MIssion and History

The Nashville Jewish Film Festival (NJFF) is a program of the Gordon Jewish Community Center (GJCC). In 2011 the NJFF will celebrate its 11th year of bringing educational, entertaining and thought-provoking Jewish-themed films to the historic Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee.

The NJFF aims to create a forum for the wider Nashville community to understand the complexity of issues surrounding Jewish life in contemporary society. The films chosen each year are meant to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the Jewish cultural, religious, historical, and social conditions of the modern era. Along with special guests, panels, and Opening and Closing Night celebrations, the NJFF is an annual event dedicated to the awareness and celebration of Jewish life in contemporary society. In 2008, NJFF dedicated its program to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel with such award winning films as "Noodle" and "Strangers." The 2009 NJFF returned to focus on the broad scope of the Jewish experience with such festival favorites as "A Matter of Size," "Holy Land Hardball" and "Lemon Tree," the Australian animation, "Mary & Max," the Israeli box office hit, "Lost Islands" and more.

Each year NJFF presents the Annual Kathryn H. Gutow Student Film Competition. Originating in 2005 and named in memory of the co-founder of the festival, the competition features student films with Jewish theme or content from campuses around the world. Student filmmakers will be eligible for a $1000 cash prize made possible by the Kathryn H. Gutow Fund for Jewish Arts and Culture and Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Student film competition finalists will be chosen to be screened during the annual Nashville Jewish Film Festival. The winning film will also be screened at the Nashville Film Festival in April of 2012.