The Denver Jewish Film Festival (DJFF) is in its 30th year at the Mizel Arts and Culture Center and is celebrating all things Jewish film. The content reflects diverse perspectives, created by filmmakers, directors, and actors with deep cultural connections to Judaism. The festival offers two full weeks of movies with 2-3 shows per day. So, grab your RedVines and refill your Diet Coke if you want to enjoy every movie on the marquee! In addition, supplemental programming will occur throughout the festival starting on opening night. On opening night, January 22, VIP ticketholders can expect to kick off the movie madness with a big party featuring catered bites and a bar. 

Back in 1996, the Robert E. Loup JCC and the Denver Film Society (now Denver Film) came together to present the first Denver Jewish Film Festival. Now 30 years later, DJFF and Denver Film are partnering to bring top-tier films to you. In addition to reconnecting to the festival’s history, this year’s DJFF will be spotlighting humanity. The Mizel Arts and Culture Center’s General Manager, Tim Campbell, emphasizes that DJFF “tells human stories through the medium of film. They are stories we can connect with; stories that make us cry and smile and feel.” The Denver Jewish Film Festival punctuates these emotions through documentaries, shorts, and narrative submissions from worldwide distributors such as Go2Films, Menemsha, and Israeli Films. This year, a total of 28 showings with 40 films will be selected from a pool of 167.  

That’s a lot of films…so, how are films chosen and by whom? The Film Selection Committee, a volunteer committee with the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, reviews each film on a set of criterium: originality and creativity, direction, writing, cinematography, performances (applicable only for narratives), production value, pacing, structure, sound, and Jewish content. A group of eleven individuals come together every few weeks to debate the films that were approved by pre-screeners. “It’s important to keep an odd number on the committee so there is always a tiebreaker!” adds Tim. Community members can join the committee if they have a passion for film, commit to assisting with the festival, and pass an interview with the leader of the committee, Mark Boscoe. As there are no time limits to serving on the committee, many of the members have enjoyed their time serving on the committee for many years. Bobbi Ewelt has been a member of the JCC community for thirty years and a part of the Film Selection Committee for three. She emphasizes the importance of having varied perspectives on the committee, sharing how enjoyable it is “to get together with the group. Even disagreeing with one another is fun because others may value something I do not, and vice versa. It brings us closer together.” Different opinions are the butter, Everything but the Bagel Seasoning, or salt (whatever your favorite choice of flavor is!) to the Denver Jewish Film Festival. 

The Denver Jewish Film Festival invokes value to our community; it allows engagement with art that is not as widely available by artists that are not as widely known. Tim explains, “We are exposing different levels of Jewish culture to our audience, regardless of religious beliefs.” This year, the films are coming from France, Israel, US, Canada, Brazil, Poland, and many other countries. The movies will unveil stories from afar that are as relatable as if they occurred in our own backyard. That is the beauty of this festival – it uplifts and unites. Bobbi shares that another unique component of the festival this year is how the pre-screeners and the Film Selection Committee plan to gather as a team in celebration. She says, “It’s really a group effort. We started gathering back in April. There is so much community behind the scenes.” Humanity is woven into the fabric of this festival from screening and selecting films to viewing them amongst friends and family at the JCC Denver. Reach out to the Mizel Arts and Culture center HERE if you’re interested in volunteering to usher, run concessions, etc. Volunteering with the Denver Jewish Film Festival offers the perk of watching the film during your volunteering shift, as well as one free ticket to an additional film.