San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2022 FORUM THREAD

[Chris Knipp]

SPEER GOES TO HOLLYWOOD (Vanessa Lapa 2020)

An attempt to expose the slickest Nazi that fizzles, as I wrote last Oct. when this came out in theaters. Review republished here because included in the SFJFF.

SFJFF SHOWTIMES:
Schedule
Sunday July 31, 2022
11:30 a.m.
Albany Twin

[Chris Knipp]

A REEL WAR: SHALAL (Karnit Mandel 2021)

A short documentary in which the filmmaker depicts her discovery of a small cache of what may be a much larger one of Palestinian films that go back to before the State of Israel's establishment - a stolen (shalal, "confiscated") legacy of the Palestinian people. She seeks to find a larger file held by the IDF, but without success.

SFJFF SHOWTIMES:
Friday July 29, 2022
1:00 p.m.
Albany Twin

[Chris Knipp]

WE BURN LIKE THIS (Alana Waksman 2021)

A lost young woman in Montana, grandchild of Holocaust survivors, reconnects with her Jewish heritage through encountering antisemitism. But this pretty but meandering film seems a rather strange way of approaching this subject.

SFJFF SHOWTIMES:
Schedule
Monday August 1, 2022
12:01 a.m.
JFI Digital Screening Room

[Chris Knipp]

REMEMBER THIS (Jeff Hutchens, Derek Goldman 2022)

A filmed solo performance by David Strathairn of a stage piece dramatizing and recounting the remarkable life of Polish hero Jan Kaski, who sought to make known to world leaders about the massacre of the Jews during WWII. From this and other researches it inspired I learned about Kaski and gained new insight into the Holocaust.

At the Castro Theater yesterday.

Special Presentation: Center Stage

Actor David Strathairn, directors Derek Goldman and Jeff Hutchens, and producer Eva Anisko expected to attend. Post-film Q&A moderated by Carey Perloff, former Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

[Chris Knipp]

THE FAITHFUL: THE KING, THE POPE, THE PRINCESS (Annie Berman 2021)

The filmmaker, wo provides a constant intimate voiceover, recounts here decades-long pursuit of the nature of celebrity by following fans of Elvis, the Pope, and the late Princess Diana. And she is also recording her own obsession, with Elvis and with making this film, which began in rows and rows of little videotapes.

SFJFF SHOWTIMES:
Schedule
Monday July 25, 2022
11:15 a.m.
Castro Theatre

[Chris Knipp]

THE CROSSING/LA TRAVERSÉE (Florence Mialhe 2021)

Riffing off memories of her mother and great grandmother the artist-filmmaker tells a story of siblings fleeing wartime violence, through many vicissitudes, to enter a new land. The story never quite jells, but the hand painted animated images are frequently gorgeous, evoking numerous modern artists with fluid line and brilliant color.

Shown today, July 26, 2022 at the Albany Twin

[Chris Knipp]

SUMMER NIGHTS (Ohad Milstein 2021).


Exploring the world around his six-year-old son, a prizewinning Israeli short film of singular grace and simplicity. I thought of Nicholas Philibert's wonderful To Be and to Have; but where this film ends is where that one begins, the start of school.

SFJFF SHOWTIMES:
Schedule
Thursday July 28, 2022
6:00 p.m.
Albany Twin

[Chris Knipp]

THE RESTLESS HUNGARIAN (Tom Weidlinger 2021)

The filmmaker explores the life and achievement of his father Paul Weidinger (1914-1999), an important structural engineer for major architects who escaped from Europe in 1939 and concealed for the rest of his life that he was a Jew. The life and the film trajectory don't satisfy the way Nathanial Kahn's great My Architect does, but Tom is an accomplished documentarian and provides a vivid picture of the many phases of his father's varied life.

SFJFF SHOWTIMES:
Schedule
Friday July 29, 2022
3:05 p.m.
Albany Twin