The lineup for the 46th annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival boasts 65 films from 17 countries, including eight world premieres — a record number for the event.
The SFJFF, produced by the Jewish Film Institute, will run from July 16 to Aug. 2 at venues in San Francisco and Oakland, including the recently restored Castro Theatre in S.F. and the JCCSF’s newly renovated Kanbar Hall. Tickets are on sale now for film institute members and will be on sale for the general public starting at 10 a.m. June 18.
The lineup features documentaries, dramas, thrillers, comedies, coming-of-age films and shorts from countries such as France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malaysia, Spain and Qatar, as well as from Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers.
“We’ve really focused on bringing the very best of cinema to the Bay Area,” said Lexi Leban, executive director of the Jewish Film Institute, which produces SFJFF, the first and longest-running Jewish film festival in the world.
The festival kicks off with “Tell Me Everything,” a drama by Israeli director Moshe Rosenthal. The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is set in the late 1980s during the AIDS epidemic and follows a 12-year-old boy who finds out his father has a relationship with another man. The July 16 screening at the Herbst Theatre in S.F. will be followed by a party in the Green Room at the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center.
The film institute will present Rachel Bloom, a Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning comedian and actor best known for the TV series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” with the Freedom of Expression Award on July 18. The award is given annually to an artist who embodies the organization’s belief in a free, open and just society. It will be presented in conjunction with the Castro Theatre screening of the 2026 documentary “Hollywood Does Abortion.” Bloom is both the documentary’s executive producer and a cast member.
For the festival’s Aug. 1 closing night, “We Met at Grossinger’s,” a documentary chronicling the rise and fall of the legendary Catskills resort, will screen at Landmark’s Piedmont Theatre in Oakland.
“One of the best things about the festival is that we bring so many international guests to the Bay Area,” Leban said. “It’s not the same as watching Netflix on your couch. It’s a way of engaging with others in the community and engaging with the filmmakers that are making the films.”