Jewish Film Festival

The SCJFF is in progress with films scheduled through May 14!

All are welcome and no admission fee is charged. Voluntary donations are gratefully accepted at the door.

Scroll down to view films scheduled, films on our "wish list", and films that have already been screened in 2025.

The festival is still only partially so  funded so please consider making a tax-deductible donation by clicking this link.

Topics we are addressing in the 2025 festival:

• The rise of anti-Semitism in the wake of October 7.

• The resilience of the Jewish people throughout history.

• Illumination of complex issues in Israel-Palestine and envisioning a future of peaceful co-existence. 
• Comic tales from the Jewish experience.

If you come across a film that you think would be a good fit for the SCJFF please let us know by email at SCJFFinfo@gmail.com.

When Irmy, a soon-to-be-dad comedian goes to his father asking for money, he finds out that his only inheritance is a piece of land in the occupied Palestinian territories purchased by his grandmother during the British Mandate. To make things worse, he also finds out that extreme-right-wing Jewish settlers have settled on his land and made a winery out of it. So, together with his father, Irmy concocts and foists an ingenious ruse on the settlers, the army, and the Israeli government in a maneuver to get his land back. What begins as a personal quest to recover a contested piece of real estate quickly evolves into an activist escapade that exposes ironies in the mechanisms of the occupation.  This is a hilarious and eye-opening documentary.

Winner, Best Documentary Feature, at the 2024 Israeli Ophir Awards (Israel's Oscars).  

Israel, 2024, 72 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles.

If you'd like to sponsor or c0-sponsor the film please contact SCJFF Director Paul Drescher at SCJFFinfo@gmail.com

YANIV. Barry, a high school drama teacher in the Bronx, needs to raise money to put on the school musical. He convinces his fellow statistics teacher—a recovering gambling addict—to help him cheat at an underground card game run by the Hasidic Jewish community. The plan goes awry and all hell breaks loose, but help comes  unexpectedly from the least likely people. 

The movie is a comic romp from two writer-director-producer-stars who are high school drama teachers in real life. After making many short films together, this is their first feature, and it's a doozy!

If you'd like to sponsor or c0-sponsor this film please contact SCJFF Director Paul Drescher at SCJFFinfo@gmail.com

In a Syrian border village in the early 1980’s, little Sero attends school for the first time. But a new teacher loyal to President Hafez al-Assad is determined to make proud Jew-hating Syrians out of the Kurdish children. The lessons upset and confuse Sero because his long-time neighbors are a lovable Jewish family. With delicate humor and satire, the film finds light moments amidst dictatorship and dark drama.

The film was inspired by the director’s personal experiences, and his bitter-sweet memories connect the Syrian tragedy to the present. 

Switzerland - France | Drama | 2021  |  124 min.

If you'd like to sponsor or c0-sponsor this film please contact SCJFF Director Paul Drescher at SCJFFinfo@gmail.com

Four Winters: A Story of Jewish Partisan Resistance and Heroism in WWII

USA | Documenary | 2022  |  96 min. 

Over 25,000 Jewish partisans fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators from deep within the forests of WWII’s Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Belarus. Against extraordinary odds, they escaped Nazi slaughter, and evolved from young innocents to courageous resistance fighters, shattering the myth of Jewish passivity. The last surviving partisans tell their stories of resistance in FOUR WINTERS, revealing a stunning narrative of heroism and resilience.

This movie is not recommended for children under the age of 13.

Click on the photo above to view the trailer.

SELECT AWARDS & ACCOLADES:   Festival Premiere, New York Jewish Film Festival   -  Winner, Human Rights Award at Hamptons Doc Fest   -   

To the haunting question: “Why didn’t Jews fight back?”  This film answers:  “They did.”

The Santa Cruz Jewish Film Festival is thrilled to host acclaimed director Julia Mintz on Monday evening, February 3, presenting her award winning film FOUR WINTERS at Temple Beth El. 

While dramatizations like DEFIANCE and INGLORIOUS BASTERDS have come out of Hollywood, the true story of Jewish resistance in WWII urgently needed to be told. FOUR WINTERS tells it, revealing the stories of the courageous Jewish fighters who, against unimaginable odds, fought back fiercely against Hitler’s war machine as it raged across Eastern Europe.

