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Friday July 13, 2007

Hey, grab a ringside seat at the Jewish film festival!

It’s nice to know that, after 27 years, they’ve still got that spark.

After that much time, most couples work themselves into a rut deeper than the trenches at Gallipoli.

We’re talking, of course, about the happy pairing of the local Jewish community and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

The SFJFF long ago became a Bay Area institution. So, if Executive Director Peter Stein and Program Director Nancy Fishman so desired, they could pretty much rest on their laurels.

People will show up, enjoy films starring some attractive Israeli actors and buy plenty of popcorn. And, hey, let’s do it again next year!

But that’s not what has happened. In its 27th incarnation, Stein and Fishman have pulled together one of the most eclectic film fests yet.

There’s an “undercard” of Jewish boxing movies (including a silent film with a live jazz band playing an original score).

There’s a cavalcade of movies featuring music from every corner of the globe, hard-hitting Israeli documentaries, marathon showings of a top-notch TV series, and the American premiere of Dani Levy’s controversial “My Fuehrer: The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler” (in which Der Fuehrer is made to shamble about in der jogging suit and bark like der schnauzer).

Are all of these films for everyone? Probably not. But is there something here for everyone? Probably.

In an article about the American Jewish Press Association running in this week’s j., Israel Consul General David Akov noted that no matter what take a journalist has on Israel, it’s hard to argue the Jewish state isn’t “a fascinating place.”

Well, we think that argument applies not only to the Jewish state but the state of Jews. Not that other people are boring, but it’s hard to argue against the accomplishments and creativity of Jews worldwide — and this year we have 54 films from 13 nations to show for it.

For many Bay Area Jews — too many, according to some folks — the Jewish Film Festival is the sum total of their Jewish involvement for the year.

It’s not j.’s prerogative to guilt-trip those folks into doing more. But if the fest is your Jewish involvement for the year, you sure could do worse.

Go, learn and have fun. And save some Raisinettes for us.

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