Metropolis

2013, A Year of Jewish Film Festivals



Gabor Por, MLIS
jewishfilmfestivals.org

History of JFFs

Oldest and largest San Francisco JFF, started in 1980

Sonoma County's started in 1996

This year's will be the 19th

What is a Jewish Film Festival (JFF)?

Size: from 2 movies to 100+

Location: theatre, JCC, synagogue, community center, library, senior center

Focus: Israeli, International or National, Family, Short, Student

Length: an afternoon, a weekend, weekly series, monthly series, several continuous weeks

Where?

ArgentinaAustraliaAustriaBrazilCanadaChinaCroatiaFranceGermanyHungaryIsraelMexico

NetherlandsPolandPortugalRomaniaSingaporeSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUKUruguayUSAVenezuela

Where in the US?

NOT HERE:

ArkansasDelawareIdahoMississippiMontanaNorth DakotaOklahomaRhode IslandSouth DakotaUtahVermontWyoming

When did the JFFs start?

Influenced by High Holidays

2013 High HolidaysRosh Hashanah: September 4

Yom Kippur: September 14

5 JFFs started onMarch 2

April 4

October 13

2 out of 3 August JFFsAustralia

Brazil

JFF Logos: stars, strips, reels

Where were the movies made? 1 movie/country

Algeria: El Gusto

Belarus: Shoes

Chile: The Woman at the End of the World

India: Shalom Bollywood:
The Untold Story of Indian Cinema

Jamaica: Awake Zion

Japan: Sugihara

Jordan: Only in New York (Peace After Marriage)

Lithuania: The Pit of Life and Torment

Luxembourg: Hannah Arendt

Macedonia: The Third Half

Norway: The German Doctor (Wakolda)

Pakistan: Saving Face

Palestine: Oded the Wanderer (Oded Hanoded)

Portugal: Only Human

Rwanda: Beyond Right and Wrong: Stories of Justice and Forgiveness

South Africa: Under African Skies

Ukraine: The Lost Town

Where were the movies made? Top 10

Israel267

USA233

France73

Germany62

UK46

Canada 33

Poland 24

Austria 18

Argentina 14

Netherlands 12

What kind of movies were played?

Formatshort231

animation23

series8

How old were the movies?

2013: 902012: 2742011: 1592010: 742009: 362008: 172007: 212006: 132005: 132004: 8

Old movies

1934: The Black Cat1932: Oded Hanoded1931: The Yellow Ticket1930: Animal Crackers1927: The Jazz Singer1922: Hungry Hearts

Movie distribution

1 - 4882 - 1103 - 414 - 295 - 236 - 167 - 158 - 89 - 710 - 4

There were 488 movies that were played only once110 movies twice...

Most popular movies

Hava Nagila: The Movie (68)

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea (44)

The Other Son (39)

Paris-Manhattan (33)

A.K.A Doc Pomus (28)

Life in Stills (28)

Numbered (28)

The World Is Funny (28)

The Flat (27)

Orchestra of Exiles (27)

Boldfaced movies were shown at theSonoma County JFF

Festival sizes

Most common festival size:
4 movies (14 festivals)

1 festival had 2 movies

Average size 15.5 (=2362/152)

# of movies# of festivals

414

712

611

99

59

39

88

127

235

185

Largest festivals

Toronto, Canada102

(5 cities), UK 85

San Francisco, CA76

Atlanta, GA71

Zagreb, Croatia55

Washington, DC46

San Diego, CA45

New York, CA43

East Bay, CA42

Ashkelon, Israel41

Sonoma County Jewish Film Festival

A program of the JCC

Ellen Blustein, director

Volunter committee

At the Rialto in Sebastopol

In the fall once a week

Matinee & evening shows

Highlights of 2013 Jewish Film Festivals

152 festivals

24 countries

183 cities

At least 2362 showing

Average size 15/16 films

Largest, Toronto: 102 films

29 started in April

792 different movies

267 from Israel, 233 from US

375 documentaries

274 films were made in 2012

Oldest from 1922

488 movies only played once

Hava Nagila most popular (68)

Slides coming at: jewishfilmfestivals.org/slides

Highlights of 2013 Jewish Film Festivals

152 festivals

24 countries

183 cities

At least 2362 showing

Average size 15/16 films

Largest, Toronto: 102 films

29 started in April

792 different movies

267 from Israel, 233 from US

375 documentaries

274 films were made in 2012

Oldest from 1922

488 movies only played once

Hava Nagila most popular (68)

Slides coming at: jewishfilmfestivals.org/slides

Resources

San Francisco JFF, archive of films: sfjff.org

Israeli Films: israelifilms.com

Israel Film Center: israelfilmcenter.org

The National Center for Jewish Film: jewishfilm.org

JFFs and Films (my site): jewishfilmfestivals.org

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