In Their Own Voices

FOUR WINTERS features interviews with the last living Partisans. Using personal photographs, letters, journals, rare archival film footage, historic war records, photographs, and artifacts from Partisans’ personal collections, the documentary weaves together a layered story that shatters the myth of Jewish passivity. The film illuminates the many ways in which Jews resisted the Nazis, and celebrates the soulful bravery, cleverness, and leadership, of the Partisans, most of whom had never touched a gun before.

Julia Mintz, Director, Writer & Producer of FOUR WINTERS  has been on the producing teams for films which have premiered at Cannes, Sundance and TriBeCa, and won Emmy, Peabody and festival awards. Her films can be seen on HBO, PBS, American Masters, NETFLIX, and Amazon. She has taught seminars and workshops worldwide, and has held an adjunct faculty position at LIU in NYC.  Julia Mintz is an award-winning artist and an accomplished multi-grant recipient for her work in visual arts and documentary film. You can watch her interview with ABC news here.

Winner, Best Documentary, at Toronto Jewish Film Festival  -   Winner,  Audience Award at Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival   -   Winner, Audience Award at Seattle Jewish Film Festival   -   Winner, Audience Award at Australia Jewish Film Festival  -  Awarded Stephen Spielberg’s Jewish Story Partners Grant 2022.

The film will not be available online until 2026.

THE KILLING ROADS exposes the terror unleashed on October 7, 2023, when Hamas and fellow Palestinian terrorists launched coordinated attacks across the roads of southern Israel, leaving a trail of devastation and horror in their wake.  

This film includes graphic images and disturbing content but it serves as important testimony to the atrocities committed by Hamas and their associates on that horrific day.

There will be time to process the emotional impact and discuss the film after the screening.

Canada, 2024, 114 minutes, English and Hebrew with English subtitles. This film is not suitable for children under age 18.

If you'd like to sponsor or c0-sponsor the film please contact the SCJFF at SCJFFinfo@gmail.com or 831-239-5208.

THE CATSKILLS is a feature-length documentary on the rise and fall of the Borscht Belt. Resorts in the Catskills of New York provided a vacation refuge for middle income and affluent Jewish families, including many who survived the devastation in Europe just a few years earlier.

Stand-up comedians and former waiters, entertainers, and dance instructors recount tales of the family-run resorts and bungalows that inspired films like DIRTY DANCING.

This is a delightful documentary with appearances by Jerry Lewis, Shecky Green, Joey Bishop, Jackie Mason and others who honed their craft in Catskills resorts.

To learn more visit https://www.thecatskillsfilm.com/           To view the trailer, click here or on the poster to the right.

THE CATSKILLS, USA 2024, running time 83 minutes.

Aegis is located at 125 Heather Terrace, Aptos.

If you'd like to sponsor or c0-sponsor the film please contact the SCJFF at SCJFFinfo@gmail.com or call 831-239-5208.

THE PATH FORWARD  is a compelling and heartfelt story that offers hope and courage in the face of unimaginable challenges. The film profiles members of the organization Standing Together, which brings together Israelis and Palestinians who have suffered loss in the ongoing conflict and are working to create a new paradigm of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence. Rabbi Paula Marcus has toured Israel with the organization's founders and appears briefly in the film. She will talk about her experience and lead a discussion after the movie.

USA/Israel, Documentary 2024, running time 40 minutes. In English, Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles.

This film is sponsored by Rabbi Paula Marcus.

FIDDLER ON THE MOON is a half-hour documentary that answers the question that has plagued scientists, theologians, and comedians for millennia: Will Judaism survive in space? 

This light-hearted examination of Jewish space history stars Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronauts Jeffrey Hoffman and Jessica Meir, and a quorum of rabbis and researchers.

You may never look up at the stars the same way again!

OMI is a comic short film about Matt, an impulsive millennial mensch (good guy) who gets possessed by the spirit of his dead Yiddish grandma, Omi, after asking his non-Jewish girlfriend to marry him.

Don’t miss this short precursor to OMI, the feature film, to be released later this year. You’ll howl along with Matt!

Written and starring Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, shown above.

The SCJFF is delighted to present another world premiere! 

CATALOGUE OF NOSES is a short musical comedy that uses ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ parody songs to illustrate the sacrifices Jewish women make to assimilate. Inspired by Writer/Producer/Actor Lauren Schaffel's own life story of growing up as a child actor in Hollywood and getting a nose job at age sixteen. 

The film takes aim at the stereotypical portrayal of Jews in media and pokes fun at the superficial ideals of Western beauty standards. 

Writer/Producer/Actor Lauren Schaffel will be on hand, in person, to introduce the film and answer questions after the screening! Lauren starred in many prime time comedies like Will and Grace, Still Standing, and several Peanuts films and series (as the voice of Lucy). 

