International films highlighted in Sonoma Jewish fest

In need of money, Chaya becomes an au pair for the Kalmans, a Chassidic family of whose way of life Chaya is at first scornful. But through her love for the Kalmans' mute child, Simcha, Chaya comes to greater understanding of her parents and the deep values of the Kalmans' life.

The film series is a program of the Jewish Community Agency of Sonoma County. Its sixth season will feature all international films, according to Pam Adinoff, who heads the selection committee.

"We start screening in January," she said. "Everybody brings in ideas from other film festivals and researches online films they'd like to consider, and we screen as many as we can get a hold of, probably 60 films."

"The Giraffe," a 1998 film shot in Germany and Switzerland under the direction of Dani Levy, is a mystery. It will screen on Oct. 4.

The Giraffe was the nickname of a Nazi war criminal with a birthmark resembling a giraffe. The film focuses on who he is and what he has to do with Ruth Fish, an elderly woman living in New York, who sees a news report on television of a Jewish businessman whose chocolate factory in Germany is torched.

A suspenseful film, "The Giraffe" explores how the hidden past never loosens its grip on the present until it is uncovered.

"Simon Magus" will screen Oct. 25. Directed by Ben Hopkins and shot in the United Kingdom in 2000, the film is set in a small village in late 19th century Europe. The dark fable of love, the historical and the supernatural tells the story of a man possessed by dreams of conversations with a demon. The Jews believe Simon is possessed and treat him badly, not even allowing him to pray in the synagogue.

The village itself is dying, and Dovid, a young Jewish scholar, approaches the local squire to purchase land to build a railway station. At the same time a ruthless non-Jewish merchant makes a better offer for the land and entices Simon with the affection he's been denied into becoming a spy and a traitor.

"All My Loved Ones" a 1999 film from the Czech Republic, will screen Nov. 15. It was inspired by the real life experiences of English stockbroker Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of Czech Jewish children from the Nazis in 1939.

Set in Prague in 1938 before the war, "All My Loved Ones" follows the stories of five brothers, the Silbersteins. It shows how their lives gradually change along with the rise of Nazi Germany.

The film focuses on David Silberstein, a child whose parents are tormented by the slowly building terror approaching. They must decide whether or not to send David away to England on one of the transports organized by the real-life Winston.

"All my Loved Ones," directed by Matej Mina, is the one film in the Sonoma County Jewish Film Series that didn't screen in the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Adinoff said that is just a coincidence.

"There's no correlation to our series," she said. The Sonoma County Jewish Film Series is "totally separate from the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival."

But for those in Sonoma County who didn't make it to San Francisco in July, "this is the easiest way to see some of the films that have Jewish content."

"Inside Out," directed by Neal Sundstrom, will close the series Dec. 6. The 1998 comedy from South Africa tells the story of Hazel Levin. She is a young and rather unsuccessful actress from Johannesburg, known widely but solely as the star of a television commercial.

Hazel is driving in the country on her way to a new gig when she gets stranded in a small town. There, desperate for funds and recognized as a celebrity, she gets the job of directing the Christmas nativity pageant.

The town is filled with oddballs and mysterious relationships, and while Hazel begins a love affair with a Boer farmer, some of the townspeople are suspicious of her. Why is a Jew directing the Christmas pageant? And why does she have such bizarre ideas, like insisting on including blacks in the cast?

Santa Rosa's Rialto Lakeside Cinemas, at 551 Summerfield Road, seat 265, "and we've been selling out most of the evenings films," said Adinoff, "so we've added matinees to every film."

Screening times are 1:30 and 7:15 p.m. Because a large population of older adults attends the films, Adinoff said the early shows are "convenient for seniors to get out before it gets dark."

The series is the Jewish Community Agency of Sonma County's biggest fund-raiser. Last year it brought in $12,000, according to Adinoff.

Tickets are $8 per film, or $35 for all five films. Students 18 or younger get in for $6. For information, call (707) 528-4222 or visit http://www.jcagency.org