Category: Festivals

Before and after the Holocaust: Saturday at the SF Jewish Film Fest

~ Lincoln Spector

I caught two movies Saturday at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. The first was set just before official anti-Semitism turned into genocide. The second one was set right after the war. Voyage of the Damned This big-budget overstuffed turkey from 1976 tells an important and largely true story, and one that's exceptionally important today. … Continue reading Before and after the Holocaust: Saturday at the SF Jewish Film Fest

Keep the Change & The Jewish Film Festival Opening Night

~ Lincoln Spector

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival opened Thursday night with Rachel Israel's Keep the Change, a romantic comedy set in the world of serious mental disabilities. That may sound disturbing, but it's lovely and moving. The event started almost on time with a selection of past trailers. All of them were funny, including this year's … Continue reading Keep the Change & The Jewish Film Festival Opening Night

This year’s Jewish Film Fest deals with refugees, music, romance, and yes, genocide

~ Lincoln Spector

This year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival focuses considerably on the traditional command of tikkun olam (healing the world). Several of the films have little or nothing to do with Judaism, but they are very much about justice, charity, freedom, and cleaning the planet - all parts of tikkun olam. But not all. The festival … Continue reading This year’s Jewish Film Fest deals with refugees, music, romance, and yes, genocide

The Parade’s Gone By: Sunday, the last day at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

~ Lincoln Spector

I love the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, but it can be tiring. You spend all day, three days in a row, watching movies. Sometimes the breaks between films are less than half an hour. But the movies, the music, the discussions, and the people you can talk to make it very special. This year's … Continue reading The Parade’s Gone By: Sunday, the last day at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

A Million and One Nights: Saturday at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

~ Lincoln Spector

It's Tuesday, so it's time to tell you about Saturday at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. I'm won't discuss every film screened that day; just the ones I want to talk about. A lot of the films, not just on Saturday but throughout the whole festival, were new restorations. It seemed as if every … Continue reading A Million and One Nights: Saturday at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Spellbound in Darkness: Thursday and Friday at the Silent Film Festival

~ Lincoln Spector ~ 2 Comments

I can't possibly cover the San Francisco Silent Film Festival the way I do the San Francisco International Fest, reporting every morning on what I saw the previous day. SFSFF is too compact and concentrated for that. Most days, it starts at 10:00am and ends around 11:00pm. Breaks can be short. I have a long … Continue reading Spellbound in Darkness: Thursday and Friday at the Silent Film Festival

New takes on John Ford, William Shakespeare, & brotherly love: Tuesday at SFFilm Festival

~ Lincoln Spector

Today (Wednesday) is the last day of the San Francisco International Film Festival. But yesterday, Tuesday, was my last day there. I saw three films Tuesday, all of them on their last SFFilm screening. None of them had filmmaker Q&As. Maliglutit (Searchers) I was looking forward to this rethinking of John Ford's classic western - … Continue reading New takes on John Ford, William Shakespeare, & brotherly love: Tuesday at SFFilm Festival