>> good morning. i'm eric white. welcome to mosaic. it's so good to have you here with us. we will start with a wonderful conversation with connie wolf. welcome, connie. >> thank you so much for having me. >> this is the third year coming up, i believe in june. >> yes, of the new building. our new fabulous building in downtown san francisco area. it's in the heart of a cultural district of san francisco. we couldn't be happier. three years. it's really a attribute to who's visited, everyone who has supported.

>> let's just jump in. why don't you jump in and let us know what is available for people that come to the museum are you. >> we are a noncollecting museum. every time you come, there are wonderful exhibitions to explore for families of the people of ages and backgrounds. this summer we are so cited to have a show called saint richard stein. the exposition is wonderful. you really get the inside story on the life of richard stein. it's filled with photographs and materials and some of the clothing. you really discover who that was as a writer, as a collector, as a muse, as someone who was really part of the birth of modernism in the western world. >> for people who vaguely understand some of the vocabulary of art and pay attention to it, what is modernism?

>> is this moment of breaking away from the past area stein was a person who love to claim that she discovered picasso. that was a whole new level of art making. she was a writer who would like to think about writing very differently than anybody else before her. in this exhibition, get it to discover all these different aspects of her in the way in which she still has this extraordinary legacy that continues today but inspires artists and writers and poets and musicians and dancers. she really has the ability to really tap into people's creativity. >> what do you think it is about her that keeps her soberly fresh and vibrant? >> you know, it's a really good question, because most people know who this is. there are still many who don't. we are excited to introduce her to them. i really feel that she is

somebody who was very quiet yet powerful. she like to think herself as a genius but love to talk to the everyday person on the street. she was very proud of her judaism and get it and practice it. she was a woman full of contradictions are you i think that was what was so interesting to people. >> sheikh is also a native daughter. she was born in oakland. >> she was raised in oakland. well, once she left oakland and move to the east coast, she went to radcliffe. she only came home once to america. it she spoke in san francisco, berkeley, stanford. she went back to oakland. the phrase she said is there is know there there.

she went to see her old house and it wasn't there. >> when i think about something like the sociology of fame, she seems to presage things like performance art. with gathering people together to just explore ideas in her home and having parliament in. before commercials or anything technological, she actually was quite successful at self- promotion. >> she craved attention. she considered herself to be -- paris was her hometown, but america was her country. she wanted to be famous in america. she got it. she was on the cover of time magazine with the publication of her autobiography, her lifelong partner. the title was drawn from it. she got the fame she really wanted. when she toured america, they went everywhere and there was red carpets everywhere for her.

she was really starting to be famous. she wanted to be known as a genius. she wanted to be known as somebody who really inspired the next generation. >> we will take a quick break, and please join us in just a moment when we return here to mosaic.

>> welcome back to mosaic. i'm honored to be your host this morning. we are having a wonderful robust conversation with connie wolf, the director of the contemporary jewish museum. we were talking about the museum exhibit. we have a lovely picture to show folks. >> this is a wonderful portrait of gertrude with alice in the background and their beloved dog. this shows the interior of one of the homes they lived in.

we have re-created the wallpaper. it's blue with stars on it. the exhibition really does try to give you a sense of what their life was like living in paris. so we have many programs scheduled in conjunction with the show for it of course, every sundays families come and participate in art making activities. we really do welcome everyone. >> i hear you have a special family day coming up question asked him at july 24th. we are welcoming ltp families. it will be a really great experience for everyone. >> in addition to that, what else goes on at the museum? >> we have this other fantastic exhibition. as people don't know charlotte, but she was a young artist from berlin. during the holocaust, her sent her to the south of france to live with her grandparents. she ended up painting 1800 works of art in a very short period of

time. we have about 300 of them on view. she has created a story about her own life, and it's with text. she even scores with the music was. it is so powerful and meaningful. of course, the story has a very sad ending, which is that she was taken away and sent and died. she was pregnant at the time, she had just been married. she took these paintings and in a stack she handed them to a friend and said, take good care of these area this is my life. >> and we have one to show. >> yes. the paintings, we have been told that she only had three different colors of paint to work with. red, blue, and yellow. she also had white, but these paintings are so expressive and so meaningful. this is a self-portrait of her. as i said, we have over 300 on hand. >> and what is the medium here?

