Virtual Jewish film festivals are providing film buffs with a smorgasbord of options to lift hearts and minds during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The 30th anniversary of the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival, already underway, begins its streaming of “Standing Up, Falling Down” with comedy stars Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz Jan. 6 at 4 p.m. The festival continues through Jan. 29 with a variety of dramas, documentaries, and shorts, plus post-film live Zoom events. It includes a local documentary, “Feeding Our Souls,” chronicling Congregation Bet Shalom’s Midbar Project, a farming project that has bonded multiple generations.
The TIJFF will continue with additional “post-festival” films in February, April, August and November.
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Jan. 6 also is the kickoff for the 2021 Virtual Boca Raton Film Festival, with more than 50 films to watch through May16.
The San Luis Obispo Jewish Film Festival begins Thursday, Jan. 7, with live events happening every Thursday evening on Zoom.
The New York Jewish Film Festival, presented by The Jewish Museum and Films at Lincoln Center, starts Jan. 15. It includes the World Premiere of the new restoration of Charles Davenport’s long-lost 1919 silent film “Broken Barriers” (Khavah), the first film based on the Sholem Aleichem stories that inspired “Fiddler on the Roof.”
The 25th silver anniversary of the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival will begin Sunday, Feb. 14, and the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival begins Feb. 17.
