San Francisco Jewish Film Festival – Best of SFJFF Online Shorts

Every month, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival features a new full-length short film, available to view online for free. This international selection of best online shorts includes comedies and documentaries.

THE TAILOR

Dir. Gordon Grinberg
United States, 2011, 6 min, English

Culture and confusion meet on a Brooklyn street in this hilariously charming tale of the similarities above, amid the diversity beneath the surface.

YELP (With Apologies to Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”)

Dir. Tiffany Shlain

United States, 2010, 3 min, English

Technology can be addictive.  In a tribute to Allen Ginsberg’s classic 1956 poem, director Tiffany Shlain has created a short film lampooning the addictions of our generation.  It’s narrated by Peter Coyote.

KOSHER

Dir. Isabelle Stead
France, United Kingdom, 2010, 9 min, French w/ English subtitles

A lonely Orthodox Jewish boy struggles with faith, friendship and lost innocence when his disapproving parents remove his little pet pig. A charming, wordless fable ripe for interpretation.

LITTLE NAZI

Dir. Petra Lüschow
Germany, 2010, 14 min, German w/ English subtitles

A German family wants to celebrate Christmas with Grandma, as they do every year, but there are some shocking surprises to be unwrapped at this traditional German Christmas party: Grandma has revived the Nazi Christmas of her childhood.

MAMA, L’CHAIM! (To Life!)

Dir. Elkan Spiller
United States, 5 min, Hebrew w/ English Subtitles

Chaim, 62, has been living with his mother, a concentration camp survivor, for the past three years. The 95-year-old has experienced terrible things that surface again and again in her memories.

72 min total runtime

THE ORANGE

Dir. Nick Fox-Gieg
Canada, United States, 3 min, English

A humble citrus fruit is suddenly granted absolute power over the universe. From a story by Benjamin Rosenbaum, with animation by Nick Fox-Gieg.

TOYLAND

Dir. Jochen Alexander Freydank
Germany, 2007, 13 min, German w/ English subtitles

1942: what happens when a German kid believes that his Jewish neighbors are going to Toyland? A beautiful and moving story about lies and guilt.

GEFLITE FISH

Dir. Shelly Kling
Israel, 2008, 10 min, Hebrew w/ English subtitles

In Gali’s family, every engaged woman has to prepare gefilte fish for her fiancé, as a good-luck charm for the marriage.  When Gali becomes engaged to Yaron, her mother and grandmother give her a live carp to cook.

JAI

Dir. Ariel Zylbersztejn
Mexico, 2004, 9 min, Spanish w/ English subtitles

When a young Mexican Jewish girl innocently asks her grandmother about the numbers tattooed on her arm, the answer is a surprise. Zylbersztejn captures the unique and magical relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.