Year-round programs
Boston Jewish Film has grown from presenting films once a year at the annual festival to a flourishing year-round arts organization, with programs and screenings taking place nearly every month. Since 1998, the Festival has presented more than 275 films and welcomed another 75,000+ audience members outside the November Festival. This also includes a Summer Cinematheque series featuring new films presented in July and August.
Annual November festival
The twelve day event each November showcasing the best contemporary films from around the world on Jewish themes, accompanied by visiting filmmakers, panel discussions, musical events and more.
Boston Israeli Film Festival
For the first time in 2019, Boston Jewish Film presented the Boston Israeli Film Festival which included documentary, comedy, drama and children's films.
ReelAbilities Film Festival Boston
In 2011, Boston Jewish Film became the host for ReelAbilities Boston, Boston’s disability film festival. Like Boston Jewish Film, ReelAbilities uses film to increase awareness and understanding in the community. ReelAbilities strives for inclusion of all people and is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with different abilities.
Pre-release and word-of-mouth screenings
Boston Jewish Film often presents a special advance screening, sometimes with a visiting filmmaker or actor. Other times, members are offered free tickets to word-of-mouth screenings at a local theater. These screenings are chances to see films before the general public.
Co-presentations
Boston Jewish Film works with other film festivals throughout the year to bring quality films to the Boston area. Recent and ongoing partners include the Boston French Film Festival, the Boston LGBT Film Festival, the Independent Film Festival of Boston and the Roxbury International Film Festival.
Curated series and programs
From time to time, the Boston Jewish Film Festival curates a special series either independently or in conjunction with another organization. These series are often thematically-based and have included a series focusing on the question of censorship and freedom of expression as part of the New Center for Arts and Culture's multi-disciplinary citywide exhibition Words on Fire, as well as a series celebrating pioneering Jewish women in America in conjunction with Jewish Women’s Archive.
Recognition
In 1999, the Boston Jewish Film Festival was named “Best Film Series” by the Boston Society of Film Critics.
In 2003, Artistic Director Kaj Wilson and Executive Director Sara Rubin were honored with Image Awards for Vision and Excellence by Women in Film & Video in New England.
In 2004, it hosted the 4th Conference of Jewish Film Festivals, welcoming Jewish Film Festival directors from around the globe to Boston.
In 2006, Executive Director Sara L. Rubin was recognized and honored for her career and her dedication to French culture by the French Minister of Culture by being introduced into France's Order of Arts and Letters, with the rank of Chevalier (Knight).
In 2007, departing Artistic Director Kaj Wilson was honored for her work by a commendation from the Boston Society of Film Critics.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, in is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films, in all genres and lengths. It also presents themed retrospectives and other specialized programming strands.
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tickets. Visitors to the festival have increased from 65,000 in 2000 to 285,000 in 2018.
Sheffield DocFest, short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England.
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June 2020. In addition to the annual festival, Hot Docs owns and operates the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, administers multiple production funds, and runs year-round screening programs including Doc Soup and Hot Docs Showcase.
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England in collaboration with the British Film Institute. The festival runs for two weeks in October every year. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 feature films and 150 short films from more than 70 countries are screened at the festival each year.
Nancy Kates is an independent filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She directed Regarding Susan Sontag, a feature documentary about the late essayist, novelist, director and activist. Through archival footage, interviews, still photographs and images from popular culture, the film reflects the boldness of Sontag’s work and the cultural importance of her thought, and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Sundance Documentary Film Program.
The Cambridge Film Festival is the third-longest-running film festival in the UK. The festival historically took place during early July, but now takes place annually during Autumn in Cambridge. It is organised by the registered charity Cambridge Film Trust.
The Guanajuato International Film Festival or GIFF is an annual international film festival, held since 1998. It is held during the final week of July in San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato City, Mexico. GIFF was formerly known as Expresión en Corto International Film Festival.
