Tickets are now on sale for the Virtual 30th Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival (SVJFF), opens May 19 and will run through June 2, showing feature films and documentaries from Italy, Poland, USA ,Canada, Israel, Germany, France, Brazil, Norway and Austria.
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"This year's Festival will be streaming 100% of our films online. Our audience will be able to view all 30 films from the safety and comfort of their homes." said SVJFF Executive Director Tzvia Shelef.
Each film will be available for viewing for 72 hours, starting the film's scheduled time.
In addition to the movies themselves, there will be a number of post-film Zoom discussions with directors, writers, producers and other film talent. Information and screening dates are available on the festival website, where tickets are also available for purchase.
Opening night will feature two documentaries:
"Aulcie," The story of Aulcie Perry, a basketball legend who led the team Maccabi Tel Aviv to an upset win in the European Championship, and "Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words," in which the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg tells the story of her journey to become a Supreme Court justice.
Following these two films, there will be separate interviews with Aulcie Perry and Ruth Bader Ginsburg's daughter, Jane Ginsburg. The first screenings of these films are available on Wed. May 19 at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. (PST)
The festival centerpiece, "From Slavery to Freedom" tells the story of Soviet refuseniks through the lens of former prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky's personal story. The film will be followed by an interview with Sharansky.
On the closing night, June 2, audiences will be treated to a documentary following the life and career of comedian Howie Mandel, "Howie Mandel: But, Enough About Me." Both Mandel and director Barry Avrich will be interviewed after the screening.
The full schedule for this year's festival can be viewed on the website.
SVJFF received a major two-year sponsorship from the San Francisco-based Koret Foundation. "We are extremely grateful to the Koret Foundation for this support," said Shelef, "and we are proud that the complete name for 2020 and 2021 is 'The Koret Foundation Presents the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival.'"
The SVJFF plans to move back into theaters COVID conditions make it safe to do so.
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