Among Neighbors | JFI WinterFest Opening Night

12th Annual WinterFest Opening Night

Co-presented with SF IndieFest as the Closing Night of the 27th San Francisco Independent Film Festival (February 6–18)

Director Yoav Potash and executive producer Dr. Anita Friedman expected to attend. Post-film Q&A moderated by Lowell Bergman

Using beautiful hand-drawn animation to bring the past to life, “Among Neighbors” investigates the story of a small, rural town where the longstanding peace between Jewish and Polish neighbors was shattered by World War II. The film focuses on the only living Holocaust survivor from the town, and an aging eyewitness who saw Jews murdered there — six months after the Nazis were defeated. Produced and directed by award-winning Bay Area filmmaker Yoav Potash (Crime After Crime, Sundance Film Festival), Among Neighbors is an evocative and heart-pounding murder mystery with urgent political relevance.

Winner, 2023 JFI Envision Award, Jewish Film Institute
Recipient of a 2023 JFI Completion Grant
Yoav Potash is a 2018 JFI Filmmaker in Residence

Bay Area Premiere

Yoav Potash is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. He produced and directed the Sundance premiere documentary “Crime After Crime,” a New York Times Critics’ Pick and winner of 25 honors, including a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the National Board of Review Freedom of Expression Award, and six audience awards. The documentary, now available on Amazon Prime, helped spark movements to change domestic violence law in multiple US states. Yoav also directed the “Food Stamped,” winner of SF IndieFest’s Jury Prize. He lives and works in Berkeley, CA.

Now the Emeritus Chair in Investigative Journalism at the UC Berkeley, Lowell Bergman has been described as one of the “Thirty Most Important Investigative Reporters” by George Washington University’s Encyclopedia of Journalism. A Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winner with The New York Times, his work in broadcasting garnered multiple Emmys, Du Ponts and Harvard Goldsmith Awards for his work for CBS’s 60 Minutes, ABC News and PBS Frontline. Bergman was a founder of the first non-profit investigative reporting group, the Bay Area based Center for Investigative Reporting
[1977]. At UC Berkeley he created the University of California’s Investigative Reporting Program [2007]. His story for 60 Minutes on the tobacco industry led to the Michael Mann film, The Insider [1999], which was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Married to Sharon Tiller, herself a Berkeley alum, who was a former Executive Director of CIR, and then Executive Producer for PBS’ Frontline World. They have lived in Berkeley for more than a half century raising five boys and now enjoying seven grandchildren. Bergman’s father grew up in Mamosh Seghet, a Transylvanian city that lost its Jewish population to Eichmann’s roundup in 1944. He avoided the Holocaust leaving Budapest on a ‘sealed train’ in 1938 destined for Hamburg, and then a steam ship to America. An orphan his escape was made possible by his uncle, Lajos Engelmann, after whom Lowell is named.

A ticket is required to attend this special event. WinterFest Passes do not provide admission. JFI members can login to their accounts to access a discount.

This program is made possible with support from the Koret Foundation

Schedule

Director(s)
Country(ies)
Language(s)
w/English Subtitle
Release Year
Festival Year(s)
Running Time
101 minutes
Producer(s)
Executive Producer(s)
Cinematographer(s)
Editor(s)
Participants

The WinterFest Pass

Offers priority admission to all screenings February 22–23, 2025 at the Vogue Theater in San Francisco. Not valid for screenings on Tuesday, February 18.

$75 JFI Members • $100 General Public 

Purchase a Pass