issues of womanhood and motherhood.

Directed by Ilan Ziv 

Israel, 2007 

English, Arabic, and Hebrew, with English subtitles 

B&W 

105 minutes. 

Documentary

Directed by Israeli expatriate Ilan Ziv, this documentary explores riveting stories of the Six Day War of June 1967. Using archival footage, interviews with surviving politicians and military leaders, and narrative commentary, this film shines light on a war that forever transformed Middle Eastern history and allowed the reunification of Jerusalem for the first time since the formation of the State of Israel. Ziv's even-handed approach is as gripping as it is informative.

Underwritten by Mark & Susan Levine

Director: Oded Davidoff 

Israel, 2006 

Hebrew with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 118 Min. 

Feature 

A teen-aged girl suddenly disappears, becomes one of Jerusalem's "throw away" children, and falls into the clutches of a Fagin-like character. Concurrently, a teen-aged boy is assigned to track her down to serve a dog license citation. As the boy realizes that she is in danger, it becomes his mission to rescue her. Based on the novel by famed Israeli writer David Grossman, the young characters mature quickly and at the same time overcome fear.

Underwritten by Dr. Susan Gould and Rami Tabibian

Directors: Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat 

Israel, 2006 

Hebrew, Italian and Dutch with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 75 Min. 

Documentary

Awards Won: San Francisco Int'l 2007, DocAviv 2006, Israeli Academy Award for best documentary 2006, Second Audience Choice award of IDFA (Amsterdam) 2006. 

An elderly, Iraqi-born veteran of the British Army's Jewish Brigade, which was formed in Mandatory Palestine toward the end of the Second World War, accompanies his son, an Israeli filmmaker, to retrace the Brigade's steps, through combat in northern Italy to occupation duties in The Netherlands. The son, however, has an ulterior motive, and that is to track down the Dutch woman who he believes was his father's girlfriend during the war. Movie trailer: Shachar is one of Israel's up and coming film directors, and the winner of numerous awards for his hit film, "Souvenirs."

Shachar's documentary film, "Souvenirs," was the winner of the San Francisco International Film Festival 2007; Winner of DocAviv 2006 (Israeli Documentary film festival); Israeli Academy Award for best documentary 2006 and the Second Audience Choice award of IDFA (Amsterdam) 2006.

Director: Mark Adam and David Gow 

Canada, 2006 

English 

Color 

Length: 100 Min. 

Drama

Awards Won: The Best Screenplay and Phillip Borsos Award 

A liberal Jewish lawyer in Canada (David Strathairn) is appointed to defend a hate-filled, swastika-tattooed skinhead who stomped to death a Pakistani immigrant. Expectedly, both client and lawyer view one another initially with revulsion and contempt. Unless he makes a persuasive demonstration of contrition, however, the client has little hope. The gripping and powerful plot focuses on the lawyer's efforts to force his client to reclaim whatever residual goodness might lie deep within his character.

Director: Dror Shaul 

Israel, 2006 

Hebrew with English subtitles 

Color 

Length: 103 Min. 

Drama For Adults. 

Sexual situations

Awards Won: The Award of the Israeli Film Academy, Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, Glass Bear at Berlin International Film Festival, Audience Award at Miami Film Festival, Propeller of Motovun at Motovun Film Festival 

Sweet Mud is a complex and multi-layered coming-of-age tale that's sweet and charming in all the right places. On the surface, it's a simple story of a son's relationship with his fragile and mentally unstable mother. But with its many subtle complexity, we see a richly woven tapestry of culture, idealism, love, and freedom. Deeply moving performances are given by Ronet Yudkevitz, who portrays the mother as both a tragic and dignified woman, and Tomer Steinof, playing the son in a truly impressive debut performance.

Director: Dina Zvi-Riklis 

Israel, 2006 

Hebrew, Arabic, and French with subtitles

Color 

Starring Gila Almagor and Rivka Raz. 

Length: 105 Min. 

Drama

Winner of the Special Prize Award at the 2006 Jerusalem Film Festival

Alexandria 1942: Two excited new parents, wealthy Egyptian-Jews, welcome King Farouk into their home. The king comes to bless their new daughters, baby triplets. The triplets, who had been living a charmed life, suddenly lose their mother in one of the epidemics that swept Alexandria. Later, when the political fortunes change in Egypt, they are forced to leave their riches behind and immigrate to Israel with their father. Sixty years later, the turbulent events of their extraordinary lives have clouded the sisters' relationships with secrets and lies. In a final attempt to clear their guilty consciences, they confront their ghosts and memories to seek forgiveness. "Three Mothers" is an emotionally charged and tender drama about "sisters who stuck together and sacrificed their husbands and children for their love for each other, because they had no other way." This film is a stunningly beautiful, evocative tale of family relationships at their best and worst.

Underwritten by Gloria & Ken Levy

Director: Avi Lev

Israel, 2006.

English, Hebrew, with subtitles.

Filmed in Canada and Israel.

