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After 20 years living under someone else’s roof, the East Bay International Jewish Film Festival has packed up, moved out and is living on its own.
This year, the festival makes its debut as an independent stand-alone nonprofit, no longer a program of the Jewish Federation of the East Bay and the Contra Costa JCC. It runs March 5-13 in Pleasant Hill.
Based on brisk ticket sales and robust sponsor support, the festival is showing every sign of thriving on its own, according to executive director Riva Gambert. “Considering the very warm reception of our sponsors toward our newly independent organization, I’m optimistic we’re going to be here in Contra Costa Country and Tri-Valley for a long time to come,” she said. The festival includes 31 Jewish-themed dramas, comedies and documentaries from around the world. It kicks off with “Labyrinth of Lies,” a German post-Holocaust thriller, and wraps up with the acclaimed Farsi-language family drama “Baba Joon,” Israel’s submission for an Oscar this year.
The lineup includes several Bay Area premieres, including “The Search for Israeli Cuisine,” a cinematic combination of cookbook and history lesson highlighting the international mashup that is the Israeli food scene.
J. news editor and California Culinary Academy graduate Donny Inbar will speak afterward.
Also making its regional premiere: “Remember,” starring Oscar winners Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau as Holocaust survivors living in a nursing home who seek justice for the past.
Adding to the cultural heft, the festival has teamed up with the Berkeley-based adult Jewish learning center Lehrhaus Judaica, which has recruited guest speakers to appear at various screenings.
“We plan on doing more joint programs with them to support our films,” Gambert said. “This year they helped us get speakers for several of our films. We anticipate that we will do more lectures along with films in the coming years to add a deeper educational context to our screenings.”
Guest speakers include Building Jewish Bridges executive director Dawn Kepler, who writes the monthly “Mixed & Matched” column in J. She will talk after the March 8 screening of the French comedy “Serial Bad Weddings,” which tells the story of an exasperated Catholic father who sees his daughters marry out of the faith.
Also appearing is Elaine Guarnieri-Nunn, an educational consultant who has worked with school districts and universities across the country. She will speak after the March 11 screening of “Experimenter,” which recounts Yale professor Stanley Milgram’s famous 1961 experiment, in which subjects were commanded to inflict electric shocks on unsuspecting volunteers.
The festival is also presenting three films at the Vine Cinema & Alehouse in Livermore on March 3 and March 6. The series — featuring “Dough,” “Little Heroes” and “Once in a Lifetime” — is co-sponsored by area congregations and the local midrasha.
Gambert and her fellow festival organizers are excited about this year’s lineup.
“One of the taglines we’ve used in the festival was, ‘See the world through film,’ ” said Walnut Creek resident and festival steering committee member Ron Brown. “It’s really a way of spanning huge distances without leaving your own community. Going to a good movie gives you things to think about and talk about.”
Having formerly served as executive director of the Contra Costa JCC (which, along with the federation, was the original sponsor of the festival), Brown has seen the event grow over the years. He considers it a staple of Jewish continuity in Contra Costa County.
“The festival has served as probably one of the single-largest community gatherings,” he said. “Then you have the wide array of political and sociological differences of opinion addressed in the films. In the best Jewish tradition we discuss them, we argue about them, and hopefully we all learn and grow.”
Danville resident Margaret Winter is a movie buff who first volunteered with the festival years ago. Today she serves as chair of the steering committee. Like Brown and Gambert, she is upbeat about the festival’s new independent status.
Winter said one goal this year is to make sure moviegoers experience “the same level of service and possibly improve on what we offered” in the past.
As an example, Winter points to the festival’s eye-catching new website, which now includes trailers for most films.
Asked to pick a favorite in this year’s lineup, Winter cites “The Best of Men,” a British film based on a true story about a German Jewish doctor who came to England after the Holocaust to work in a hospital treating patients with spinal cord injuries. He went on to found the Paralympic Games.
Though organizers expect packed theaters and satisfied customers this year, Brown admits going it alone as a nonprofit has been something of a thrill ride so far.
“It’s a little bit scary when you take on the responsibility beyond just picking movies and making sure everybody has a seat,” he said. “We now have to think about liability insurance and the accounting side of the business. So it’s been a challenge. But we seem to be getting a great response from the community this year.”
East Bay International Jewish Film Festival, March 5-13, Century 16, 125 Crescent Drive, Pleasant Hill; Vine Cinema & Alehouse, 1722 First St., Livermore. (925) 240-3053 or www.eastbayjewishfilm.org