Reel Affirmations (RA) is a non-profit, all-volunteer LGBT film festival in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1991 and held every year in mid-October, as of 2011 Reel Affirmations was one of the largest LGBT film festivals in the United States. Baltimore's Gay Life newspaper called it "one of the top three films festivals for the entire LGBT community." A 2007 guidebook claims it was one of the largest LGBT film festivals in the world. A listing of LGBT film festivals claims it is the largest all-volunteer film festival in the world.
The St. Louis International Film Festival is an annual film festival in St. Louis, Missouri, which has been running since 1992. The coordinating organization changed its name to "Cinema St. Louis" in 2003. The festival screens approximately 300 films over a period of 10 days during November.
The Washington Jewish Film Festival (WJFF), in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's oldest and largest Jewish film festivals. Focusing on Jewish and Israeli issues, the festival has shown hundreds of films ranging both in genre and theme and held in the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater in the Washington DC Jewish Community Center and other cinemas in Washington and suburban Maryland and Virginia. The festival was founded by Aviva Kempner in 1989 and has successfully run for over twenty years and is presented by the Washington DCJCC's Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts.
The Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF), presented by Dallas Film, is an annual film festival that takes place in Dallas, Texas.
The UK Jewish Film Festival is an annual film festival dedicated to world cinema that explores Jewish life, history and culture worldwide. It was founded in 1997 and takes place in November, in London and in other cities in the United Kingdom.
Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF), a production of the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), includes a program of independent cinema highlighting recent, significant works by and/or about Asian Americans and the Asian diaspora. BAAFF is New England's largest Asian American film festival. The festival takes place in the month of October in Boston at Emerson College's Bright Family Screening Room in the Paramount Center and opening night in Cambridge at the Brattle Theatre. The 4-day film festival features special premieres, exclusive Q&As with filmmakers and various co-sponsored events around Boston.
The Gold Coast International Film Festival launched in 2011, on the north shore of North Hempstead, New York. The festival, now held every November, completed its 7th year in 2017. The festival is produced by the Gold Coast Arts Center, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) multi-arts center based in Great Neck, NY. Founding sponsors of the festival include the Town of North Hempstead and Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The festival was founded with the mission of establishing a home on Long Island to showcase the work of exceptional filmmakers and provide the public with an insider's view of the film industry. Festival events include screenings, workshops, conversations with prominent members of the film community, parties.
The Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival is the largest of its kind in the world and is considered one of the most important in its field. The film festival hosts hundreds of students, lecturers and guests of honor from the world's leading film industry in Tel Aviv, for a week of screenings and cultural events. Hundreds of films, premieres, cinematic events, workshops, conferences and special projects are held, inviting thousands of visitors to the Tel Aviv Cinematheque halls every day. Since 2013, it has been held once a year, in June, in Tel Aviv.
A growing number of film festivals are held in the Middle East to showcase films from the region as well as international standouts. In addition, institutions and organizations in other parts of the world are increasingly honoring the new generation of filmmakers in the Middle East with Arab film festivals.
The Moscow Jewish Film Festival is an annual international film festival, which aims to gather in the program features, documentaries, shorts and animated films on the subject of Jewish culture, history and national identity and contemporary problems. In 2015, Moscow joined a list of cities that celebrate this festival.
Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, second or third directoral works are admitted. There are three competition sections: International Feature Film, International Documentary Film and 'Focus: Switzerland, Germany and Austria' which focuses on these three production countries. Several industry events take place in the framework of the festival, such as the ZFF Academy or the international Zurich Summit, which have rendered the film festival an international platform for the film industry.
Oakville Festivals of Film and Art is a not-for-profit organization that runs the Oakville Film Festival, as well as special screening and Arts events such as the Sheridan/OFFA Annual Screening series. The festival will celebrate its 10th year in 2023, and is held the third week of June every year, and includes a juried award competition, and Audience Choice Awards for the best feature and best short film. The Oakville Film Festival is a Canadian Screen Award Qualifying Event. An Industry Summit for the Canadian Film Industry and local filmmakers is held every year in conjunction with the festival, but has also become a year-round event that features industry workshops/panels, which provide professional development for the filmmaking community. To date, the festival has attracted over 25,000 event participants, screened over 600 films, and attracted over 700 industry guests.