>> it is paint wash on paper. there are these beautiful objects that she beautifully painted. each one has a text that accompanies it. sometimes the text she wrote on a different piece of paper and something she wrote directly on the paintings themselves. >> when you think of the meera cole of something like this happening that somebody actually handed off hundreds of paintings, and then how along the way do you discover these paintings? did someone actually preserve them along the way? >> these are such great questions, because in this case this young woman died at the age of 25 and her father and stepmother who sent her to survive in the south of france, they survived. they went looking for her after the war. they discovered all that remained were these paintings. so they brought them -- they were living in answer to him at the

time. they travel very infrequently. there were very fortunate to come to san francisco. i think this is -- the works of art are so compelling and so powerful that they really deserve attention from the entire community, not just as a holocaust story but as a young woman discovering who she is in her own voice as an artist. >> it seems in some way it begs the question that this is what she was producing at such a young age, what might her position in the world of art have become if she had lived a life or you. >> clearly, she was full of talent and full of ideas and really reflective about her on life and the world she lived in. so it is a loss to not know what would have happened, but we do have this, and it isn't incredible gift. >> we have just one minute left, but i'm curious to know in a couple sentences, three years running now. so successful and so vibrant. what are some of the lessons

learned in your own little 3- year retrospective? >> i think what has been great about the museums and are no- space is the one thing we have discovered is you don't have to be jewish to come to the jewish museum. over half of our visitors are not jewish. we have people all over world. we have a very large population. a lot of people who come our families. we have become known as as a family destination. these are things that make me very proud that we are welcoming really of exhibitions that people want to engage in. our educational programs are exciting and intimate. it really is a place that has grown from being supported from this community, and we are so pleased to be able to get back in so many ways. >> congratulations on the third year anniversary. please go to the contemporary jewish museum and have a wonderful day by yourself, with friends, with family. it's a wonderful place to go. thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you for having me here. we will be right back here at

the five in just a moment. -- here at mosaic in just a moment.

>> welcome back to mosaic. you are looking at the poster for the 31st san francisco jewish film festival beginning on july 21st in the bay area. we have with us joining jay rosenblatt who is the program director for the san francisco jewish film festival. welcome, gentlemen. it's so great to have you here. >> thank you. >> when does the film festival start and where is it happening? >> this year opening night is

july 21st at the castro movie theater in san francisco. the festival runs until august 8th. we are in four bay area cities. and for cisco from july 21st to the 31st, then we are also in berkeley from july 30th to august 6th, palo alto at a new venue, from august first to the seventh. >> so you are really all over the bay area. >> we are. >> i know every year there is always wonderful themes and films you have a special award presentations. what is coming up this year for the film festival? >> opening-night we have a film that is an israeli native. we have the north american premiere. it stars a great israeli actors. it is a drama. it is very emotional. it is very well act did, beautifully shot. we are going to have the

director -- in the film think he is like a 12-year-old boy. he will be here for the opening night. >> and that will be at the castro? >> we have a big party following that. >> it's really celebratory. >> without giving it away, what sort of the basic theme? >> it's a drama about a dysfunctional family with a boy that is going to be -- what happens is his brother returns to the family and his brother had been institutionalized. it's all about what that does to the family. >> and it's in keeping with the title? >> yes. >> wonderful, wonderful. >> and the director will be here. he also had another one called strangers, so he will be here but the film. >> continuing on, what are the other themes? >> closing night we are really excited. we have a film called 100

voices, a journey home. this is a musical/documentary about a group of campers that travel back to poland to for warm -- to sing there, basically. we are having a pre-film concert featuring some of the cancers in the film and actually to locals as well. that is wrong when barack from the congregation, emmanuelle, and sharon bernstein from congregation. >> wonderful. are both of them in the film? >> those two are not in the film, but they are lovely singers and we thought it would be great to have them contribute their voices. >> fantastic. were they from north america? >> a r from all over the united states and i think all over the world. if it comes kind of a little bit of a root story as well. some of them retrace their own

family histories and how they were affected by the holocaust. it's a deeply moving film and also sold short in its own way. >> ufo. >> is that also at the castro? >> that will be at the castro closing night or you. >> for folks who would go to the powell also venue, or both of those films also there? >> yes, yes. right? >> yes. >> how many films do you have this year? >> we have 59 films, about 30 guests coming from all over the world. >> so what are some of the other themes that are happening this year? >> do you want to -- >> shirt. we have a large lection of films from poland which include the closing night film that i talked about. we have a lot of interfaith films as well. one of them is called 77 steps.

this film the director is coming to the festival, and she had a fellow couple years back that was a real crowd favorite. this film is dealing with -- it's also sort of a personal documentary. we have many of those. she is a director, and she is showing her life in israel as an and has a boyfriend who is jewish, and they have an interfaith relationship. what that means living there. >> pic is so much. we will take a quick break and come back to mosaic in just a moment.

