feature story
the guy who, over the course of his life — Jeff erson’s
lifetime — owned 607 human beings.”
Pressman, a journalist before becoming a fi lm-
maker 12 years ago, is drawn to little-known stories
about Jewish life, which inspired him to learn more
about the Levy family.

When he broke into the fi lm industry about a
decade ago, he was surprised by the desire for movies
beyond Holocaust narratives.

“We still see a fair amount of Holocaust movies at
a lot of Jewish fi lm festivals,” he said. “And a lot of
Jewish fi lmmakers are still telling Holocaust stories.

Th ose are essential stories to be told. But I think my
own experience goes to this: Th ere’s so many other
stories to tell in the Jewish world outside of the
Holocaust.” Jewish fi lmmakers today are interested in looking
at issues with “moral ambiguity,” such as American
Jews complicit in enslaving people, Pressman believes.

Th ere’s centuries of Jewish history, both American
and international, worth exploring.

“A lot of Jewish fi lmmakers are looking for those
issues that just challenge us to think about the world
around us,” he said.

Finding a Sense of Belonging
While Pressman is interested in looking at uniquely
American experiences of Judaism, Israeli fi lm-
maker Ofi r Raul Graizer is making fi lms about what
America is like for outsiders.

His feature fi lm “America,” premiering at the fes-
tival on Nov. 18, follows Eli, an Israeli swim coach
living in the U.S., who returns to Tel Aviv aft er 10
years away, aft er his father’s death. When Eli visits
his childhood friend and fl orist, Yotam, he meets his
fi ancee, who, like Eli, has a complicated relationship
with her family.

“America” is inspired by Graizer’s visit to Chicago
a few years ago, his fi rst trip to the U.S.

Graizer was always fascinated with America, hav-
ing grown up with American fi lm, music and media
woven into Israeli popular culture.

“I always thought it was big and impressive, but
also scary, and complex and fascinating — always
fascinating,” Graizer said of his childhood perception
of America. “It was mostly distant. It was mostly very,
very far away from my life, from where I grew up in.”
For the past 12 years, Graizer has been living in
Germany, so the themes of relocation and immigra-
tion explored in his fi lm come from a personal place.

“I really identify [with] the character Eli,” he said.

“He kind of reinvented himself. He went to the U.S.,
and he changed his name and basically became
another person, but his connection to his homeland
is still something that he could never let go of.”
Admittedly, Graizer said, his relationship with
Israel is complicated, and though he doesn’t address
it directly in the fi lm, he believes that everyone’s
connection to their home country is “complex and
messed up.” Th roughout the canon of Israeli fi lms,
from the 1930s to now, fi lmmakers have explored this
complexity. Rather than the sensibilities of the fi lmmaker chang-
ing, Graizer believes the audience has been the chang-
ing force in fi lm. Increased streaming of international
fi lms has given wide audiences the ability to view
Jewish issues in unique ways, for better or for worse.

“Th e outside world is interested in the exotic
things; it’s interested in the Israeli-Palestinian con-
fl ict and interested in Orthodoxy because it’s inter-
esting, it’s fascinating, it’s diff erent,” he said.

Greater access to diverse stories can come at a cost
to the quality of future fi lms and television, Graizer
said. Complex stories can become oversimplifi ed,
and nuances can be lost in translation when stream-
ing services and fi lmmakers are looking to make a
buck from complicated, culturally specifi c topics.

Film festivals are one of the few platforms that can
combat trendy simplifi cations of personal stories.

“Th is is one of the most amazing platforms there are,”
he said. “Where an audience can be exposed the same
day — even on the same week — to four or fi ve diff erent
representations and stories that oft en speak about the
same thing, but from an entirely diff erent angle.”
The Jewish Levy family at Monticello, the old estate of Thomas Jeff erson
18 NOVEMBER 10, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
The Future of Film Festivals
PJFM Executive Director Kristen Arter makes a sim-
ilar argument to Graizer about the necessity of fi lm
festivals for the fi lm industry.

When COVID lockdowns caused many theaters
to shutter and for fi lm studios to instead release
movies onto streaming platforms, PJFM also had to
adapt. Th is year, the fi lm festival is one week instead
of two. Audience feedback from last year’s fi lm fes-
tival indicated that there were too many good fi lms
premiering, and not enough audience endurance to
watch them all.

Combined with audience input, fi lm festival sur-
vival is predicated on playing unique fi lms.

“If you have a choice between sitting in your home
and watching Netfl ix, Amazon and all these things,
you still are not going to tap into the same types of
fi lms that we’re presenting at the festival,” Arter said.

Audience members increasingly want to be chal-
lenged by fi lms, Bussy said. Arter added that fi lm festi-
vals, where fi lms are oft en accompanied by discussions
or additional contexts to fi lms, provide a space where
audiences feel comfortable feeling uncomfortable.

“As challenging as they are, as upsetting as they may
be, when the movie ends, they want to sit down and
have a talk about it,” Bussy said.

According to Arter and Bussy, the success of a fi lm
festival comes down to the ability to cast a wide net,
selecting fi lms that will resonate with audiences across
age groups and religion, while also highlighting the
unique and specifi c stories of lesser-known fi lmmak-
ers. “A slogan that we have is, ‘future of Jewish storytell-
ing,’” Arter said. “And that’s bringing in both our past,
our history, our legacy and looking to the future, and
also being able to celebrate and come together in ways
in an environment that feels safer for multiple genera-
tions to participate in.”
For more information about the fi lm festival, visit
phillyjfm.org. JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com “The Levys of Monticello” explores the complexities of antisemitism and
slavery during the Jewish family’s ownership of the Monticello estate.