San Diego International Jewish Film Festival opens Saturday with shorts and French Canadian feature

The 36th Annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival (SDIJFF) kicks off Saturday at the David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre with the Joyce Short Film Series Program 1 and the French Canadian dramedy “Once Upon My Mother.” Here is a preview of the festival.

For more than three decades, the SDIJFF has celebrated Jewish culture through film, using cinema to inspire, entertain and foster connection. This year, the festival arrives amid continued tensions in the Middle East and increasing political unrest in the United States. Several films highlight women whose passionate activism might provide the motivation we need right now.

“Iron Ladies” documents the story of Jewish housewives and mothers who, at the height of the Cold War, defended the rights and freedoms of Soviet Jews in the USSR — and won. Known as the 35s (the initial group was made up of 35 women aged 35 and supporting a 35-year-old woman in the USSR), this international network of women had no prior political experience, but they refused to stand idly by.

Many of the women interviewed in the film note how they strategized to "get under the teeth of the Soviet government" and how that meant "we tried to stay within the law, but we were probably on the edge." At a time when protests were making daily headlines, it is inspiring to see how a group of women successfully made their voices heard.

In the animated film “Where Is Anne Frank?,” Kitty, the imaginary friend to whom Anne dedicated her diary, comes to life. Believing Anne is still alive, she sets out on a journey to find her and is shocked to see how history is repeating itself — but also inspired by Anne’s enduring legacy.

Taking Anne's lead, Kitty urges, "Do everything you can to save one single soul."

Exemplifying that idea is Henrietta Szold.

"Henriette Szold may be the most famous Jewish female icon you've never heard of," said Abby Ginzberg, the filmmaker hoping to change that.

Ginzberg has a unique connection to her subject: "I'm related to Henrietta on my mother's side, and I'm also related to the man who broke her heart. That gives me a unique standing and position from which to tell this story."

Abby Ginzberg

The result is the documentary, “Labors of Love: The Life and Legacy Of Henrietta Szold.” Szold was a Victorian woman transformed into a pioneering political activist we can still learn from today.

"I feel like I resurrected her views of why it was so important to not ignore the fact that there were Arabs who lived in Palestine," Ginzberg added. "Henrietta felt like we should be able to work this out. Her viewpoint did not win out. And when the view about we are creating a Jewish state and we're not interested in binationalism, we want a Jewish state, they did that to some extent at their peril. We are looking at some of the terrible repercussions that come from the choices that were made back in the '30s and the '40s. One lesson that we might learn from Henrietta's experience would be, that we have to somehow figure out how not to go for either a maximalist Jewish position or a maximalist Arab position. What does that look like today?"

Learning lessons is also key in the documentary "The Last Spy."

At the time of the film, Peter Sichel was 100 years old, and still sharp and fired up. He was a former spy who was at one point the head of the CIA in Berlin and worked in Washington with the CIA. At this point in his life (he has since passed away), he had nothing to lose, so he offered an often critical view of U.S. foreign intelligence from the inside.

At one point in the film, he notes: "Collecting reliable intelligence is difficult enough, but people in high places have an idea of what it should be, and if the intelligence doesn't fit, they don't believe the intelligence."

That explains a lot. Yet Sichel stayed in the CIA for years, and when an interviewer pressed him on why he stayed so long, Sichel admitted, "It's like being on a drug. It is a fascinating game."

And it’s a fascinating film that provides candid insights that illuminate ongoing issues today, showing how we are still not learning from the past.

The festival also serves up its annual showcase of shorts known as the Joyce Short Film Series (broken up into three programs). Shorts programs at festivals are great if you only have time for a brief visit. The format means you will see a diverse array of styles and topics at one sitting, and you are pretty much guaranteed to see at least one great film.

Also of note, on Feb. 1, author, film critic and film historian Leonard Maltin will be in person as the keynote speaker.

The festival has, in the past, highlighted Arab and Palestinian filmmakers, and each year it tries to create a space for discussion and even debate. This year, however, there are no Arab or Palestinian films on the slate, although "Labors of Love" does try to provide context for current tensions.

I will highlight a past film, the documentary the festival screened in 2024 called "Prophets of Change," a collaboration among filmmakers from the U.S., Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It focused on Palestinian and Israeli musicians using their music as a voice for peace. You can listen to my interview with the filmmaker and musicians here.

The San Diego International Jewish Film Festival serves up shorts, features and documentaries that take us through history and personal narratives — sometimes with joy, sometimes with pain, but always with a desire to foster understanding and dialogue.