San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2019

[Chris Knipp]

The 2019 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival begins soon.

FESTIVAL COVERAGE THREAD



ACTOR ANTON YELCHIN, DEAD IN A TRAGIC FREAK ACCIDENT IN 2016, REMEMBERED IN LOVE, ANTOSHA

LINKS TO REVIEWS:

Abe (Fernando Grostein Andrade 2019)
Advocate (Rachel Leah Jones, Phillipe Bellaiche 2019) CAPSULE
Beyond the Bolex (Alyssa Bolsey 2018) CAPSULE
Black Hat (Sarah Smith 2019) [short]
Carl Laemmle (James Freedman 2018)
Curtiz (Tamás Yvan Topolánszky 2018)
ECHO הד’ /HED (Amikam Kovner, Assar Snir 2018)
Henri Dauman: Looking Up (Peter Jones 2018)
It Must Schwing! - The Blue Note Story (Eric Friedler 2018)
Jerusalem_in_Between (Pietro Pinto 2018) [short]
Leona (Isaac Cherem 2018) CAPSULE
Love, Antosha (Garret Price 2019) CAPSULE
My Polish Honeymoon/Lune de miel (Élise Otzenberger 2018)
Safe Spaces (Daniel Schechter 2019)
Standing Up, Facing Down (Matt Ratner 2019)
Tel Aviv on Fire (Sameh Zoabi 2018)
Tobacconist, The/Der Trafikant (Nikolaus Leytner 2018) CAPSULE
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (Rob Garver 2019)




SFJFF:40,000 attendees, the 39th year, biggest of its kind. It unreels in five Bay Area venues: the grand old Castro Theatre in San Francisco, Cinearts in Palo Alto, the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, and the Landmark Piedmont Theater in Oakland.

Some interesting films of SFJFF 2019:

Tel Aviv on Fire (Sameh Zoabi 2018) (Centerpiece Film) It's about a young Palestinian who becomes a writer on a popular Israeli TV dramatic series through a chance meeting with an Israeli soldier. Then different forces involved differ intensely on how the show should end. (July 26)

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (Rob Garver 2019) is a new documentary about Pauline Kael, just about the most exciting and controversial film critic in American history, who wrote for The New Yorker for many years after a lively earlier career that began in Berkeley, California.

Abe, (Fernando Grostein Andrade 2019) with Mark Margolis of "Breaking Bad" and Brazilian musician Seu Jorge of City of God) and starring Noah Schnapp of "Stranger Things." Noah plays Abe, a 12-year-old half Israeli-halfe Palestinian kid in Brooklyn who's a precocious cook. He tries to unite the cuisines of the two sides of his background that he unites in his own genes. Problems arise.

Love, Antosha (Garret Price 2019), a biography and remembrance of Anton Yelchin, young Russian Jewish emigrant actor in Hollywood who died at 27 in a freak accident right outside his own house in 2016. Among other things he had played Bobby in Hearts in Atlantis (2001), Chekov in the "Star Trek" (2009) reboot, Charlie Brewster in the Fright Night (2011) remake, and Jacob in Like Crazy (2011). He was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, USSR, to a Jewish family. Loved by many, he had many years and roles ahead of him.


PAULINE KAEL OF WHAT SHE SAID

[Chris Knipp]

My Filmleaf SFJFF 2019 reviews are starting now. You will find them in the FESTIVAL COVERAGE SECTION.

[Chris Knipp]

CARL LAEMMLE (James Freedman 2018)

Before it was only the name of a movie theater in Los Angeles for me. Now I know why. A German Jewish emigrant at 17, he eventually started Universal Studios, fought Thomas Edison's tireless monopolistic efforts in the industry, made a lot of important films, discovered many great stars, and found Irving Thalberg, and then saved 300 German Jewish families from the Nazis. This enthusiastic documentary is a good introduction to a significant slice of film history.

SFJFF showtimes:
Friday July 19, 2019 11 am Castro
Sat July 20 11:30 a.m. CineArts
Sat July 27 12 pm Albany Twin
Fri. Aug 2 2 pm Smith Rafael

[Chris Knipp]

ECHO הד’ /HED (Amikam Kovner, Assaf Snir 2018)

ECHO הד’ /HED (Amikam Kovner, Assaf Snir 2018) Israeli husband taps cheating wife's phone. A polished, classy production but without quite the edge of the noir material it dips into.

SFJFF showtimes:
Friday July 19, 2019 3:40 at the Castro
Mon. July 33 8:30 at CineArts
Sat. July 27 8:50 at Albany Twin

[Chris Knipp]

SAFE SPACES (Daniel Schechter 2019)

Justin Long plays a man child in a New York Jewish family whose grandmother is in her last days. Domestic drama takes up a lot of the jokey, violent action while a contemporary subplot features his trouble with injudicious behavior in a writing class he teaches involving a sexual incident on a date he persuades a girl student to describe in front of the whole class. While a lot of the line readings are flailing and improvisational, it's a pleasure to see Richard Schiff, of "The West Wing," deliver his dialogue decisively.

SFJFF Showtimes;
Saturday July 20, 2019 8:50 at the Castro
Sun., July 21 6:10 at CineArts; Wed. July 31 8:30 pm Albany
Sunday August 4, 6:30 p.m. San Rafael.

[Chris Knipp]

IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY (Eric Friedler 2018)

A second, even better, documentary about this key jazz record label created and run by two German Jews who fled from Nazi Germany. Narrated by a who's who of living jazz legends and several jazz historians, and enlivened by handsome animations and graphics. A must-see for jazz fans.

Showing tomorrow and two other days at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
SFJFF showtimes:
Saturday July 20 1:15 Castro Theater
Tues., July 23 12:30 CineArts
Sat. July 28 1 pm Albany twin