MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

We are delighted to present the 16th annual Pittsburgh Jewish Israeli Film Festival.  The Festival brings films of Jewish content or Jewish interest to the greater Pittsburgh community from around the globe, including this year movies from France, Germany, Canada, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Israel, and the United States. These include feature films, documentaries, and for the first time an entire program of exceptional short subjects.  We present films at various sites throughout the region to reach out to as many persons, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, as possible. We have a Teen Screen program over the course of the Festival, where schools in the area bring students to screenings and a discussion of the film viewed.  We screen movies and hold discussions in senior citizen centers and nursing homes, bringing teens and seniors together for these viewings.  And this year, we are introducing the Jewcy Film Series, run by and for twenty-somethings in our local community.

The movies presented at all these Festival events are chosen to entertain us, stimulate our imagination, be thought-provoking, capture historical events, illustrate universal Jewish values; or bring new insight into different Jewish ritual or cultural observances.

My special thanks to our Festival Committee members, who have worked all year to view and select films; raise all of the funds to support the Festival through ads and individual, corporate, and foundation donations; planned and implemented our many programs and outreach initiatives; and are volunteering throughout the Festival to serve as ushers, instructors, and hosts to visiting filmmakers, as well as coordinating the myriad daily tasks that make the Festival run smoothly. 

The Pittsburgh Jewish Israeli Film Festival could not succeed without the dedication and expertise of our Executive Director, Kathryn Spitz Cohan, and her associate, Suzi Neft, who work year-round to bring the Festival to fruition.  I extend my warmest thanks and gratitude to them and to our audience, funders, and patrons who continue to support the growth of this wonderful program.

See you at the movies!

Estelle Comay