By Gary Meyer
For year people have asked where my house of worship was and my answer has always been, “In a movie theater.”
And for 40 years the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival has been bringing people together—those who belong to a synagogue, the unaffiliated and everybody else interested in fascinating stories, social justice discussions, and often controversial narrative and documentary movies from around the globe.
by C.J. Hirschfield
At age 79, and after 60 years of activism, John Lewis is still organizing; still mobilizing; still legislating. Oh yes, and he’s definitely still dancing.
In the illuminating and luminous new documentary, John Lewis: Good Trouble, acclaimed Bay Area director Dawn Porter (Trapped, Gideon’s Army) creatively and conscientiously chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist and Democratic Congressman from Georgia.
by Kim Nalley
Within the first seconds of Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things British Eagle Rock’s documentary on the jazz vocalist, the seamless connection between the tempo and lyrics of Ella Fitzgerald singing How High The Moon and the shaky black and white images of Ella racing down the highway in a car portends that this is going to be a great film. Sit down, relax, and fix yourself a drink because this is a movie worth savoring.
The wonderful sounds of Ella Fitzgerald and Kim Nalley are even more fun if you can watch them perform.
There is no way we can include all the great material one can find on the Internet. We offer a sampling that will keep you happy for hours featuring both Ella and Kim.
by Frako Loden
The African Film Festival National Traveling Series stops at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive this spring for its 25th year, acquiring some other film-festival notables on its way. True to its mission to present the best of recent films from Africa and the African diaspora, this year’s edition features dramas and documentaries from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Niger, Tunisia, Europe, the UK and the US.
eatdrinkfilms.com 