Join The Boston Jewish Film Festival at our “We’ll Show You Our Shorts“ celebration.

   We will screen a selection of short films, have a conversation with an award-winning filmmaker. Festivities include champagne, sweets and savories at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday May 16 at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School, 77 Ave. Louis Pasteur, Boston. Parking is free.

Tickets are $50 with a purchase of a Festival Friends Pass, $100 for tickets only. The Friends Pass guarantees free entry all films at the November Festival         and is $200 per person.

The Israeli film noir movie, “Naomi,” is coming back after being well received at our 2011 Festival. This film is  the story of a Technion professor, his beautiful young wife, her “friend,” his police detective friend, his mother (you will never think of a Jewish mother in the same way again!) and a murder. Eitan Tzur (Israeli TV series In Treatment and The Office) directed.

  Naomi screens at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 30 at West Newton Cinema. Tickets are available now.

April 3, 2012 – Amy Geller has enjoyed a love of film since she was a kid growing up in southern New Hampshire. That interest continued at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, leading to a career in film from working on costumes for films to working at The Boston Jewish Film Festival in the late ‘90s to producing her own films. Now, she’s the Artistic Director of The Boston Jewish Film Festival.

1. Why were you interested in being Artistic Director?

Amy Geller

AG: “I think, in part, because I’d had such a great experience 14 years ago when I worked as the Associate Director for The Boston Jewish Film Festival. That was really my first professional job out of college, so it was a seminal experience for me. I had the opportunity of working with three wonderfully creative, resourceful, intelligent women – Festival Founder Michal Goldman and then Artistic Director Kaj Wilson and Executive Director Sara Rubin, all of whom taught me that good programming is an art form of its own.

“Five questions…” continues.

The Boston Jewish Film Festival named Amy Geller, long active in the Boston film community with curatorial and production experience, as its new Artistic Director.

Geller’s background includes producing a variety of feature, documentary and short films, curating film festivals and serving as Associate Director of The Boston Jewish Film Festival.

Geller’s chief responsibilities will be selecting films and programming for the annual Boston Jewish Film Festival and films throughout the year. Geller, 38, was picked after a national search.

Boston Jewish Film Festival Executive Director Jaymie Saks said, “I am excited for The Festival to get a fresh perspective. Amy’s understanding of current trends in film and filmmaking is an asset. She has a unique artistic sensibility.”

Film Festival Board President Joyce Pastor added, ”Amy is the right person to lead us as we head towards our 25^th year. We look forward to expanding the Festival’s reputation and presence in the community.”

“I’ve come full circle,” said Geller. “Not long after I graduated from Bates College, I worked with Festival Founder Michal Goldman and then Artistic Director Kaj Wilson and Executive Director Sara Rubin. I feel so fortunate to have been mentored by these three leaders in the Jewish film community. Now after over a decade of work experience in film, television and media production, I am excited to bring the skills I learned as a producer and leader of various local media organizations back to The Festival.”

Geller views the Festival as a “unique and safe place” to explore one’s Jewish identity. “I hope to create a space for Jews and people of all backgrounds to join in the dialogue and explore their own complex identities and lives.”

“I’m interested in further expanding The Boston Jewish Film Festival audience by finding new ways of getting young people excited and getting young adults and families engaged.”

Geller, a Cambridge resident, produced the successful documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (with writer/director, film critic and husband Gerald Peary), which was broadcast nationally on Documentary Channel and locally on WGBH Boston and has screened at more than 60 film festivals and theatrical venues around the world.

Geller also was a supervising producer for NKP Media of Newton from 2004-2010, developing and producing educational videos for the college market. She taught classes in producing at Boston University and Emerson College (2009-2010) and was president of the board of Women in Film & Video/New England (2001-2002), directing and curating the first ever 20-year retrospective festival of member films and videos.

Geller was Associate Director of both the Northampton Independent Film Festival in Northampton, Mass. (2002) and The Boston Jewish Film Festival (1997-1999).  Geller is a native of Hampton, N.H.

The 24th annual 2012 Boston Jewish Film Festival, which will be held, Nov. 7-19, is now open for submissions of both short and feature length films.

For full-length films, download our entry form.

The second annual Short Films Competition must be entered at WithoutaBox. Short films must be under 20 minutes in length to be considered.

The deadline for all film submissions is May 31.

a successful debut

REELAbilitiesBOSTON Film Festival was a big success with hundreds of people attending, helping to foster greater awareness of those with disabilities.

The Festival showcased six films in a one-week period in February – My Spectacular Theatre from China, War Eagle, Arkansas, Shooting Beauty, Snow Cake, Warrior Champions and Anita from Argentina.

One of the key goals of REELAbilitiesBOSTON was to educate people and broaden their perspective about those with disabilities. Based on feedback received, we achieved our goal of uniting the entire community around this issue through film.

More than 700 people the Festival! Many attending had never been to a film sponsored by The Boston Jewish Film Festival.

We want to thank all who attended the festival and/or helped by promoting the movies. Many disabilities organizations were particularly supportive of REELAbilitiesBOSTON. We especially applaud the efforts of J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation, Ruderman Family Foundation, the Cambridge Trust Co., the Saul Schottenstein Foundation B and the Nancy Lurie Marks Foundation for helping to make a dream a reality.

See you in 20012 for the second edition of REELAbilitiesBoston Film Festival.

The Boston Jewish Film Festival will receive a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, it was announced today. This marked the first time that The Festival received a grant from the organization.

“We are very excited to receive the support from the NEA,” said Jaymie Saks, Managing Director of The Boston Jewish Film Festival. “It’s gratifying to be recognized nationally for our efforts in bringing Jewish film and culture to the Greater Boston community.”

“The grant will make a difference and enable us to achieve a greater impact in the community,” Saks said. “We will use the money for increased outreach, a goal that is very important to us.” The funds are to be used in 2012.

The Festival, which just concluded its 23rd Festival earlier this week, is looking to extend its audience to various religious, cultural and social organizations and groups in the Greater Boston area. A total of 1,686 applications were submitted for funding. The grant was one of 863 from the NEA to organizations and individual writers around the U.S. with awards totaling more than $22.5 million. The Festival’s grant came through the NEA Art Works program.

The Festival was one of only three Jewish film festivals in the U.S. to receive the honor and one of two organizations in New England to receive funding in the Media Arts category.

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said the projects “demonstrate the imaginative and innovative capacities of artists and arts organizations to enhance the quality of life in their communities.”