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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/29213/full/29213/silicon-valley-gets-a-taste-of-israel-in-film-fest/ <br /><br /> <b>Silicon Valley gets a taste of Israel in film fest</b> <br /> Friday, May 12, 2006 | by dan pine <br /><br /><p>When Margalit Raviv first pitched her idea of a little Israeli film fest to the bigger San Jose Jewish Film Festival, she had no problem convincing the powers that be.<br /><br /> That's because there are no powers that be. "We're volunteers," says the SJJFF president, Mark Levine. "We welcome new ideas, great ideas."<br /><br /> The second annual Silicon Valley Israeli Film Festival may be one of those great ideas. It runs May 17 through May 24 at the Camera 12 Cinema in downtown San Jose.<br /><br /> Though still small in scale, the festival drew a sell-out crowd for its inaugural edition last year. Raviv thinks with the quality of the four films this year -- including two Bay Area premieres -- the event will grow.<br /><br /> "More and more we know film is a tool to educate people about Israel," she says. "Everyone knows about the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict but there are other things going on in people's lives there. Film tells another side of the culture. I try to pick the best so everyone leaving the theater will learn something new about Israel."<br /><br /> This year's lineup offers multiple views of Israeli life, from Turkish immigrants in Tel Aviv to a fictional look at the rescue of Ethiopian Jews in Operation Moses. They include the 2005 Ophir Award winner for best documentary, "39 Pounds of Love," the 2005 Berlin Film Festival award winner "Live and Become," plus those two Bay Area premieres: "Janem, Janem" and a lighter family drama, "The Schwartz Dynasty."<br /><br /> The documentary "39 Pounds of Love" tells the story of Ami Ankilewitz, an American-born Israeli in his 30s who was diagnosed at age 1 with a form of muscular dystrophy that left him immobile, except for one finger, which he uses to work as an animator. The film follows his cross-country journey in search of the doctor who predicted he would die before the age of 6. <br /><br /> Making its Bay Area premiere, "Janem, Janem" is the story of an Israeli schoolteacher going through a mid-life crisis. He decides to travel, but instead of getting on a plane, he goes for a journey in his own country and discovers an unknown world in the middle of Tel Aviv.<br /><br /> The powerful "Live and Become" is set in 1984, as Operation Moses has begun airlifting thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. A non-Jewish Ethiopian woman persuades an Ethiopian Jewish woman, whose own son has just died, to allow her son to assume his identity. The boy is then adopted by a loving Israeli family.<br /><br /> Finally, in "The Schwartz Dynasty," a young Russian woman born to a Jewish father and Christian mother meets a 24-year-old descendant of a distinguished dynasty of Orthodox rabbis. They try to navigate the many interpersonal conflicts flying about in their small Israeli town.<br /><br /> Now in its 15th year, the San Jose Jewish Film Festival is one of the best-attended events of its kind in the South Bay. Levine and his colleagues noticed some time ago that Israeli films tended to sell out quickly, thanks in part to the local Israeli ex-pat community and the increasingly high quality of Israeli cinema.<br /><br /> "The entire Peninsula is a hotbed of Israelis working in high-tech," says Levine. "We targeted that audience, but this time we're also advertising to the broader Jewish community."<br /><br /> Organizers think the lineup of films this year will draw the crowds and fill the seats. Says Raviv, "We looked at a lot of films and we all decided these were the best."<br /><br /> <br><br /><br /> Screening dates and times for the <b>Second Annual Silicon Valley Israeli Film Festival</b> are: <b>"39 Pounds of Love,"</b> 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 17; <b>"Janem, Janem,"</b> 3 p.m. Sunday May, 21; <b>"Live and Become,"</b> 6 p.m. Sunday, May 21; and <b>"The Schwartz Dynasty,"</b> 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 24. All screenings at the Camera 12 Cinema, 201 S. Second St., San Jose. Tickets: $8-$10. Information: (925) 275-9005 or online at <a href="http://www.sjjff.org">www.sjjff.org</a>.</p>

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