2 0 0 7 F e s t i v a l
See trailers from these movies on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/sjjff1
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BROTHER'S SHADOW
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."
movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUdA0r_76G0
Underwritten by Gloria & Ken Levy |
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THREE MOTHERS
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.
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdWLfkJ_JuE
Underwritten by Gloria & Ken Levy |
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BLUES BY THE BEACH
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.
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqJ-D_8NBmQ |
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AVIVA, MY LOVE
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 |
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OLGA
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.
Movie trailer (German): http://youtube.com/watch?v=DuKeIZUgqqk
or http://www.jaymemonjardim.com.br/olga/videos/wmv/trailer_english.wmv
Underwritten by Barbara and Martin Fishman |
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BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY
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. |
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SHABBOS MOTHER
"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.
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arvStJHpO7s |
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A LOVE TO HIDE (UN AMOUR À TAIRE)
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
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUbhSlXk9VU |
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SOUVENIRS
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: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV2qwVv4TlE
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.
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MINUS PLUS
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. |

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CARDBOARD SQUARES
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.
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DARK NIGHT
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. |
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SOMEONE TO RUN WITH
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.
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Url_YOSPX88
Underwritten by Dr. Susan Gould and Rami Tabibian |
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THE DISCOVERY OF HEAVEN
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 |
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SIX DAYS: JUNE 1967
THE WAR THAT CHANGED THE MIDDLE EAST
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.
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQkbve_qvNs
Underwritten by Mark & Susan Levine |
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SENTENCED TO MARRIAGE
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.
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEUvLW9PzkI |
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JUST AN ORDINARY JEW (EIN GANZ
GEWÖHNLICHER
JUDE)
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.
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMqulTps0eE |
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MODIGLIANI
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
For more info. http://www.modiglianithemovie.com/ |
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STEEL TOES
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.
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SWEET MUD
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.
Movie trailer -English:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13eDL36mjeU |
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BLACK BOOK, "Zwartboek"
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
Movie Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2595881241/ |
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