by Danielle Levsky
February 15, 2023
Now in its 33rd year, the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival (SDIJFF) has grown from five films being shown to guests sitting on folding chairs in a JCC gymnasium, to a 17-day, 36-film event that showcases films in-person at the David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre and virtually on demand.
SDIJFF is recognized as one of the most prestigious Jewish film festivals in the country, showcasing the best contemporary films and documentaries from around the world that share the many perspectives of the Jewish cultural, ethnic, and religious experience.
The films are selected by a Films Select Committee, who also strategically schedule the films, introduce them, and work with the JCC film department to recommend festival marketing and targeted marketing. As Chair of SDIJFF, Christina Fink is in charge of this committee.
“This is a huge honor and responsibility for a volunteer team,” Fink said of the committee. “And this year’s line up of films is amazing.”
Of the 36 films available for viewing, All Those Beginnings and He Can Sleep On The Couch are award winning short films from the Tel Aviv International Film Festival and winners of the Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative (MGSDII) Emerging Filmmaker Residency.
All Those Beginnings focuses on Nimrod, an Israeli who is studying in Germany and visiting his childhood home. He discovers his grandfather’s Holocaust memories diary, and it forces him to face both personal memories and the history of his Jewish family.
Gadi Rimer, the director, editor, and screenwriter of All Those Beginnings, knew from the start of this process that he wanted to create a film based on his grandfather’s experiences during the Holocaust.
“Like every member of my family, I have known this story since I was young,” Rimer said. “But when we recorded it and combined it with the footage we had shot, I felt like we were giving these words a new context – and for me, a personal one.”
The character Nimrod is particularly interested in becoming a German citizen, which has received questioning responses from audiences who have seen this film around the world. Rimer found that many did not understand why a Jewish person would want to move to and gain citizenship in Germany. As a third-generation Holocaust survivor growing up in Israel, Rimer finds there is a depth and complexity between living a “free and normal” life, versus living through many challenges as a youth in Israel. This conflict is readily explored in All Those Beginnings.
“There is a conflict between the place we call ‘home’ and between a feeling of alienation,” Rimer said. “Between the dark shadow of the past in Europe, and the present life of young Jewish Israeli people like me.”
He Can Sleep On The Couch follows Mika, a young woman living with her boyfriend in Jerusalem, who has taken a vow not to leave the apartment until she finishes her novel. Her writing process is disrupted by the unexpected arrival of her boyfriend’s famous brother.
Audience reception to the film has been very interesting for Capon; most viewers do not find the film “very Israeli”. In her mind, this is due to the film’s lack of commentary on what is considered to be “Israeli” themes, – like the occupation of Palestine, or Judaism as a religion, or the Israeli army. In this way, the film takes on a more personal narrative. Even Jerusalem, a holy and religious city that is the center of many conflicts in the area, is presented differently in this film.
“The Holy City is a background for a very horny and confused woman,” Capon said. “If the film is showing a different side of our lives here, I’m glad.”
The film was written before the pandemic but filmed during it, starring the filmmaker Ahinoam Capon and her partner in their one-bedroom apartment. She based the script off her own personal experience of writing constantly from her apartment post-graduation, her work and life mixed together. Though the script was written before the pandemic, Capon worried that its release would cause viewers to immediately connect it to the pandemic.
“Suddenly, this very intimate experience of mine – became a world standard!” Capon said. “I feared it would “weaken” the plot of the story. But I think it made people understand Mika’s character more, and the vow she’s taking upon herself. Most of the world experienced this tension between the safe indoors and the unknown outside.”
Both All Those Beginnings and He Can Sleep On The Couch shot during the pandemic, which required them to film with a small crew, with all the windows open with, masks, and other safety measures. But both teams persevered.
“We all knew that nothing should stop us from telling our story and from making art,” Rimer said of All Those Beginnings.
Of He Can Sleep On The Couch, Capon had to overcome mental blocks in order to move forward with filming.
“How do you justify to yourself the fact that you are doing a small movie about writing, love and relationships during a global pandemic?” Capon said. “Who cares about these topics when the world is shaking? It felt disconnected, silly and egocentric. And yet I felt that I have to do it. It’s just fun. The film crew and I are doing it because it is fun. And fun is important, especially as a cure for fear.”
SDIJFF, too, made quite a few changes to their festival setup and lineup since February 2020. The festival was entirely virtual in 2021, and then became hybrid in 2022. This year, it is hybrid once more, due to COVID-19 continuing to affect various communities around the world, and on a lighter note, the virtual option allows the films to reach as wide of an audience as possible.
One key difference for 2022 is that the Films Select Committee invited patrons in January to a pre-festival event at the JCC to see trailers of selected films, plan their festival schedule, and give feedback on returning to the David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre. They expected 50 people to attend; 375 people showed up.
“It was a full house! We are super excited that people will return for the festival and enjoy the films on the big screen,” Fink said.
SDIJFF runs through Feb. 15-26 in person at the David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre in La Jolla, and virtually on demand from Feb. 27 to March 3.
