Don't miss these films playing once at SFJFF37.
The proverbial “girl next door” in The Guys Next Door is anything but a familiar cliché. Rachel is over 40, grew up Jewish and is married with three biological kids of her own when she decides to become a gestational surrogate for her gay best friend and his Italian émigré husband. Not just once but twice! This documentary follows the blended, extended family for three years as they navigate 21st century questions about parenting, identity, intimacy and connection.
Read More
Adolescence is hard enough without having to worry about maintaining a world record. But for Naomi Kutin, shopping for a bat mitzvah dress, keeping up with homework and lifting nearly three times her weight is just another day. What started as a hobby turned awe-inspiring when Naomi set a world record in powerlifting. But as the young Orthodox Jewish girl approaches adolescence, the competition is getting fierce and unexpected health issues may jeopardize her future.
Read More
If you think you know Gilbert Gottfried, the brash, shrill-voiced (“Aflac!”), boundary-pushing comic, think again. In this surprisingly candid documentary portrait, director Neil Berkeley reveals the foul-mouthed comedian in a whole new light as a loving husband and father of two young children. Featuring interviews with comics like Whoopi Goldberg and behind-the-scenes glimpses of Gottfried’s performances, Gilbert separates the man from the act, and what emerges is unexpectedly tender.
Read More
While many sequels do not live up to their predecessors, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power is a rare exception. A decade after An Inconvenient Truth, local filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk follow Vice President Al Gore as he continues his tireless efforts to alert the human inhabitants of this planet to the catstrophic consequences of climate change and the urgency to take action.
Read More
The current refugee crisis, the deepest the world has seen since World War II, has been burned into everyone’s consciousness. Journalist and filmmaker Pia Lenz set out to approach the topic with a new set of eyes. She follows two families as they resettle in Germany. Lenz is as patient as the film’s subjects, taking the time to transform from making a film about the refugee problem to a thoughtful look at the refugees as individuals
Read More
Joshua Z. Weinstein’s Brooklyn-based Yiddish drama is an authentic, tightly written, compelling story for anyone jonesing to hear more than a bisl (little bit) of the mamaloshen (mother tongue). Menashe, a complex and lovable schlemiel, is a young widower deep in the heart of New York’s ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community who is fighting for custody of his son and struggling with his aversion to marrying again.
Read More
Haunting in its relevance for today’s refugee crisis, this star-studded 1976 film evokes the hopes and fears of a people uprooted from their homes en route to a promised land on the MS St. Louis, the ship that brought 937 Jews escaping Germany on the eve of the Shoah in 1939 to the shores of Cuba, where they are forbidden to disembark (only to then be similarly rejected by the United States and Canada)
Read More$275 Members / $310 General Public
An All-Festival Pass is the best way to experience everything on offer at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Enjoy Big Nights, special events, matinees, and more, along with priority access to all venues! Some restrictions apply. Purchase online or contact the Box Office at 415.621.0568
Buy Now