and 30. oh! (bell dings) yo. hey, alyson. what's going on? working on my free throws. just sunk 30 straight. 30? that's not possible. maybe not possible for you, but i've been practicing. step back and gimme the rock. okay. mm-hmm. (bell dings) nice. 1. (bell dings) 2. (bell dinging) 11. whew. (buzzer blares) unh. you know, it's harder when people are watching. hey, you know, 11's not that bad.

all you need are a few pointers. thank you. are you a free throw expert? well, no, not really. but i do know excellent teamwork when i see it. you know, it's so much easier to get active and live healthier when your friends are there to motivate you with a little friendly competition. now let's get this game started. ready? ready? oh, she's going for the hook shot. hook shoot! oh! oh! that's what i'm talking about. (first lady michelle obama) america... (all) let's get healthy together.

>> welcome back to mosaic. we are having a wonderful cover session about about the san francisco jewish film festival running from july 21st to the 31st area also in berkeley july 30th to august 6, palo alto august 1st through the seventh, and in san rafael august 6, 7, and 8. welcome back to jay and joshua. we are talking about other pieces that are going on at the san francisco jewish film festival. i know it is the first and really the most well attended jewish film festival in the entire world. congratulations. >> thank you. >> what else is happening this year? >> well, one of the things where most excited about is every care we give out one or more. it's called the freedom of expression award. this year we are having current quest, to receive the award and

to introduce spartacus, it's the 50th anniversary of spartacus. kirk douglas considers that his finest moment in that he broke the blacklist, actually, by insisting that the screenwriter gives his real name in the credits. that is part of why we are giving him the freedom of expression award. also, he is a jewish actor that is very proud of judaism as his religion and has weekly sessions with his rabbi. we are really thrilled to have him on the stage. >> think some people may not actually be familiar with what the blacklisting was in hollywood. how would you explain that? >> well, his 50s joseph mccarthy basically started this. if people were not allowed to

work if they had any kind of affiliation with less organizations. a lot of people were accused of being communist. they were out of work. they had to use fronts, different names to still get some work under the aliases. this was the first time that that was broken where the screenwriter used his actual name. and kurt douglas was courageous enough to do that against the tide of the times. >> what a marvelous use of power for a justice issue. >> exactly. >> we are so excited to have them on the stage. he is 94 years old. >> what will be happening with him that evening customer. >> it's actually an afternoon, it's a sunday afternoon. he will override in san francisco. we will bring them on stage. we will bring him the award. he is going to talk for a while about whatever he wants to talk about. mostly i think about spartacus and breaking the blacklist.

there will be some questions, and then we will go into spartacus, which is an incredible ethics film directed by sally krueger are you. >> what are the other things coming up this year? >> another thing we are very excited about is comedy night. this will be monday night at the castro. we are going to show three iconic cartoon episodes. we call it choose in tune. we are showing an episode from family guy, from south park, and from the simpsons. we are calling it a glorious night of collective laughter. and we have a special guest, mike rees, who is a producer and writer for the simpsons. he is also the creator of it on my -- also a series called the critic that is no longer on tv, but it's very amazing.

he also wrote this year's trailer, which is going to be with that character. >> joshua, when you are looking at the film festival and deciding what films to bring to the public, can you give us a sense of actually what you do to get to actually the choice of the catalog? >> sure. we have a submission process where filmmakers submit their films. in addition to that, we go to other film festivals. we are just always looking at finding the strongest films with jewish content that are out there. as we are doing that, things could eventually develop. those are the ones we talk about. we have many films from poland. that was just a really nice surprise. with kurt douglas, we have also dug up an old classic that i think many people may not be for me with. it is called the juggler from i

think the early 60s. he plays a holocaust survivor in the film who is moving to israel right after 49. it was a pretty spectacular film. we are going to be showing it on the big screen. we are excited about it. >> go ahead. >> i was also going to say, we have many films about the filmmakers themselves. people basically turned the camera on themselves. it is their own personal story or we are bringing most of those filmmakers to the festival. >> we've come to the end of the program. why do we and by letting people know the dates and venues so people can know where to go. it begins july 21st go through august 8th. july 21st through the 31st at the castro theatre, palo alto august 1st through the seventh, and

berkeley? >> dot it's from the 30th to the sixth. >> and august 6, 7, and 8 at san rafael. thank you so much for being with us. go to the san francisco jewish film festival and have a wonderful time. thank you so much for being with us here on mosaic.