After participating in Northwestern University’s five-week NHSI film and video production program last summer, La Jolla High School senior Melissa Bloom, 17, has produced her first short narrative film, with help from 18-year-old Emily Rifkin of Los Angeles.
“Schmeardown,” a five-minute blip that Bloom and Rifken shot and edited over Labor Day weekend, will be screened as part of the 17th annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival, which runs from Thursday, Feb. 8, through Sunday, Feb. 18, at the AMC La Jolla 12 Theatres.
“We wanted to tie it in to the religion but didn’t want it to be too blatant, like a holiday or a dreidel,” Bloom said of the comedy, which tells the story of two young women competing to make the tallest bagel sandwich at a local café. “We came up with bagels because it’s more of a light topic but it’s still a thing that you kind of correlate with Jews.”
The festival, which has continued to expand and branch out to other theaters, will offer more than 50 films this year and will focus on more than just the Jewish religion, according to Sandra Lynn Kraus, the festival producer for the last four years.
“Something significant about the Jewish Film Festival is that, although it has Jewish content, it’s coupled with diversity and reaches out to all people in the community,” Kraus said. “I think it’s the diversity that keeps the festival going, because all kinds of groups can attend. It touches everyone’s lives.”
This year’s festival reaches out to those in Brazilian, Latino and gay-lesbian-transgender communities as well as music lovers, according to Kraus.
Award-winning filmmaker Alan Berliner will be present at the festival on Sunday, Feb. 11, for the screening of three of his films: “Wide Awake,” “The Sweetest Sound” and “Nobody’s Business.”
Family inclusion day, which will be held the following Sunday, offers the screening of two films which profile young people dealing with disabilities through music, compassion and love. These films are appropriate for children ages 11 and older due to extensive subtitles, Kraus said.
Bloom and Rifkin will speak at the festival as part of the fifth annual Joyce Forum, when their film is screened at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, at the David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive.
The teenagers will discuss what went into making the film and how they came up with the whimsical idea, which was based on a story Bloom’s mother told her about having bagel sandwich competitions with a friend in college.
“Schmeardown” was selected as one of five finalists at the Nashville Film Festival, and although it didn’t win, Bloom said she is still just as excited to see it screened at the Jewish Film Festival.
“It’s really neat for me,” Bloom said of the opportunity. “It’s what I love to do. It’s neat to be recognized and nice to be able to make movies and keep doing what I love.”
The Jewish Film Festival will be held at the AMC La Jolla 12 Theatres, 8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, as well as at UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas at Hazard Center and UltraStar Poway Creekside Plaza 10.
The festival is sponsored by the Mizel Family Foundation and presented by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center.
Tickets are $10.50 for JCC members and $12.50 for nonmembers. Packages and group rate discounts are available.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, call (858) 362-1348. For a complete schedule of films, visit www.lfjcc.org/sdjff.