The 43rd San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (the world’s longest running Jewish film festival) will take place July 20 – Aug 6, 2023, with screenings at theaters in San Francisco and Oakland. The festival will showcase 67 films from 18 countries, all touching upon the complexities of Jewish life, history, and culture.
For a full view of special awards and opening and closing night events, check out the complete festival film guide. Tickets can be purchased here.
Below is a preview of the festival, featuring brief looks at six films:
1.) REMEMBERING GENE WILDER
(USA, 2023. 90 min)
Capturing the tremendous comedic influence and iconic filmography of Gene Wilder is difficult, yet Ron Frank’s documentary manages to balance the highlights (and some lowlights) of Wilder’s onscreen career with a heartfelt timeline of Wilder’s personal life. Sections of the film are narrated by Wilder using the audiobook recording of his memoir. Hearing Wilder’s voice gives extra emotional weight to pictures and clips, as we hear the impact these important events had on him from the man himself. Many of Wilder’s friends and family are interviewed, including longtime collaborators like Mel Brooks. Whether your favorite Wilder film is Young Frankenstein, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Silver Streak, or even The Frisco Kid (my personal favorite), Remembering Gene Wilder leaves few stones unturned as it pays homage to a legendary career. You’ll be compelled to watch all Wilder’s films afterward.
Screenings (click here for tickets):
– [Opening Night] Thurs., July 20th, 6:30pm at the Castro Theatre
2.) DELEGATION
(Germany / Israel / Poland, 2023. 101 min)
In director Asaf Saban’s powerful multi-generational story of experience and remembrance, an Israeli high school class takes a trip to Poland to visit Holocaust memorial sites including a few concentration camps. The story follows three of the teenage students — Ido, Nitzan, and Frisch — as they navigate teenage angst and hormonal excitement against the backdrop of the most horrific chapter in Jewish history. Frisch’s grandfather is also on the trip, tasked with telling stories about his Holocaust experiences. The film handles tonal shifts with great care, conscious of the complex emotional navigating the characters undergo. Even in the film’s comedic and lighthearted moments, Saban never loses sight of the film’s central question: how do new generations of Jews reconcile honoring the past while growing up in the present?
Screenings (click here for tickets):
– Fri., July 28th, 5:30pm at the Vogue Theater
3.) RABBI ON THE BLOCK
(USA, 2023. 88 min)
Rabbi on the Block is about Tamar Manasseh, a Rabbinical student and activist in Chicago who founded multiple social justice organizations including MASK (Mothers and Men Against Senseless Killings) and We Are Jane, which fights for women’s reproductive rights. The film follows Manasseh at her street side ‘synagogue’ where she hosts community events and initiates dialogue to help local (mostly Black) communities, spreading the idea that remembrance and justice are important characteristics of being human, and not just religious concepts. Through fly-on-the-wall coverage of local synagogue services, community meetups and events, we get a deep knowledge of Manasseh’s background and beliefs, and her continuous work to break boundaries, whether religious, cultural, or economic, in order to get folks out of their pre-ordained corners.
Screenings (click here for tickets):
– Sat., July 29th, 2:25pm at the Vogue Theater
4.) I LIKE MOVIES
(Canada, 2022. 99 min)
I Like Movies takes the passionate and sometimes toxic idea of cinephilia and stretches it over an honest and unforgiving coming-of-age story. Set in the early 2000s in Ontario, Canada, the film follows Lawrence, a high school senior obsessed with movies who begins working at a local video store in order to save money to attend NYU film school. The film is uneasy yet comedic, with outstanding central performances, particularly from Isaiah Lehtinen as Lawrence and Romina D’Ugo as Alana, the video store manager. Director Chandler Levack provides plenty of nostalgic elements, celebrating a bygone era of physical media and amateur filmmaking, but doesn’t shy away from presenting the destructive personalities born out of obsession.
Screenings (click here for tickets):
– Fri., July 21st, 6:00pm at the Castro Theatre
5.) MY NEIGHBOR ADOLF
(Germany / Israel / Poland, 2022. 92 min)
In a South American village in 1960, Marek Polsky, a Holocaust survivor content to live in strict solitude, has his life upended when a mysterious elderly German man, Herzog, moves next door. Polsky is convinced Herzog is actually Adolf Hitler in hiding. My Neighbor Adolf has a precarious premise but director Leon Prudovsky imbues the film with charm and humanity. The film is almost entirely a cat and mouse two-hander, featuring outstanding performances by David Hayman (Polsky) and Udo Kier (Herzog). Even as the plot takes unexpected turns and revelations worthy of their own feature length exploration, the two central performances keep us invested in their characters’ reluctant desire for human connection.
Screenings (click here for tickets):
– Sat., July 22nd, 6:00pm at the Castro Theatre
– Sat., Aug 5th, 5:45pm at the Piedmont Theatre
6.) A GAZA WEEKEND
(Palestine / UK, 2022. 90 min)
A Gaza Weekend is a zany, prescient, multilingual satire from first-time feature filmmaker Basil Khalil. In order to to escape Israel from a contagious virus called ARS, a British journalist and his Israeli wife make a secret deal with low level Palestinian charlatans to smuggle them into Palestine and then further away via ferry. Things don’t go as planned, leaving the couple stranded in one of the smuggler’s homes as Gaza police search for them. At times slapstick and other times action-packed, A Gaza Weekend is an entertaining romp that skewers Middle Eastern stereotypes and sociopolitical norms.
Screenings (click here for tickets):
– Sat., Aug 5th, 8:15pm at the Piedmont Theatre
