>> good morning. welcome to mosaic. i'm rabbi, honored to be your host this morning. the jewish film festival program festival. welcome, lexi and jay. >> thank you for having us. >> we came in the trailer of

the jewish film festival. what's up with the jewish film festival this year? >> we thought we would start with our trailer, funny send up for san francisco because we're so pleased to be a thriving cultural institution in the bay area. the film festival is the first and largest jewish film festival in the world and this year, we have 70 films from 18 different countries around the world. we've also extended our castro run. last year, we had such an amazing increase in attendance, an unprecedented 21% increase in attendance that we made a crazy decision and decided to extend our castro run to two full weekends, so we've got our opening night on july 24th going through august 3rd at the astro and then after all over the bay area in oakland, berkeley, palo alto and san

rafael. >> fantastic. the jewish film festival has become a cultural institution in the bay area and functions on so many different levels. we'll spend our times looking at different clips and see the diversity and the federalty of the films that you're showing. i'm just wondering in a general way, how do you choose what you put on the screen? >> we have an elaborate submissions process. we get about 500 films we see each year that are just submitted to us. we also go to film festivals all over the world. we've been to israel. we've been to the berlin international festival and sundown. this year, joshua moore, one of our programmers, went to south by southwest to find films. we also have a screening committee of academy award nominated and bay area film makers to help us prescreen the

tremendous number of submissions we get each year. >> if there's a director, an actor, a producer out there that eyes the jewish film festival for their film, what do they do? >> we have a lot of alumni film makers. they see us as a great launch pad for their films and many of them, we track in databases for years and years, tracking their production since the time of inception until the time of completion and, you know, we touch base with people every year to see if they'll submit with the festival. >> a lot of behind the scene work until they watch one of the wonderful offerings of the film festival. >> that's right. and this year, we're actually opening with a really special film, the green prints and we've changed up our opening night bash following the

opening night screening. so for those people who have been coming to the jewish film festival for 30 or 40 years and are used to going to the swedish american hall for the party, this year, we're changing it up and we'll head down to the contemporary jewish museum for opening night bash. >> wonderful. set up the green prints and we'll show that before we end our segment. >> the green prints is a rivetting documentary but filmed like a narrative film and has you on the edge of your seats. it's about an israeli handler of a palestinian informant who actually is a son of a high level hamas operative and it's kind of about their relationship. and we're going to have the director there and it's a film that won the audience award at the sun dance film festival for

best world documentary and we're super excited to have it. >> we should say, that is the israeli intelligence organization. look, the green print. >> you handle by signing his form. this is my chance to be a hero, but allah had other plans for me. >> interesting. and when will the green prints be shown, at what part of the film festival? >> their opening night film is july 24th at the castro and it will show three other venues also. >> wonderful. >> i was going to tell you a little bit about some of our big nights, our closing night film. it's a film called little white lie. it's a first time film maker

named laci schwartz and it's a film that has a family secret at its core. also, a film that documents and keeps you on the edge of your seats. this year, we're really proud of theodore as our freedom of expression recipient and show the world premiere of the shoes but will accept his award after the screening and he's going to perform. and he just turned 90. >> wow. a lot going on at the film festival. take a quick break and come back in just a moment here on mosaic.

>> drove them from the shackles of eastern europe. so do i have to do it again? >> welcome back to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss with lexi and jay. welcome back. >> thank you. >> so what did we just see? >> well, the sturgeon queen.

this is our berkeley big night film happening at the berkeley rep at august 2nd. do you like smoked fish? >> doesn't everybody? >> my favorite is white fish on pumpernickel, so i'll be there at the screening and after the film, the lovely film about the lower east side sturgeon emporium, we'll have a smoked fish party in the courtyard at the berkeley rep. i think pup of the events i'm most looking forward to because i love to eat. >> it will be in the open air. >> it will be. that's excellent. and yes, it will be at berkeley rep for our big night in berkeley, but the rest of the berkeley run will be at the california theater. we'll also be in the east bay at the grand lake theater in oakland as well as the parkway theater for a one night repeat screening of our closing night film, little white lie, which

will be wonderful and the chris b. smith in marin and palo alto. >> it's spread in the bay area. palo alto, marin, and the east bay itself. >> we do and offer new places. you can buy a pass that gets you into all of the films at those venues for a discount, so people should check it out online. >> wonderful. so we have another film called touchdown israel. >> yes, this is a film that in a sense is a microcosm of israeli society and believe it or not, american style football is now being played in israel and when you think about it, it kind of makes sense. it's kind of a good sport for that country, i think. this is a quick clip of the

world premiere. >> okay, touchdown israel. >> why doesn't anyone know this? >> you really don't know the game? the culture. >> the advent of rock em sock em tackle football in israel, some 80 put on helmets for the first time ever in this country. it's here. >> ready, go. >> this guy is a christian. this guy is a muslim. this guy the two. who cares ? >> it's interesting that we have so much sports conversation about soccer coming from europe, the middle east, and south america into the american consciousness and now here we have an example of

football, u.s. football actually moving into a completely different part of the world. >> yes, and this is one of several films that we have focused on israel and in these like very challenging times, we have films from all ends of the political spectrum. some of the films we have deal with the west bank. we have some called holy land and one that shows life in gaza called strip life. we have a film called above and beyond which is about the formation of the israeli air force using american g. i.s from world war ii. all these films can stimulate some very interesting debate and emotions and we're excited to be able to present these films. >> we're going to take another break in just a moment, but you remind me that the film festival itself as an arts

organization isn't a political organization. and yet, it reasonably touches an art form on life that's current across the spectrum. in that way, how does the film festival function to really deepen, broaden conversation that's current in any contemporary time? >> i think debate and conversation and repairing the world of all jewish values, we kind of incorporate that into the festival. that's reflecked in the films we show. >> lovely. we take a quick break and return to mosaic in just a moment. ,,

