feature story
Philadelphia Jewish
Film and Media
FINDS ITS FILM FESTIVAL FOOTING
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
Courtesy of Ofi r Raul Graizer
Stillfx / AdobeStock
F orty-two isn’t a number that’s oft en celebrated.

It’s not a multiple of fi ve that’s easily memorable,
nor is it a multiple of 18, giving it signifi cance in
Jewish numerology.

But for Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media, the
organization behind the Philadelphia Jewish Film
Festival, 42 is still a number to salute.

Th e 42nd Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, tak-
ing place from Nov. 12-19, marks one year of the
organization rebranding itself from the Gershman
Philadelphia Film Festival to PJFM to embrace the
evolution of fi lm and art to multimedia platforms.

Th is year’s fi lm fest will spotlight seven interna-
tional feature-length movies, a shorts program, a
FilmShul course on Hollywood’s Jewish New Wave of
the ’60s and ’70s, and a brunch screening of “Funny
Girl” in honor of the musical movie’s 55th anniver-
sary next year. Most of the fi lms will premiere at the
Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History.

“One thing that was really important for all the
fi lms that we do — not just in the festival but through-
out the year, throughout our annual programming —
is I really want the fi lms that we select to be diverse,
and to really create a sense of hope at the end,” PJFM
Program Director Matthew Bussy said.

Receiving hundreds of fi lm submissions for the fes-
tival each year, PJFM’s screening committee must not
only fi nd fi lms that are unique and represent a wide
swath of Jewish life but also factor in ways to remain
relevant in an era where in-home fi lm streaming has
taken a bite out of cinema’s popularity.

Before the festival, some of the featured fi lmmakers
shared their thoughts on their fi lms and the changing
fi lm industry.

and oppression.

“Beyond simply telling the story of this family in
Monticello, it allowed me to tell this broader story
about basically the history of antisemitism through-
out American history,” Pressman said.

Some Virginia residents in the 19th century were
opposed to a Jewish family caring for Jeff erson’s
estate. While there were few Jews in the coun-
try during the Revolutionary War, the population
swelled from 15,000 to 150,000 by the Civil War. By
the early 20th century, 3-4 million Jews were living
in the U.S.

As the Jewish population increased, so, too, did
antisemitism. In the late 19th century, Virginia resi-
dents condemned the Jewish ownership of Monticello.

“It’s the old story,” Pressman said. “People just
don’t like Jews.”
While the victims of antisemitism, the Levy family
continued Jeff erson’s legacy of slavery, keeping the
enslaved people who had for generations worked on
the estate.

“How do you reconcile that with a Jewish family,
with a Jewish owner that has enslaved people? And
you can’t,” Pressman said. ‘I mean, no more than
you can reconcile Th omas Jeff erson, the author of the
Declaration of Independence, with the paradox of
Ofri Biterman and Michael Moshonov in “America”
Antisemitism Beyond the Holocaust
On Nov. 13 and 14, documentarian Steven Pressman
will have the Philadelphia premiere of his fi lm “Th e
Levys of Monticello” — the story of a Jewish family
who came to own and preserve the Charlottesville,
Virginia, estate of Th omas Jeff erson.

Pressman’s documentary positions itself precar-
iously in the conversation around discrimination
Oshrat Ingadashet in “America”
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 17