Finalist films will qualify for $1000 Kathryn H. Gutow "Best of Show" Award sponsored by Creative Artists Agency.  Best of Show Award winner will be screened at the 2011 NJFF and at the Academy Award-qualifying Nashville Film Festival in April of 2012. 

Finalists will also qualify for a $250 audience award.

Filmmakers with an upgraded project on Withoutabox.com receive $5.00 off their entry fees.

Or download the paper version of the guidelines and submission application HERE.

Questions? Contact:
Jordana White, Festival Director
nashvillejewishfilmfest@gmail.com

2010 NJFF Student Competition Finalists:

Atonement Day (Kipur) (Dir. Sivan Mor, Israel, 2010, 26 min.) Yom Kipur is the day of atonement on the Jewish calendar.  On this day, as Neta rides her bike, she collides into an older religious man, Meir, and sprains his ankle.  She insists on helping Meir get home despite his rejection of any help from her.  Though there are big differences between the way he observes the holy day and the way she does, they both explore the meaning of the word “atonement.”

The Guard (Dir. Yoav Cohen, Israel, 2008, 12 min.) Arnold, a Russian immigrant, is a security guard at his  14 year old son, Iliya’s school.  Alon is an air conditioner technician, who visits the school to repair the cooling system.  On this hot day filled with tension, an unexpected meeting causes a tragedy of errors.  In Russian and Hebrew w/ English subtitles.

Insights (Dir. Dana Keidar, Israel, 2007, 13 min.) Four Israeli snipers are lurking for a wanted man on enemy turf.  One of them watches a young Palestinian girl through his sight and gets drawn into her disturbed world when the order to commence shooting is being given…

BEST OF SHOW WINNER!   On Leave (Dir. Asaf Saban, Israel, 2009, 15 min.)  Yotam came back from the army.  He met his dad.  He met his mom.  He took his girlfriend for a ride.  Yotam came back home, but something went wrong along the way. In Hebrew w/ English subtitles.

Point of View (Dir. Avishag Leibovich, Israel, 2008, 18 min.)  17-year-old Noa is forced to look after her grandmother, who is going blind.  Every day Noa reads aloud the subtitles to her grandmother’s favorite soap opera.  Unnoticeably, it becomes a time that brings them closer together.  In Hebrew w/English subtitles.

AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER!    Yizkor (Remembrance) (Dir. Ruth Fertig, USA, 2009, 23 min.) Ruth Fertig’s grandparents survived the Holocaust but they never talked about it. After discovering a memoir her grandmother had written in the last years of her life, she finally learned their story, seven years after her death and ten years after his.  Yizkor uses her grandmother’s own words along with animation, archival material and present day Super 8 footage to tell that story – one of survival and resilience in the face of crushing loss. In English. Winner of the 2010 Student Academy Award Gold Medal.

2010 Judges for the Kathryn H. Gutow Best of Show Award:

Brian Owens has been programming films since founding the Indianapolis International Film Festival in 2004.  He became Artistic Director of the Nashville Film Festival in 2008, heading up programming for the 2009 festival.  In 2010, he was named of the 50 Most Influential People of the 2000s in Indianapolis by the Indianapolis Star.  Later that year, the Nashville Post named him one of Nashville’s people In Charge.  Brian studied film at Indiana University, has served on multiple film festival juries, and has published in several online and print publications.

Jonathan Rattner is an experimental nonfiction filmmaker concerned with treating his time-based works as socially thoughtful, active and meditative experieces.   From fall of 2005 to summer of 2009, he acted as the creative director of Iowa City Senior Television, a twenty-year-old station consisting of crew members whose ages range from 65 to 89.  As the creative director at ICSCTV he helped launch their Web channel and in 2006, initiated the "Linn Street Intergenerational Collective," collaborative projects with University of Iowa students, English language learning Iowa City high school students and the Senior Center crew. He has screened work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The World Social Forum in Brazil, The University of Iowa Museum of Art, and festivals and colleges in Europe and the United States.  He currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer and Assistant Director in Film Production at Vanderbilt University.

Jason Shawhan, SEFCA, has been a professional critic for the past decade. His film column “No Concessions” appears locally in print and online at Metromix Nashville, and his work has been published in The Nashville Scene, The Tennessean, Dish Magazine, All The Rage, In Review, The Film Journal, Opposable Thumb Films, and about.com. His art and photography have been exhibited at The St. Mark’s Position Gallery and The Barney Building in New York City, The Rule of Thirds Gallery in Nashville, and online at IFC.com. He programs the Experimental Film section of the Nashville Film Festival and hosts the Midnight Movie series at The Belcourt Theatre.  He loves literacy and homemade soups and hates cancer and ignorance. He cried profusely the day Ofra Haza died.