Jewish Film Festival

The film festival planning committee has been busy watching films and debating which ones to share with our Santa Cruz community in 2026. Both new and old films cost money to screen. The newest films typically cost around $1,200 for a public screening, while older films are often less. But when we see an extraordinary film-- one that we've got to share-- we will stretch our limited budget to include it. With confidence I can say that the films planned for 2026 are truly extraordinary.

Below you will see blurbs and links to trailers for films tentatively included in the 2026 SCJFF. Most films still require sponsors before we can finalize the program. If you'd like to make a tax-deductible donation to the 2026 festival, please click this link. Your contribution helps make the festival possible!

Topics we hope to address in the 2026 festival include:

• Heroic Jewish men and women who have made a differene in the world.

• The resilience of the Jewish people throughout history.

• The ironies and complexities of the Jewish-Arab relationship.
• Finding one's Jewish identity in the modern world.
• Remembering the Holocaust and October 7, 2023, two tragedies that have shaped the Jewish psyche. 
• Comic tales from the Jewish experience.
• Encouraging California-based Jewish film and musical talent.

The SCJFF is a labor of love run entirely by volunteers. If you would like to help out with the 2026 festival  please shoot an email to Paul at SCJFFinfo@gmail.com. 

When Irmy, a soon-to-be-first-time dad 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 co-sponsor the 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. OMI can be seen on YouTube.

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.

DISTURBING THE PEACE follows former enemy combatants-- Israeli soldiers from elite units and Palestinian fighters, many of whom served years in prison-- who have joined together to challenge the status quo and say "enough." The film examines their transformational journey from committed soldiers to nonviolent peace activists, leading to the creation of the organization Combatants for Peace. 

Released eight years ago, the film offers a glimmer of hope for a better future of peaceful coexistence. It can be purchased or rented here.

Documentary, Israel 2016. Running time 1 hour 27 minutes.

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

Join the SCJFF and Santa Cruz Pride in a 50th Anniversary celebration with finger food by Veg on the Edge! There will be time for shmoozing and a brief talk by Rabbi Eli Cohen before the screening of SABBATH QUEEN, a feature documentary filmed over 21 years that follows Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie's epic journey of self discovery. A gay man and the latest in a line of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis, including Chief Rabbis of Israel, he is torn between rejecting and embracing his destiny. He chooses to embrace both life and his true self and becomes a drag-queen rebel, a queer bio-dad, and the founder of Lab/Shul—an everybody-friendly, God-optional, artist-driven, pop-up experimental congregation.

SABBATH QUEEN is directed and produced by Sandi DuBowski, filmmaker of the breakthrough Orthodox movie addressing homosexuality, TREMBLING BEFORE GOD. Sandi will be in attendance IN PERSON for Q & A.

Documentary, USA. Running time 1 hour 45 minutes.

This film is sponsored by Carolyn & Curt Coleman and Amy & David Harrington and Santa Cruz Pride.

Rabbi Eli Cohen, who has known Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie for 30 years, will speak about his experiences as an openly gay ordained rabbi.  Refreshments will be offered after the movie, provided by Veg on the Edge and Anastasia Torres-Gil of Hadassah of Santa Cruz County.

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.

SEVAP/MITZVAH can be seen on YouTube.

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.