Film festival focuses on Tel Aviv as it turns 100

An underground public restroom and its dedicated caretaker. A Russian immigrant family trying desperately to fit in to Israeli society. A formerly successful physician, now homeless and on the streets. A music school filled with budding talent. An elderly tailor who ran a beachside shop for 50 years.

These are a few of the images in this year’s mini–film festival at Israel in the Gardens. Given that the Jewish world is celebrating Tel Aviv’s 100th birthday, the city is the theme for all 30 short films screened this year.

Short films screening at the Contemporary Jewish Museum include “City Sickness” (above) and “Kids” (below).

All 30 films will be on a continuous loop from 11 a.m. through 5 p.m. June 7 at the CJM. Admission is free.

“This time it’s about Tel Aviv,” says Israeli-born filmmaker Shevi Rosenfeld, who curated this year’s mini-festival. “What’s great about these short films is they all have something unusual. There’s nothing mainstream here.”

Rosenfeld screened dozens of possible entries, most made by independent filmmakers and film students from prestigious Israeli arts colleges such as Minshar, Beit Beryl and Tel Aviv University. She had no trouble finding filmmakers eager to donate their work. “Everybody wanted to screen their film in the Contemporary Jewish Museum,” she says.

Her only criteria for selection: The films had to feature Tel Aviv in all its messy glory, and they had to be superior works of art.

Among the films she selected is a documentary called “Local Sheriff,” about a neighborhood cop who works the night shift on Allenby Street.

“Bus” follows a philosophy professor who loves riding the local buses talking with “real people” outside of academia. “Jaffawiye” looks at a Jewish-Arab-Russian hip-hop band.

One of Rosenfeld’s favorites is “10 Weizman Street,” about a Russian immigrant family that arrives in Israel during the first Gulf War (when Israel came under attack from Iraqi Scud missiles).

Rosenfeld also hopes to complete her own short film, “Sightseeing Tel Aviv,” in time to include it in the festival lineup. It’s about the 63-year-old Tel Aviv doctor, fluent in 11 languages, who now lives on the street.

A native of Tel Aviv herself, Rosenfeld moved to San Francisco five months ago (her husband landed a position at a Bay Area high-tech company). She had worked as a film distributor, festival programmer and filmmaker back in Israel.

Now she is excited to share her expertise — and taste in cinema — with attendees at Israel in the Gardens this year, especially in a city like San Francisco.

“San Francisco is a lot like Tel Aviv,” she says. “It’s all about freedom.”