Length: 71Min

Only one degree of separation—the saying goes that any two Israelis can instantly zero in on at least one common friend. This poetic revelatory and life-affirming documentary is a story about a filmmaker and a painter, each named Avi, who meet for the very first time in snowy Toronto. They become fast friends and discover shared nightmares and a youthful fantasy. They embark on a transformative journey back to Israel to explore and to make their fantasies, long thought impossible, come true. Their quest returns them to the sights and sounds of their homeland, to the competing voices of God, culture, and progress. Using Avi’s paintings as an expository device, Avi the painter and Avi the filmmaker reveal their personal landscapes to each other. How each experiences the other shatters our preconceptions of present-day Israel and Israelis around the globe. A "must-see" for every Israeli who lives abroad.

Director: Avener Levona

A humorous short documentary highlighting the central roles that falafel stands serve for Israelis and Jews at home and abroad.

Length: 11 Min

Director: Danny Lerner

Israel, 2005.

Hebrew, with subtitles.

Winner of the 2005 Israeli Film Competition "Best Film Award" in the Haifa International Film Festival; nominated in 2006 for Best Actress and Best Cinematography awards of the Israeli Film Academy.

Length: 90 Min

This low-budget black-and-white psychological thriller is the debut film of a talented young director and his film students. Unusual for Israeli films, it is cinematically inventive, integrating style, plot, and considerable knowledge of moviemaking. The roots of the story go deep into the lives of the youth of Tel Aviv. Meow is a young woman and small-time drug dealer who's tough, reclusive, and emotionally closed off. She roams the streets and nightclubs of Tel Aviv. She lives in empty apartments and surfs Internet chat rooms. Her only relationship with the outside world is through cellular phones, chat forums, and SMS messages. She decides to meet Alex, her chat buddy. They plan to meet in a nightclub, but a suicide bombing prevents it. She survives the attack and, after finding Alex in the hospital in a coma, she moves into his empty apartment. Gradually, the tenants start referring to her as Alex, and the identity of the wandering woman begins to fade; the dangerous delusion that follows sends the once-carefree woman traveling down an increasingly treacherous path.

with "A Conversation with Anat Klausner"

On a recent visit to San Jose, San Jose Film Festival's Lorin Fink talked with the star actress of "Frozen Days", Anat Klausner, about the film, her powerful performance, and where she sees Israeli film and her career going in the near future.

Director: Lorin Fink

Length: 8 minutes

Director: Yuval Shafferman
Israel, 2006.
Hebrew, with subtitles.
Winner, Assi Dayan Best Actor 2006, Israeli Academy, "Ophir" Award, Jerusalem Film Festival.
Length: 110 Min

A debut feature from an emerging young Israeli director. This melodrama peers into the lives of the dysfunctional Grossman family, who are facing reconciliation after the wife’s paintings expose her family’s secrets. A nurse calls from the hospital to say that their elderly father and grandfather, whom they had not seen for 10 years, has taken a turn for the worse. She suggests that it might be a good time to visit. Each family member struggles to find love and intimacy with him while sealing themselves from the others. The youngest daughter does not reveal that she understands the English her parents use in private or that she has begun visiting the hospital. The older daughter conceals her lesbianism – even from herself. The 30-year-old son pretends to participate in life, but stays in  his pajamas all day. The husband will not talk about the visits with his father, whose death seems suddenly less imminent. The wife, an artist on the verge of her long-awaited first major show, has not told her family how she used them in various  nude forms in her art. No one discusses the reasons that the man in the hospital, once an integral part of the family, has been estranged from them for so long. As the family members begin to talk, they reveal their hidden information? The process by which the pretenses dissolve is entertaining and fascinating, without a single morbid moment.

Director: Dina Zvi-Riklis

Israel, 2006.

Hebrew, Arabic, and French with subtitles.

Starring Gila Almagor and Rivka Raz.

Winner of the Special Prize Award at the 2006 Jerusalem Film Festival.

Length: 106 Min

Alexandria 1942: Two excited new parents, wealthy Egyptian-Jews, welcome King Farouk into their home. The king comes to bless their new daughters, baby triplets. The triplets, who had been living a charmed life, suddenly lose their mother in one of the epidemics that swept Alexandria. Later, when the political fortunes change in Egypt, they are forced to leave their riches behind and immigrate to Israel with their father. Sixty years later, the turbulent events of their extraordinary lives have clouded the sisters’ relationships with secrets and lies. In a final attempt to clear their guilty consciences, they confront their ghosts and memories to seek forgiveness. "Three Mothers" is an emotionally charged and tender drama about "sisters who stuck together and sacrificed their husbands and children for their love for each other, because they had no other way." This film is a stunningly beautiful, evocative tale of family relationships at their best and worst.

Director & Co-writer: Ari Sandel

USA, 2006.

English Hebrew, Arabic, with subtitles.

Winner, Oscar Best Short Action Film 2007; an official selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Length: 20 Min

This hilarious short movie is a mock musical that parodies the situation in the Middle East. It's a parody of West Side Story, set in the Israel-Palestine context. It gets everything right, from the songs to the craziness of Middle East politics and allegiances! This movie helps make people laugh despite the serious nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The movie features a star-crossed love affair between an Israeli soldier, David, and a Palestinian woman, Fatima. This love cannot be because their families operate dueling snack stands, Hummus Hut and Kosher King. Tensions mount when the Kosher King's new pastry machine juts onto the Hummus Hut’s property. The Palestinians ruin the machine and the Israelis respond by building a wall between the two eating establishments. The couple profess their love for each other, triggering a chain of events that destroys both restaurants and forces all to find common ground in an effort to rebuild, planting a seed of hope.