HAD A genial argument with a gorgeous old friend—whom I always described as the Brandeis cheerleader type—about what she asserted was the lack of hunkiness among Jewish men. I countered with a list—Samson, Kirk Douglas, Saul Bellow—but soon switched to the roster of baseball greats: Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg. Titans of the intellectual world, Jews also proved their mettle on the diamond. This weekend, the 30-year-old San Francisco Jewish Film Festival brings a selection of 18 programs to the CinéArts in Palo Alto. Among them is Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story (July 31, 2pm). Narrated by Dustin Hoffman (who probably didn’t have a hell of a lot of trouble with the frauleins, come to think of it), this documentary follows the barriers broken by Jewish players in the pastime. Key among them is Koufax himself, who rarely gives interviews.
One of the standouts of the fest is Yael Hersonski’s A Film Unfinished (July 31, 4pm). It concerns the discovery, in an East German archive, of grisly rehearsals and outtakes for a Nazi propaganda film on the Warsaw Ghetto; depressingly, these staged scenes of Jewish life were taken as unvarnished history by dozens of documentary historical filmmakers. Hersonski interviews survivors, as well as a German cameraman who shot this footage. Long Distance (Aug. 3, 4pm) profiles Israeli guest workers from the Philippines, Ghana, and Turkey. A Small Act (July 31, noon) is a story out of Dickens; Kenyan farm boy Chris Mburu was the beneficiary of a Jewish schoolteacher from Sweden, who paid for his school. Mburu went on to Harvard and a career as a human-rights lawyer. Jaffa (Aug. 3, 8pm), concerning a Jewish/Palestinian romance, features Ronit Elkabitz as a mechanic’s wife who learns her daughter is dating an Arab. On Aug. 2, at 2pm, for free: Ahead of Time, the true story of long-lived and intrepid photo journalist and author Ruth Gruber.
This is the South Bay leg of the fest, and apparently the South Bay is considered chopped liver once more. Not on our local roster is the fest’s series on Jewish gangsters, with revivals of Bugsy, Lepke, the 1961 King of the Roaring 20s, and the 1932 Howard Hawks version of Scarface. As a character Scarface is Italian, but Paul Muni was Jewish, so into the lineup he went; liberated by Hawks’ loose, preternaturally modern direction, Muni is hunky enough for anyone.
July 31—Aug. 3
CinéArts Palo Alto Square
