FILMS
We celebrate our 14th year bringing quality films and filmmakers to the Central Coast. Movies have been curated from all over the world that show various experiences of Jewish life. We also believe in celebrating the filmmakers, many of whom have sacrificed greatly to have their stories told. Each has worked diligently to keep their Jewish identity, history and hopes for the future a part of the conversation.
This year we are delighted to partner with the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, where a small selection of our films will be a part of their online festival. If you are not able to make it to the live weekend, you will have the opportunity to see the Jewish Film Festival movies April 30 - May 7, 2023 at SLOIFF.ORG when you buy a festival pass.
SATURDAY, MARCH 11
7 PM • Palm Theater
A Conversation with Rain Pryor - Intersecting Identities
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Featured speaker Rain Pryor joins us for a conversation about how both her Black and Jewish identities have found a way to co-exist in her crazy life. Her one woman show Fried Chicken and Latkes was a tremendous success and from that experience she continues to create new work that reflects her views on the current state of society and uses her unique humor to illuminate the truth.
That Daughter's Crazy
documentary feature, directed by Elzbieta Szoka, USA/Poland, 2015, 59 minutes
SPONSORED BY HILLEL AND CITY OF SLO
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Some apples don't fall far from the tree. A movie that is part stand up, part documentary, Rain wrestles with being the daughter of legendary comedian Richard Pryor while finding her own identity at the intersection of being Black and Jewish. Humor and insights run in the family.
SUNDAY, MARCH 12
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Tickets for Sunday must be purchased at the door
10 AM • Palm Theater
SHORT FILM PROGRAM
A selection of five short films, narrative, documentary and animation.
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Followed by a conversation with director Adam Lebowitz-Lockard after his film Omi.
The Broken Candle
animated short, directed by Felix Kiner, USA, 2021, 9 minutes
SPONSORED BY MARY BAIAMONTE
This film will also be available be online April 30 - May 7, 2023 as a part of the SLO International Film Festival SLOIFF.ORG
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The heartwarming tale of Nira, a broken Hanukah candle, who becomes the shamash (lead candle of the hannukiah) on the last night of the Festival of Lights. Some apples don't fall far from the tree. An Oscar 2022 Qualified Animated Short.
Incognito
narrative short, directed by Jonathan Hansler & Kerry Shale, Netherlands, 2017, 11 minutes
SPONSORED BY MARGARET LEVINE
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Buenos Aires, 1960
Two mysterious men meet for coffee, cake and a chat in reclusive café. Their identities and purpose are questionable. The tension between them is real and the conversation strained, yet, they are not strangers. Who are they and what is their connection?
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Based partly on truth.
Ave Maria
narrative short, directed by Basil Kahlil, Israel, 2015, 22 minutes
SPONSORED BY SUSAN STERN-PEARL
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The silent routine of five Sisters of Mercy nuns living in the West Bank wilderness have their daily routine of silence and prayer disrupted when a family of religious Israeli settlers crash their car into the convent's wall. They have taken a vow of silence, and the settlers are keeping an Orthodox shabbat which keeps them from using any technology.
116 Cameras
documentary short, directed by Davina Pardo, USA, 2019, 15 minutes
SPONSORED BY ANDI & JEFF PORTNEY
As the Holocaust survivor community ages, there is an ambitious new project to transform survivors into 3D digital projections. Surrounded by twinkling lights and cameras, Eva Schloss, a Auschwitz survivor and stepsister of Anne Frank, tells her story as an interactive hologram who will have conversations with generations to come.
OMI
narrative short, directed by Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, USA, 2022, 15 minutes
SPONSORED BY DIVERSITY COALITION OF SLO COUNTY
This film will also be available be online April 30 - May 7, 2023 as a part of the SLO International Film Festival SLOIFF.ORG
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The movie OMI will be followed by a conversation with director Adam Lebowitz-Lockard and David Weisman.
A short and sweet comedy nightmare about a young man who is about to take the next step with his shiksa girlfriend, but gets possessed by the dybbuk of his Yiddish grandmother, who has plans of her own. And she won't be ignored.
FREE FOR KIDS
I10 AM • Palm Theater
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
animated feature, directed by Phil Nibbelink Simon Wells, USA, 1991, 75 minutes
Fievel's family decides to move out to the West, unaware that they are falling into a trap perpetrated by a smooth-talking cat.
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SUNDAY, MARCH 12
1 PM • Palm Theater
Jews of the Wild West
documentary feature, directed by Amanda Kinsey, USA, 2022, 83 minutes
SPONSORED BY TOEWS LAW
This film will also be be online April 30 - May 7, 2023 as a part of the SLO International Film Festival SLOIFF.ORG
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This film we be followed by a conversation with director Amanda Kinsey and local historian Dan Krieger about the Jewish pioneers who helped establish the Central Coast.
Western Jewish pioneers, those of the silver screen and real life, are a largely forgotten chapter in US History. And yet, they played a definitive role shaping the expansion of the United States. Nationally known names such as Levi Strauss, Samsonite founder Jesse Shwayder and the Guggenheim family built their great fortunes in California and Colorado. Golda Meir spent formative years in Denver. Wyatt Earp’s wife, Josephine Marcus Earp, was a Jewish actress whose beauty is rumored to have triggered the fight at the OK Corral. By the end of the 19th Century, nearly every notorious Wild West town had a Jewish mayor.
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