As a film festival director myself, I’m always intrigued to talk to other directors about their festivals and their process. For every film that makes the cut, there are a mountain of discarded others that may never see the light of day (or the light of projection) and hundreds of unseen administrative tasks associated with presenting the program. I recently asked Sid Heberger, General Manager of the Crest Theatre and Co-Director of the Sacramento Jewish Film Festival about their upcoming event:

Q: This is the 12th Annual Festival: How did the Festival get its start?
A: Margi Park, the co-founder of the Festival, contacted me about starting a festival because she was tired of schlepping to San Francisco for her Jewish Film Festival fix. So, in 1997 we partnered on a screening at the Festival of Cinema to “test the waters” and had a tremendous turn out. The next year we branched out on our own and have been at it ever since.

Q: How do you find films for the Festival?
A: In the beginning, we sought films from other festivals and combed the internet for films we thought would be of interest in Sacramento. Now that the festival has matured we are receiving submissions from film makers and film companies from around the globe.

Q: This year’s festival includes the Oscar Nominated short film “Toyland”. Is that a concidence?
A: Yes, As I was looking for short films for the comedy program I came across this dramatic short film. I actually booked it long before it was nominated. It’s satisfying to know that my taste in films is validated by the Academy!

Q: You’d added a late night slot on Saturday, is this new direction for the Festival?
A: Yes, we’ve been looking for ways to engage a younger audience and then we found this hilarious film “Circumcise Me” and decided to build a lineup of comedy shorts. It’s an experiment for us but so far the response has been positive so we’re thinking this might become a regular program. We recognize that if the festival is going to grow and continue that we need to engage younger people now before our older audience is no longer able to come out to the shows.

Q: What makes a film “Jewish”?
A: Some film festivals accept anything that is made by a Jewish director whether the film is about the Jewish experience or not, but we feel that that just about includes every film out of Hollywood since 1920! A film has to have a substantial part of the plot dedicated to showing the Jewish experience.

Q: So, is the Jewish Film Festival just for Jews?
A: (Laughs) No, and it’s not just for breakfast anymore! Actually, as we look at the film submissions we give weight to films that we think will have cross-over appeal to other festival demographics. We have strong partnerships with the Sacramento French Film Festival, The Sacramento Film and Music Festival, and the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. You don’t have to be Jewish to connect with the dramatic, funny and touching human stories that we feature.

The 12th Annual Sacramento Jewish Film Festival takes place at the Crest Theatre, 1013 K Street, Sacramento on Saturday, February 7th and Sunday, February 8th. Full details, schedules, and ticket information can be found online at www.thecrest.com. Note: “Toyland” and all of this year’s other Oscar Nominated short films open at the Crest on Friday, February 6th.

Mazal Tov!

Tony Sheppard is a Co-Director of the 10th Annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival, July 24th-Aug 2nd, 2009, also at the historic Crest Theatre (Full disclosure!).