 | |
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| Website | www |
The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is the largest film festival of any kind in the state of Georgia. The 23-day festival is held in late winter at multiple venues in Atlanta, Georgia and in the suburbs of Alpharetta, Marietta and Sandy Springs. Contemporary and classic independent Jewish film from around the world feature at the festival.
The festival was founded in 2000 by the Atlanta regional office of American Jewish Committee and continues to grow each year, with an estimated 20,000 attendees by 2010. [1] In 2015, more than 38,600 attended the festival. The festival was incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2014. [2] Kenny Blank (son of Atlanta businessman Arthur Blank) serves as the executive director of the organization. [3]
AJFF has honored Lawrence Kasdan (Screenwriter, Director, Producer) in 2016 and Itzhak Perlman (World renowned Israeli-American musician) in 2019 with AJFF Icon Awards. [4] [5]
The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival celebrated its 20th Anniversary in February 2020 with a lineup of 64 films from 17 countries. [6]
In 2020, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival launched a series of virtual programming prompted by the COVID-19 crisis. [7] [8]
| Year | Narrative | Documentary | Short |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | All My Loved Ones | — | |
| 2003 | — | Strange Fruit | |
| 2004 | — | Paper Clips | |
| 2005 | Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi | Rene and I | |
| 2006 | Live and Become | 39 Pounds of Love | |
| 2007 | Olga | Rape of Europa | |
| 2008 | Nina's Journey | I Have Never Forgotten You | |
| 2009 | The Little Traitor | Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh | |
| 2010 | Who Do You Love? | Where I Stand: The Hank Greenspun Story | |
| 2011 | The Round Up | Crime After Crime | |
| 2012 | Wunderkinder | Nicky's Family | |
| 2013 | Süskind | Joe Papp in Five Acts | |
| 2014 | The Third Half | Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love | |
| 2015 | Apples from the Desert | Above and Beyond | |
| 2016 | Naked Among Wolves | Breakfast at Ina's | To Step Forward Myself [9] |
| 2017 | Fanny's Journey | The Freedom to Marry | Joe's Violin [10] |
| 2018 | The Last Suit | Itzhak | The Number on Great-Grandpa's Arm [11] |
| 2019 | Shoelaces | Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz | I Have a Message for You [12] |
| 2020 | The Keeper | Saul & Ruby, To Life! | A Jew Walks Into a Bar [13] |
The Bodyguard is a 1992 American romantic drama thriller film directed by Mick Jackson, written by Lawrence Kasdan, and starring Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Gary Kemp, Bill Cobbs and Ralph Waite. The film follows a former United States Secret Service agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect a famous actress and singer from an unknown stalker. Kasdan wrote the film in the mid-1970s, originally as a vehicle for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross.
Lawrence Edward Kasdan is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Force Awakens (2015), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). He also co-wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Bodyguard (1992), and is the writer-director of Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Silverado (1985), The Accidental Tourist (1988), and Dreamcatcher (2003). He is known for updating old Hollywood genres—film noir, science-fiction, westerns—in a classical dramatic style with quick-witted dialogue, but dealing with contemporary social themes. As a director, he has made various personal films that examine characters and generations.
Dragon Con is a North American multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. As of 2017, the convention draws attendance of over 80,000, features hundreds of guests, encompasses five hotels in the Peachtree Center neighborhood of downtown Atlanta near Centennial Olympic Park, and runs thousands of hours of programming for fans of science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and other elements of fan culture. It is owned and operated by a private for-profit corporation, with the help of a 1,500-member volunteer staff. Dragon Con has hosted the 1990 Origins Game Fair and the 1995 North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC).
Arthur M. Blank is an American businessman and a co-founder of the home improvement retailer The Home Depot.
The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October.
The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is produced by Cinequest, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is also responsible for Picture The Possibilities and the distribution label Cinequest Mavericks Studio LLC. Cinequest awards the annual Maverick Spirit Awards. In addition to over 130 world or U.S. premieres from over 30 countries, the festival hosts writer's events including screenwriting competitions, a shorts program, technology and artistic forums and workshops, student programs, and a silent film accompanied on the theatre organ. Founded in 1990 as the Cinequest Film Festival, the festival was rebranded in 2017 as the Cinequest Film & VR Festival and expanded beyond downtown San Jose to Redwood City. It took its present name in 2019.
The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia, based at the Alliance Theatre, part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, and is the winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal Theatre, staged its first production at the Alliance in 1968. The following year the company became the Alliance Theatre Company.
Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers’ creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the careers of screenwriters, who historically have been underrepresented within the film industry.
The Felicia Penzell Weber Jewish Community High School, often referred to as The Weber School, is a coeducational and pluralistic Jewish community high school located in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States. Weber has approximately 350 students, the majority of whom come from The Epstein School, The Davis Academy, Atlanta Jewish Academy, and other private and public schools.
The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is a long-running, international film festival held in Atlanta, Georgia operated by the Atlanta Film Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Started in 1976 and occurring every spring, the festival shows a diverse range of independent films, with special attention paid to women-directed films, LGBTQ films, Latin American films, Black films and films from the American Southeast. ATLFF is one of only a handful of festivals that are Academy Award-qualifying in all three short film categories.
The National Museum of Patriotism was a museum in Atlanta, Georgia, that at its peak occupied a 10,000-square foot site on Spring Street in Midtown Atlanta. However in 2010 it closed and moved to an online-only presence. The founder of the museum was Nicholas Snider, who was a retired UPS executive.
The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films for five days in June of each year.
The arts in Atlanta are well-represented, with a particularly prominent presence in music, fine art, and theater.
Soumaya Khalifa is the founder and Executive Director of the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta. She is an American Muslim of Egyptian origin, with a career in Human Resources and a consulting practice specializing in intercultural communications, leadership development and corporate diversity.
Full Radius Dance is a professional modern dance company in the field of physically integrated dance based in Atlanta. The company features dancers with and without physical disabilities.
Topher Payne is an American playwright and screenwriter based in Atlanta, Georgia. Two of his plays premiered in 2015: Perfect Arrangement, which premiered Off-Broadway and was produced by Primary Stages, and Angry Fags, which was produced at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. Perfect Arrangement was awarded the M. Elizabeth Osborn Award for best new play by an emerging playwright by the American Theatre Critics Association in 2014. Since 2016, he has scripted five original films for The Hallmark Channel, including My Summer Prince and the Gift to Remember series.
Fanny's Journey is a 2016 French-Belgian children's war drama film co-written and directed by Lola Doillon. The film is inspired by an autobiographical book by Fanny Ben Ami.
Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel is a 2018 documentary film about the underdog Israel national baseball team competing for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. The 87-minute film was directed by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger, the three of whom produced it along with Jonathan Mayo, and starred baseball player Ike Davis and other baseball players.
Mr. & Mrs. Adelman is a 2017 Romantic comedy film, directed by Nicolas Bedos. The film is written by Nicolas Bedos, and Doria Tillier, and produced by François Kraus, and Denis Pineau-Valencienne under the banner of Les Films du Kiosque. The film stars Doria Tillier, and Nicolas Bedos in the lead roles alongside Denis Podalydès, Antoine Gouy, Christiane Millet, and Pierre Arditi.
Michèle Taylor is an American diplomat who is the current United States ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council. She previously served as a board member of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and was a founding board member and vice chair of President Joe Biden’s Super PAC, Unite The Country.
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