San Diego Jewish Film Festival Launches 27th Season

The 27th Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival presented by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS, will run February 8-19, 2017. The 12-day Festival is the largest Jewish cultural event in San Diego and draws over 17,000 attendees annually and 97 film screenings. The Festival features San Diego film premieres, international guest artists and filmmakers local and international. Screenings will be shown at 5 locations.

This year the festival will showcase a total of 60 films of the best contemporary Jewish themed films from around the world celebrating life, human rights, and freedom of expression. This year the emphasis is on Our Lives Projected because "we show films that mirror the experience that many in our audience have had themselves or may be hearing about for the first time; it's also intended to expand the notion of "our lives" to show that we are a diverse and divergent community," according to Festival Director, Jacqueline Silverman.

The mission of the Film Festival is to offer outstanding world cinema that promotes awareness, appreciation and pride in the diversity of the Jewish people to attendees of the community at large. Festival programs aim to educate and illuminate through evocative, independent fiction and documentary films that portray the Jewish experience from current to historic global perspectives.

Highlights for this year's event will include a private advance screening on February 8, 2017 at 7:00 pm for the film festival underwriters toRosenwald, directed by Aviva Kempner who will be in attendance and receive a SDJFF Outstanding Filmmaking Award at the David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre LFJCC, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS. This year's official opening night on February 9th at the Reading Cinemas Town Square at7:00 pm will feature a San Diego premiere of On the Map, directed by Dani Menkin and featuring local celebrity Bill Walton. Mr. Menkin will be in attendance. The official closing night film at the Reading Cinemas Town Square will be Body and Soul: An American Bridge directed by Robert Philipson, which focuses on the early performance history of the jazz standard Body and Soul composed by a Jewish composer Johnny Green and how this song smashed the barriers between African Americans and American Jews. Mr. Philipson will be in attendance.

On February 13, 2017 a collection of international short films in 4 different programs begins at 10:00 am to 10:00 pm and will be screened at the ArcLight La Jolla. Cinemas including Oscar nominated Joe's Violin for Best Short Documentary Film.

Another highlight on February 15th is the centerpiece film The People vs. Fritz Bauer, directed by Lars Kraume, an historical thriller that dramatizes the obstacles that tenacious state attorney general Bauer faced in prosecuting the architects of Auschwitz. Screening at 8:00 pm at the Reading Cinemas Town Square.

A total collection of 60 films in this year's film line-up will be screened at the following theaters:

Reading Cinemas Town Square 14 - 4665 Clairemont Drive, San Diego; ArcLight La Jolla Cinemas - 4425 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego (west side of Westfield UTC mall); Carlsbad Village Theatre - 2822 State St., Carlsbad; Edwards San Marcos Stadium 18 - 1180 West San Marcos Blvd, San Marcos (next to Restaurant Row); David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre, LFJCC, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS -4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla.

For tickets or information call 858-362-1348 or visit www.sdjff.org.

Social media postings are on facebook.com/SDJFF/

About the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture

San Diego's only Jewish institution dedicated solely to presenting high quality, nationally recognized arts, culture & Jewish education programs. The San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, while a separate non-profit, is housed at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center and acts as the education and cultural arts arm of the Center. The mission of the CJC is to expand and enrich cultural life in San Diego by presenting the finest in Jewish artistic expression, encouraging the preservation of Jewish culture and heritage, and nurturing new creativity in the arts. The CJC offers a wide variety of multidisciplinary artistic programs that explore cultural identities and perspectives, promote cross cultural understanding, and highlight human themes of family, tolerance, compassion, and hope. Its facilities feature a 500-seat theatre, a Judaica library, an art gallery, and a community Holocaust Memorial Garden.

About the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS

The mission of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS is to provide social, cultural, educational, and recreational programs to individuals and families of all ages, religions, races, and financial, physical and mental abilities. Likewise, the JCC provides equal opportunity employment to individuals of all religions and backgrounds. The JCC welcomes San Diego's diverse Jewish community and the community at large. The Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS is located at 4126 Executive Drive in La Jolla.

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