In past years, the East Bay International Jewish Film Festival’s selection committee resembled a debate society. Members would clash, sometimes heatedly, over whether certain films deserved a spot in the lineup.
Not this year.
The 2011 film fest has been a love fest for the committee, according to longtime festival director Riva Gambert. “This year it was very easy, in that we had so many good films,” she says. “It was very obvious which we wanted to show.”
The 16th annual film festival runs March 5 to 13, two more days than in previous years. Organizers have also added the Orinda Theatre, bringing the total number of venues (all in Contra Costa and Alameda counties) to four.
As always, the films span the Jewish universe, with offerings from Israel, Argentina, Germany, France, Switzerland, Mexico and the United States. Several are making their local premieres, including the 2008 Dutch drama “Bride Flight,” which shares the opening night bill with the 2010 Israeli documentary “Precious Life.”
“Bride Flight” is about three women who discover their lives intertwined in unexpected ways, going back decades to the war years. “Precious Life” shows how Israeli hospitals open their doors to all, including Palestinians, in this case a child with a potentially lethal auto-immune disease.
Other films of note include “Within the Whirlwind,” which stars Emily Watson as poet Eugenia Ginzburg, a Jewish Russian woman caught up in Stalin’s show trials and sentenced to the Gulag.
“Walk on Water,” an Oscar-nominated thriller from Israel that was a big hit there in 2003, makes its festival debut. Actor Lior Ashkenazi will be on hand for a post-film Q&A.
Three films of French origin are in the lineup.
“Five Brothers” tells the story of a Jewish family in Marseilles that plots revenge against a criminal who did them harm. “The Round-Up” recounts a dark period in Jewish history, when the Vichy government collaborated with Hitler to round up French Jews for the camps. Set in 1990, “Ultimatum” tells a tale of love and war and Saddam Hussein threatening Israel with Scud missiles.
Jewish athletes will get some respect this year, with the drama “Berlin 36” (the true story of a female German high-jumper fighting to compete in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin) and “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story” (a documentary that includes some rare and insightful comments from Sandy Koufax).
Also on the schedule are seven episodes from season two of the hit Israeli series “Srugrim,” which focuses on an Orthodox family in Jerusalem and their romantic lives.
All of the festival’s offerings had to pass muster of Gambert and the screening committee. One of the people on that panel is Nilly Keren-Paz, a Pleasant Hill resident who brings an added credential to the table: She’s a professional movie projectionist.
“I was a festival-goer for three years prior,” said Keren-Paz, now in her second season with the festival. “I noticed they were having technical issues — things with focus and lighting, little things that can make a difference. That’s why I’m here.”
That, and the fact that she loves movies. She started working in theaters back in her native Washington, D.C., while still in high school, and later received training from union projectionists. She worked in the trade for a dozen years.
She approached Gambert a few years ago and introduced herself as an Israeli-American mother of two. Oh, and also as a professional projectionist.
“It just fascinates me,” she said of her unusual skill. “Maybe it’s my mechanical mind. We’re a dying breed; everything is turning into DVD and digital, and it’s hard work: a lot of heavy lifting and ladders, and dirt under the nails. I don’t do it anymore.”
However she will be in the projection booth throughout the festival helping out, especially when it comes to translating. “For me it’s an advantage of being able to speak and read Hebrew,” she said. “If we’re showing an Israeli TV series, the chapter titles are in Hebrew, and that’s where I come in.”
Like many, Keren-Paz has seen how far Israeli cinema has come in the last decade. Oscar nominations, American adaptations of Israeli TV shows (such as HBO’s “In Treatment”), and Israeli actors breaking through into American film (hello Jerusalem native Natalie Hershlag, known now as Natalie Portman).
Add in the ongoing fascination filmmakers have with telling Jewish stories, and it would seem like the East Bay International Jewish Film Festival will continue to thrive.
“We’ve had more sponsors, especially individual sponsors, and that’s been very rewarding to us,” Gambert said. “So many people who love film are sponsoring individual films, buying passes and coming back year after year.”
East Bay International Jewish Film Festival runs March 5 to March 10 at CinéArts cinema in Pleasant Hill and March 12 and 13 at Orinda Theatre, with other screenings at the Contra Costa JCC in Walnut Creek and the Vine Cinema in Livermore. Showtimes, tickets and film details: www.eastbayjewishfilm.org. Information: (510) 318-6453.