Mission Statement
The Boston Jewish Film Festival presents the best contemporary films from around the world on Jewish themes at its annual Festival and throughout the year. Through features, shorts, documentaries, and conversations with visiting artists, the Festival explores Jewish identity, the current Jewish experience and the richness of Jewish culture in relation to a diverse modern world.
Description
Founded by filmmaker Michal Goldman in 1989, The Boston Jewish Film Festival has grown from 10 screenings to more than 40 at our Boston and Brookline venues - the Museum of Fine Arts and the Coolidge Corner Theatre - and additional screenings throughout the Greater Boston area. In the past 18 years the Festival has presented nearly 600 films - many of them US or Massachusetts premieres - and welcomed more than 150,000 audience members. Many of the films we have shown have gone on to be nominated for or win Academy Awards, including The Pianist (winner, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, 2002), Nowhere in Africa (winner, Best Foreign Film, 2002), and The Personals (winner, Best Short-Subject Documentary, 1998). We bring visiting artists from around the world to introduce their films, answer audience questions, and participate in panel discussions. We also offer many live events, from pre-screening music, to new scores to accompany silent films, to full-fledged post-screening concerts and dance performances.
In 2007, departing Artistic Director Kaj Wilson was honored for her work by a commendation from the Boston Society of Film Critics.
In 2009, the Festival received the "Cat’s Meow" award from the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. The award noted that The Boston Jewish Film Festival is "not just a great Boston film event, it’s a great champion and friend to all Boston things film related, and we think it’s the cat’s meow."
