Jewish Community News

News: September 2008

Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival presents 17th annual Fall line up

The 17th annual Silicon Valley Jewish Fall Film Festival (formerly the San Jose Jewish Film Festival) continues new year-round programming with its classic Fall Festival from Sunday, October 26 through Wednesday November 19.
   “This must be the best set of films we’ve presented in the last eight years,” says SVJFF President Lorin Fink.
    The Festival begins with “The Yiddish Theater: A Love Story,” a musical bound to stir up memories.
    Next is “Fugitive Pieces,” produced by Robert Lantos, known for the the epic 1999 film, “Sunshine.” This gripping drama tells the story of  a young boy struggling to cope with personal ghosts from a traumatic event he witnessed in WWII Poland. Kaleidoscopic cinematography, including scenes from both a Greek island and Toronto.
    Opening Day of the SVJFF ends with the Israeli suspense thriller, “The Debt”’ which presents a chair-gripping story of Mossad intrigue.
    Several Israeli films were incorporated into this year's festival including “The Champagne Spy” (Sunday, November 2 and Wednesday, November 5), an intriguing James Bond-like true story about an Israeli spy in Egypt, and “The Secrets” (Sunday, November 16 and Wednesday, November 19), a drama about two Israeli girls who meet a mysterious older woman in Tsfat. The Israeli blockbuster “The Bubble,”an adults-only Tel Aviv story, plays Sunday, November 9. 
     Unlike previous years where all the films were shown at the same location, this year, four Israeli movies will screen at the Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto on successive Thursday evenings beginning October 30.
      Other films at this year’s Festival include the French movie “Un Secret”(Sunday, November 2). Also on November 2  is “Refusenik,” a documentary chronicling the dramatic and successful worldwide effort to allow Jews to emigrate from the former Soviet Union. More than 20 films will be shown in the month-long Festival, one of the most significant cultural events of the Silicon Valley.
    During the summer, the SVJFF focused on turning  many film screenings into “events.” Please check the 2008 festival program and the SVJFF website www.svjff.org for the most up-to-date listing of events, speakers and films. Last year, the Fall Festival attracted more than 5,000 attendees. Festival goers are urged to order tickets in advance from the festival web site, or by calling (800) 838-3006 since movies do sell out. Camera 12 Theaters (201 South Second Street San Jose) will again be the central location for the Fall Festival.