Admission is free, donations gratefully accepted.

Lemonade and cookies will be served.

Come down to the Capitola Library for an afternoon of Sephardic music with our own Dror and Avi Sinai.  

Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month with a musical performance by Dror & Avi Sinai. This father-son duo keeps Sephardic traditions alive with original and traditional Jewish Yemenite chants and songs.

Enjoy light refreshments while listening to music that strives for mystical pathways to joy and unity.

Free admission, open to the public. 

This event is promoted by the SCJFF on behalf of the Santa Cruz Pubic Libraries in recognition of their support during Jewish American Heritage month. Thank you, Diane and the SCPL!  https://santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/14222074

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Capitola Public Library.

FIDDLER ON THE MOON is a half-hour documentary that answers the question that has plagued scientists, theologians, and comedians for millennia: Will Judaism survive in space? Starring Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronauts Jeffrey Hoffman and Jessica Meir, and a quorum of rabbis and researchers.

 JEWS OF THE WILD WEST highlights the contributions Jewish Americans made in shaping the Western United States. Through on-camera interviews, archival footage, and historical photographs, the film tells the true stories of Jewish Americans who ventured west for new lives. 

This film program is sponsored by the Friends of the Capitola Public Library in collaboration with the Santa Cruz Jewish Film Festival.

SEVAP/MITZVAH  

A poetic and moving dramatization of a true story from 80 years ago. In Nazi-occupied Bosnia, a Muslim woman risks her life to save her Jewish friend. Fifty years later Bosnia is at war and the tables are turned.

2023 Winner of the Humanitas Prize.

Narrative USA/Bosnia, 2023  -  20 min.

followed at 7:25 pm by       

BIRTH OF A CONFLICT, Episode  2

The second episode of the series tells the story of how the Jewish-Arab conflict turned from a territorial quarrel between two national movements into a religious conflict. This chapter sheds new light on one of the most important, yet unknown events in the history of Palestine – The Great Arab Revolt.

Documentary series   - Israel,  2022 - 56 min    

followed at 8:25 pm by  CHILDREN OF PEACE

CHILDREN OF PEACE

A group of dreamers  founded an intentional community of Arabs and Jews, Neve Shalom, in 1970’s Israel. It was a rebellious and utopian idea: Jews and Arabs living and going to school together as friends and neighbors, learning each others' language and culture. Children who were brought up in this unique environment, now grown men and women, deal with the harsh realities of political turmoil and war.

A Zoom Q & A with the filmmaker may follow the movie.

Documentary Israel, 2022  -  60 min

7:00 pm  - CHILDREN OF PEACE

A group of dreamers and idealists founded an intentional community of Arabs and Jews-- Nevew Shalom-- in 1970s Israel. It was a rebellious and Utopian idea: Jews and Arabs living and going to school together as friends and neighbors, learning each others' language and culture. Children who were raised in this unique environment, now adults, deal with the harsh realities of political turmoil and war.

The SCJFF thanks the Santa Cruz Public Libraries for sponsoring and hosting this screening at the Capitola Public Library, 2005 Wharf Rd., Capitola.

Children of Peace

Israel | Documentary| 2023  | 59 min.

A group of dreamers  founded an intentional community of Arabs and Jews, Neve Shalom, in 1970’s Israel. It was a rebellious and utopian idea: Jews and Arabs living and going to school together as friends and neighbors, learning each others' language and culture. The film follows up on children who were brought up in this unique environment, now grown men and women, dealing with the harsh realities of political turmoil and war.

Persian Lessons

Russia/Germany/Belarus | 2020 |  127 min.

Gilles, a young Belgian man, is arrested by the SS and sent to a concentration camp but avoids execution by swearing to the guards that he is Persian, not Jewish. This lie temporarily saves him, but then Gilles is given the seemingly impossible task of teaching Persian to Captain Koch, the officer in charge of the camp's kitchen, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Tehran once the war is over. Serious in tone yet comic at times, the film maintains dramatic tension from start to finish without excessive use of graphic images.      Director Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) delivers a unique Holocaust story of survival by wit, with masterful directing, acting and production values. 

Sponsorships and donations make the film festival possible, so please consider a donation. Just click here to make a donation to the SCJFF. Donations of every size are important.  And if you can afford it, SPONSORSHIPS start at just $250 and are the foundation of the film festival, and come with two festival passes with preferred seating.