>> shouldn't be punished by the victims. should be punished by the national law. >> the law that binds humanity to prevent crime. >> can look back and give me a pass to go there, he'll be saying, look, everybody knows about genocide. everybody condemns genocide. it's still committed, but nevertheless, in principle, they have come a long way and i say, look, they only build this temple of the law one stone at a time and i'm the builder of the temple. i'm putting one stone on it at a time. >> welcome back to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss and we're in the middle of a lovely conversation with lexi leban,

executive director, and jay, program director. jay, what was the clip we just saw? >> this was our centerpiece documentary film, watchers of the sky. focuses on the man responsible for coining the term genocide and setting up a mechanism to prosecute crimes against humanity, so he was a seminole figure and this year, we have a centerpiece narrative film. we have two centerpiece films, one is run boy run by dan court, who won an academy award in the '90s and this is a film about a polish jewish boy about age 8 who has to oppose as a gentile to survive the holocaust. it's told through his eyes and he has to go from home to home trying to find a place to live and concocting a story in order

to be taken in by the different households that he goes to. >> do you know what his nationality was and field, sociologist or journalist? >> an attorney. >> i'm not sure which country he came from. might have been hungary. >> interesting. >> he was taken with what was happening with the armenians in turkey. that's what got him involved and then he became a holocaust survivor himself. >> the work in this arena predates the work in world war ii. >> yes, kind of fascinating. >> interesting. we'll see another film clip, do you want to set that up? >> this is a film by local film makers, schneider. it focuses on their son, micah,

who for his bar mitzvah, decides to do a mitzvah and collect baseball equipment for cuba. and he's motivated because his grandfather was a holocaust survivor that ended up in cuba and felt an allegiance in the country and he is following in his grandfather's footsteps. >> fascinating, the havana curve ball. >> what better way than my 12- year-old self than with the cuban people? >> willing to donate any equipment to me. >> it's a country under sanction by the united states. we don't open trade with them.

>> treasury. >> lexi, we have just a moment before we take another break. can you let us know what the jewish film festival does during the year? >> yeah. so actually, this is a great segway, because havana curve ball is an excellent program for children and programs and we've been doing exhibitions during the year for year round programming including a children and family screening series at the parkway theater. we also nurture independent film makers working with jewish themes, so we started the new jewish film maker and residency program which houses the film maker for the year in our offices and actually, our first jewish film maker will be here at the festival with the world premiere of her film. so we also are promoting this year a young adult pass which

is great for all of our young adult programming, where people who are 35 and under can get a pass to every show at the festival for $30. it's a great deal. it's the best deal in town. >> fantastic. so we can take another quick break and return to mosaic in just a moment.

>> they experience the most important day of their lives. >> sensitive to each other's needs. >> but i can't help but wonder, do they have any idea what

they're getting into? >> oh my goodness. >> oh my god. >> what did you think marriage was going to be? did you know from the beginning this was the woman you wanted to spend the rest of your life with? can you pinpoint a time? >> welcome back to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss and we are enjoying clips from the jewish film festival. >> 112 weddings, it's about doug bloc, the film maker who made 51 first street, he was a videographer as a side job to afford film making and lifestyle, so he went back to these couples that he filmed. he had filmed 112 weddings and went back to several of them to see where they're at now and he interviews them and we learn about how their marriage is going. some are divorced and some have had traumatic things happening

in their families and it's really fascinating. doug will be joining us in the festival as well as many guests. a lot of local films too. we have nancy kates that's coming here regarding fontac. and vengeance, alby sachs and the new south africa. so we're very excited about the guests we're having and i wanted to point out one thing. we had a little correction. according to wikipedia, rafael is actually polish born. >> with all the different guests you have in the film, what's the interaction with the audience? what goes on with the guests in the audience? >> i think that's what separates film festivals in general from going to the movie. you have an event. you take to the maker of the

work. there's nothing like that. you can ask questions and get your answers immediately. there's a lot of times very spirited discussions, especially with our audience and time to talk to the people after in the lobby. see them walking the streets, talk to them. so it's really special. >> it's really becoming a more engaging experience than just being in the audience watching a screen. >> absolutely. >> believe it or not, we're coming to the end of our time together. we have air low and julie. do you want to set that up? >> this is one of our young adult programs, but everybody is welcome. and joshua moore, one of the programmers, actually found this at south by southwest. it's a gem of an independent film directed by steve mims and both stars of the film are going to be joining us at the castro and they're going to be at a meet and greet reception

for all young adult pass holders. >> here we go. arlo and julie. >> what do you mean? >> no. no we're not thinking about that. no. >> yeah, i'm good. >> that's an office. dress the part, which can be pretty startling and in fact, i think i would quit but the money is just too good. >> it's better than good. >> it's embarrassing, i don't deserve what they're paying me. >> i feel the same. i don't deserve what they're paying me. >> must be a marketing campaign or something. >> could be. >> lexi, jay, believe it or not, we've come to the end of the time together. thank you for your conversation and bringing clips of the jewish film festival. we want to ask you to pick up

the phone, get a date and go to the jewish film festival. thank you so much for being here on mosaic.

>> welcome to bay sunday. i'm frank mallicoat. we have a pitch show idea. go to facebook page, facebook.com/baysunday. comment to the page and hopefully we can get in touch. time to get started now. it's called the holly hill huntingburg farm. it's going strong for four generations. farming with a purpose. sustainability, education, while biodynamicly connecting life on the farm in a perfect symbiotic way. it started small but all started to collect. let's chat with dave west and lisa fink, the vice president. thank you for being