Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival

Celebrate With Us Through Ritual, Art, Magic, Music, And Good Company Under The Stars As We Celebrate A World That Honors All Life!

Schedule Of Events:

12:00PM
In-Theater (AMC 14): Shari and Lamb Chop
DocumentaryView all films tagged "Documentary"FamilyView all films tagged "Family"In-TheaterView all films tagged "In-Theater"
Enter the enchanting world of a groundbreaking artist and her beloved sock puppet companion, where boundless creativity and timeless joy have left an indelible mark on children's entertainment. Hailing from a Jewish Bronx family, Shari Lewis rose from playful beginnings in the ‘50s with her engaging children's variety shows, leading to the debut of iconic Lamb Chop on Captain Kangaroo. Over the course of her extraordinary career, she amassed an impressive collection of accolades, including 13 Emmys and a Peabody, and authored 60+ children's books, becoming an adored star recognized for her sundry talents as a ventriloquist, singer, dancer, and even a magician. In a male-dominated industry, Lewis, a spunky perfectionist, transformed children's television with an innovative, empowering style, and through Lamb Chop, voiced new notions for the women of her time. Despite setbacks, including the cancellation of her NBC shows and health challenges, Lewis demonstrated resilience and enduring relevance.

2:30 PM
Tormented by his role in a 1950s Gaza assassination, Geizi Tsafrir, an elderly Israeli agent, seeks redemption. Reflecting on his time with Shin Bet (The Israeli Security Services) and the killing of an Egyptian lieutenant colonel, he decides to confront his past. He contacts the colonel's daughter, Nonie Darwish, once intent on avenging her father's death but now a prominent voice against radical Islam and a supporter of Israel. The mysterious email from Tsafrir sets Darwish on an emotional journey into her past, culminating in a meeting with him in Los Angeles. This winner of the Haifa International Film Festival's Best Israeli Documentary explores intricate emotions, history's complexities, and the bumpy path toward mutual understanding and forgiveness.

5:00PM
In-Theater (AMC 14): Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara
DramaView all films tagged "Drama"In-TheaterView all films tagged "In-Theater"
In 1858 Bologna, a 6-year-old named Edgardo Mortara was seized by authorities of the papal state, taken away from his Jewish parents, and placed in the care of the Church. Believed to have been baptized in the cradle under odd circumstances, the child would be claimed as a Catholic. His mind erased of his family's religious heritage and beliefs, Edgardo was, unbeknownst to him, at the center of an international firestorm that led directly to the Italian people's rejection of the Pope's rule amidst the tumultuous Risorgimento. In this sumptuously mounted film from treasured octogenarian director Marco Bellocchio, the Mortara case becomes an extraordinary, nearly operatic historical drama. Kidnapped is at once a personal, human-scale narrative of a family in crisis, following parents who will do anything to retrieve their child from the clutches of a ruthless theocratic government, and a wide-scope portrait of a country on the cusp of revolution.

In-Theater (AMC 14): Running on Sand
Aumari, a young Eritrean refugee who lives in Israel, is caught by the immigration police and deported. At the last moment he manages to escape at the airport and runs straight into the hands of Maccabi Netanya's football fans that mistake him for the new, Nigerian striker who was supposed to land that day. Aumari turns from a transparent refugee into the big star. He has no football talent, He does,however, have a talent to make friends, to make people laugh and come together. It is through these skills that he manages to make big changes in the team and even find love. However, when Aumari goes back to being a refugee will someone stand by his side, and will he manage, for the first time in his life, to stop running